MOANING Thomas Tuchel blamed Chelsea’s thrashing at Leeds on him and his coaches not having to take a long BUS RIDE.
The German revealed the Blues’ staff were forced to travel by road to Elland Road this weekend.
His players were able to fly up north but Tuchel was left complaining about a “long ride” up the motorway for him and his coaching staff.
After Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat Tuchel said: “Everything that can go wrong, did go wrong.
“It started yesterday. We had no plane to arrive so we came on the bus.
“The players could fly but for the coaching staff it was a long ride on the bus. It continued today.”
READ MORE ON CHELSEA
Tuchel also blamed cock-up keeper Edouard Mendy for putting Chelsea on the road to a crushing defeat.
Mendy dithered on the ball in the six-yard box and was dispossessed by Brenden Aaronson, who rolled the ball in for the 33rd-minute opener.
And raging Blues boss Tuchel said: “He knows himself. He knows it’s a mistake.
“Everybody in the world sees that mistake and it is a huge one at a crucial time of the match. It does not help.
Most read in Football
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
“He is the one who is most disappointed. It cost us a lot.”
Rodrigo’s header from a free-kick made it 2-0 before Jack Harrison turned the ball in from close range.
Chelsea’s miserable afternoon was complete when Kalidou Koulibaly was sent off late on.
It was the Blues’ heaviest defeat to Leeds since losing by the same scoreline in 1995.
Tuchel added: “If we give goals away like this that are unnecessary when we are totally in charge, we cannot win matches.
“We lost the game in the first 20 minutes — we were clearly better and had huge chances.
“But we did not take what we deserved. We stopped doing good and gave two presents away.
“We got frustrated but it is what it is. This is the squad.
“My energy goes to the squad we have, we try to make the squad better but if we don’t, we fight with what we have.”
Tuchel dismissed the fact Leeds ran 11km more had any bearing on the game.
He said: “It is nothing to do with pressing, with running less. I don’t see the connection that we lost to the style of Leeds. We knew it was coming.”
Read More on The Sun
Leeds boss Jesse Marsch disagreed with his opposite number.
He said: “He can have his opinion. I think our way of playing dictated the match almost entirely, limited them and made them make mistakes.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
