Tuchel slams players after Arsenal thrashing

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel laid into his players after a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal in their latest pre-season friendly.

The Gunners strolled to a comfortable victory with goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga, with Mikel Arteta’s side continuing to look in good shape as we approach the start of the new campaign.

It’s rather more worrying for Chelsea, however, with Tuchel seeming to largely blame his players for the result, questioning their commitment in comparison to the Arsenal players.

The German tactician also made it clear that he could do with having some players’ futures resolved, as he pointed out that some members of his squad weren’t at their best precisely because they are distracted by potential moves away from Stamford Bridge.

Speaking to Chelsea’s official site after the defeat to Arsenal, Tuchel went on a lengthy rant that suggests he’s clearly not in the most positive mood as we edge closer to the start of the new season.

“I am far from relaxed,” he said. “We deserved to lose which is fair enough because we were simply not good enough. We were simply not competitive.

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“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. 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.”