Thomas Tuchel admits it should be ‘impossible’ for Chelsea to concede the Juventus goal 11 seconds after the restart, but ultimately they should’ve ‘asked more questions’ of the Bianconeri in Turin.
The reigning Champions of Europe managed just one shot on target throughout the game, despite dominating possession, and risked conceding more than just the Federico Chiesa strike.
Tellingly, the decisive goal was scored 11 seconds after the restart, without Chelsea managing to get a single touch.
Champions League | Juventus 1-0 Chelsea: Chiesa sings the Blues
“It’s impossible at this kind of level to concede an easy goal like this in the first seconds of the second half. You know what’s coming, and you have defensive organisation like we have, usually it’s possible to defend it. We got punished for it,” Tuchel told BT Sport.
That wasn’t the only issue, as the clear-cut chances simply never came, Romelu Lukaku firing off target, with two Kai Havertz headers over.
“I think we started not sharp enough. We had possession, but the first 15 minutes we could have harmed them much more and been much sharper. There was so much space for dangerous balls into their box and ask more questions,” continued the Chelsea manager.
“We had a lot of possession, we had many high recoveries, but we had two crucial ball losses where we almost gave goals away and you cannot do that at this level without any pressure.
“We struggled to create our own rhythm and intensity because they were so deep and passive. It’s not easy to find the spaces, to know exactly when to accelerate. We were lacking runs. We were so good in training yesterday and not good enough, not free enough today. I don’t know why, it felt that way for the whole team.
“I felt we were a bit slow and tired, mentally slow, decision making. That’s why it’s a strange one to analyse.”
A defensive clinic from Leonardo Bonucci 👌
🖥 Here is what made tonight’s display against Romelu Lukaku so good! 🤤@mrjakehumphrey, @rioferdy5, Eni Aluko, and Joe Cole love what they watched… pic.twitter.com/jHkuxniJaV
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 29, 2021
Nice. Juventus bored them to death!
Bravissimo La Vecchia Signora!
Perdone…Bravissima La Vecchia Signora!
Chelsea were so fed up with Juventus game plan. Juventus made Chelsea feel bored with the game. Influence!
‘because they were so deep and passive.’
I swear Guardiola said the same of Chelsea’s game plan only a few days ago.
Not here to compliment Juventus, but at least Juventus were dangerous on counters. Vs City, Chelsea were literally scared to death to play.