Thomas Tuchel was an angry man after Arsenal thrashed his side 4-0 on Sunday morning, moaning “We got absolutely beaten by a team that does not play Champions League football this season.”
Thomas Tuchel is a salty man and never was that more in evidence than in his interview after watching his side taken apart by an Arsenal team that, as he notes, isn’t even playing Champions League football this season.
To be fair, Tuchel should be used to losing to Mikel Arteta, having faced him three times before this match, losing two of them, including one last season that they lost when Arsenal weren’t playing any European football at all.
We also scored four that day, too.
Speaking to press, via the official Chelsea website, Tuchel said, “I am far from relaxed.
“We deserved to lose which is fair enough because we were simply not good enough. We were simply not competitive.
“The worrying part is that the level of commitment physically and mentally for this match was far higher for Arsenal than for us. They played I think what is their strongest line-up and structure that you see now for several weeks. This was the line-up they will try to start for Premier League games.
“It was surely not our strongest line-up. This is a part of an explanation but only a little part and the other part is worrying.
“I cannot guarantee we will be ready in two weeks,” Tuchel added.
“I saw today a team from Arsenal that had an idea of how to play to a level of exhaustion and a level of physical commitment that we could not match, and also a level of mental commitment which we lack because we have a lot of players who think about leaving, are looking for other options, and we have players who left.
“I think this at the moment is obvious.
“My analysing of the season does not change because of this game. Unfortunately, it proved my point. The last week proves my point. I would absolutely prefer not to be right. I did everything to prove myself wrong but at the moment I feel that I was right.
“I look at the last season and parts of the game where we struggled, parts of the season where we struggled, and then we got sanctioned and players left us and some players are trying to leave us, and this is where it is.
“So we had an urgent appeal for quality players, a huge amount of quality players. We got two quality players but we are not competitive like this. Unfortunately, you could see it today.”
Interestingly, the above quotes are from the Chelsea website which cut out part of his answer. “I don’t know if I ever lost a match in pre-season 4-0,” Tuchel also said.
“I can’t remember not winning two matches in a row in pre-season. I’m a huge fan of a strong pre-season in everything: atmosphere, feeling, performance, belief.
“We got absolutely beaten by a team that does not play Champions League football this season”.
