Tuchel tells Chelsea to ‘toughen up’ after Southampton defeat

Thomas Tuchel has told Chelsea FC to “toughen up” in the wake of a chastening 2-1 Premier League defeat at Southampton.

Romeo Lavia and Adam Armstrong fired Saints to a fully-deserved St. Mary’s Stadium victory, inflicting Chelsea’s second defeat in their first five league encounters.

Raheem Sterling slotted his third goal in two games to put Chelsea into an early lead, but the visitors’ dominance evaporated in a concerning fashion as the Saints swept to victory.

Frustrated Chelsea boss Tuchel lamented two “soft, soft, soft” goals, before challenging his players to harden their mindsets.

“We are not tough enough to win these matches at the moment, away from home,” said Tuchel.

“It’s a bit the same story like in the 3-0 defeat at Leeds. In Leeds, we thought the problem was that we did not score in the first 20, 25 minutes.

“They put us off balance with two goals in two minutes at Leeds and we could not find answers.

“Today we scored, so we thought everything was okay, but one set-piece again, one sloppy defending again, and we are off balance.

“And today, we did not react to it; we were lucky not to concede the third goal.

“We were not tough enough as a team to react or to push it over the line for us.”

Asked to review the goals Chelsea conceded, Tuchel continued: “Soft, soft, soft. What stops that? Stop it by pure mentality. Stop it by pure mentality.”