Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says his team were “slow, tired and not good enough” during their 1-0 Champions League defeat against Juventus in Turin.
Chelsea conceded a goal 10 seconds into the second half at the Allianz Stadium when a long ball from kick off was helped on by Federico Bernardeschi into the path of Federico Chiesa, who calmly finished to give Juve all three points.
The west London club had the majority of the possession throughout the 90 minutes, but struggled to break down a well-drilled Juventus defence that included the impressive duo of Leandro Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt.
Tuchel was disappointed with the goal his team conceded and admitted that they were ‘not good enough’ to get anything from the match.
“It’s impossible in this kind of level to concede a goal like this. We know what’s coming, we got punished for it,” the German manager said via the Metro.
“We started not sharp enough, the first 10-15 minutes should’ve been much more sharp, put more dangerous balls into the box. We had two crucial ball losses where we almost gave goals away. We struggled to create our own rhythm as they were so deep.
“We were not good enough, slow, tired, mentally slow with decision making, it’s a strange one to analyse.”
Not much he could with Federico Chiesa’s fine finish ten seconds into the second half. Didn’t have a lot of saves to make but still had to pick the ball out of his net. 7
Cesar Azpilicueta
Played some very clever passes to his teammates but they didn’t capitalise on them. Tuchel wanted more speed to the Blues attacks and hooked his captain after the hour for Hudson-Odoi. 7
Andreas Christensen
Crunching tackle on Betancur inside 45 seconds of the game got him off to a flier but it went downhill as Juve’s front two rattled him. Improved after half time but Chiesa got the better of him overall. 6
Thiago Silva
Looked the most comfortable of the Blues back three. Good on the ball and won his individual duels. 7
Antonio Rudiger
Gave away a couple of cheap fouls in the first half in silly areas. Beaten to the punch by Chiesa for Juve’s opener. Erratic. 6
Marcos Alonso
Picked up an absolutely needless yellow card on 19 minutes by pushing Juan Cuadrado with minimal contact. Turned up at right wing back at one point for some reason. Poor and was hooked at half time. 5
Jorginho
Played his teammates into trouble with a wretched pass in the seventh minute that Juve didn’t punish. Very off the pace, Juventus pressed him and he didn’t like it. Subbed just before the hour mark. 6
Mateo Kovacic
Played two hospital passes in the first 20 minutes that led to chances for Juve. All over the place for the majority of the game, very far from his best. 6
Hakim Ziyech
Totted up a few fouls early on and wasn’t really involved too much, overhit passes when he did and struggled in the first half. Given another chance from the start by Tuchel but another one he didn’t take. 6
Kai Havertz
Very quiet in the opening 45 as he didn’t really seem to know where he was playing. Much the same after the break, floated around without having much of an impact at all. Missed a decent chance with the last play of the game as well. 6
Romelu Lukaku
Chelsea didn’t seem to want to play to his other strengths in the first half rather than just booting the ball up to him. Had one header go wide in the second half. Fired over a great chance to make it 1-1 with eight minutes to go. 7
Substitutes
Ben Chilwell (for Alonso, 46′)
Hadn’t touched the ball before Chiesa fired Juventus ahead. Didn’t see much of it after that either. 6
Callum Hudson-Odoi (for Ziyech, 59′)
Had a few opportunities to run at Alex Sandro and got the better of him a few times as well. Lively. 7
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (for Azpilicueta, 59′)
Didn’t quite have the impact required but he was a decent presence in the midfield at least. 6
Trevoh Chalobah (for Jorginho, 59′)
Played, in effect, the Jorginho role in screening the back five. Did OK. 6
Ross Barkley (for Christensen, 75′)
Got the ball in some good areas and played some good passes. 6
All-square at half-time with neither side able to break the deadlock, despite Chelsea dominating possession.
They’ve seen far more of the ball than the home side, but have been unable to create any real clear cut chances.
The home side have been very compact in their defensive shape and Chelsea have struggled to break them down.
The Blues have so far lacked the creativity to pick the lock of this Juve defence and have just been a little bit too slow in their build up.
Both sides have had to remain very focused to ensure they do not blink first and make the telling mistake that leads to the first goal.
Chelsea have given the ball away far too many times too many for Thomas Tuchel’s liking and were almost caught on the break by Chiesa and Cuadrado.
But the home side have also struggled to fashion out any real openings as of yet.
The changes the two managers make in the second half could prove vital and it will be a case of Juve ensuring they remain disciplined and more clinical when they get the chance to counter.
Meanwhile Chelsea will need to eradicate the sloppy passes from their build up and add some more invention and creativity to their attack, with Lukaku being starved of service up front.
