Thomas Tuchel believes Chelsea are being impacted by players thinking about leaving the club instead of being committed to the cause following their 4-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Chelsea were thrashed in Orlando on Sunday morning (UK) by their London rivals, ending their tour of the United States with a heavy defeat as they fly back to England.
It was a dismal evening at the Camping World Stadium which highlighted Chelsea’s flaws and areas that need major improvement and attention ahead of the Premier League opener against Everton in two weeks' time.
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They looked off the pace, well behind Arsenal, and have just one game left in pre-season which comes against Udinese next week.
The Chelsea head coach put it down to mental commitment, digging out those players who are considering their futures at Stamford Bridge.
“I saw a team in Arsenal who are mentally committed to a level of exhaustion that we could not match physically and mentally because we have a lot of players who are thinking about leaving and looking at their options,” admitted Tuchel post-match. “I think that’s obvious.”
Tuchel has only two new signings to his side this summer so far - Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly - and is hoping to bring more in, including Jules Kounde from Sevilla.
He has held meetings with co-owner Todd Boehly to establish what is required, but his wishlist is yet to be fully ticked off.
The 48-year-old added: “We had an urgent appeal for quality players and a huge amount of quality players.
"We got two quality players no doubt but we’re not competitive like this and you could see that today.”
It was a disappointing night for Chelsea, who now head back to London and the drawing board to find solutions. Tuchel is ‘hurt’ but knows they can find their way through the difficult moment if they can find suitable solutions.
He continued: “I think we deserved to lose, which is fair enough, because we were simply not good enough.
"The worrying part is the level of commitment physically and mentally was far higher for Arsenal than us.
"We can argue they had their strongest line up, it was not our strongest line up and this is part of an explanation but only a little part.
“I don’t remember losing 4-0 in pre-season or two in a row.
"I’m a huge fan of a strong pre-season, but not in a way that a good pre-season has to mean a good season.
“We fly home now and on Tuesday we need to present solutions to stand up again and find a way through this because it hurts at the moment.”
Topics: Football, Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel, Arsenal
Matthew Debono