Thomas Tuchel insists he ‘loves’ his Chelsea players and has revealed details of a team meeting this week to address the club’s dip in form.
Chelsea travel to face Southampton in the Premier League tomorrow looking for a response to their concerning recent performances, with back-to-back defeats to Brentford and Real Madrid having seen seven goals conceded.
Chelsea had conceded just one goal in their previous five Premier League games and Tuchel has revealed a team meeting was held this week in a bid to address their issues, insisting both he and his squad ‘have to do better together’.
“It was not a discussion type of a meeting yesterday,” he said at his pre-match press conference. “It was more like I gave my point of view, which is sometimes also necessary.
“We take the players’ view very seriously but over the last two games we thought it may be necessary to give our view, but behind closed doors and in an atmosphere where people can take criticism.
“We do not point fingers and we are in this together but we needed to point out things in our game where we are not happy. Unfortunately, we have lacked structure in the last games, which is normally our strength.
“Then we lacked discipline in attacking and that was a big disadvantage in counter-pressing because we were not in the places where we were supposed to be.
“It is not about general criticism, it’s about details in positions. I love the players and the group and we have to do better together.”
Chelsea are third in the Premier League at present, five points clear of fifth-place Arsenal in the race to secure a top four finish and Champions League football.
