Tuchel Makes Harsh Confession After Chelsea's 2-1 Loss At Southampton: Details

Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Chelsea are "not tough enough" at the moment to win matches.

Tuchel said that after Chelsea's 2-1 defeat against Southampton at St. Mary's in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Raheem Sterling, who moved from Manchester City to Chelsea this summer, opened the scoring with his calm finish in the 23rd minute. However, after Chelsea failed to clear a corner, another former Etihad player netted an equalizer for the Saints, with Romeo Lavia firing a superb effort beyond Edouard Mendy.

From there on, Southampton were a better side as they went on to score again, which turned out to be the winner. Adam Armstrong's shot deflected off Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly and into the back of the net.

The 2-1 defeat at Southampton was Chelsea's second loss of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign. Both the losses have come on the road, with the first one at Elland Road where Leeds United thrashed the Blues 3-0.

"We are not tough enough to win these away matches at the moment. It was the same story at Leeds. At Leeds we thought the problem was we didn't score in the first 25 minutes, and they pushed us off balance with two goals and we couldn't find any answers," Tuchel said in a post-match interview on Tuesday, according to Chelsea's official website.

An irked Tuchel went on to add that Chelsea were lucky to not have conceded the third goal.

"Today we scored, everything was okay, but one set-piece again, one sloppy defending again, and we were off balance. We didn't react. We were lucky not to concede a third goal at the beginning of the second half, and we were not tough enough as a team to react," added Tuchel.

Chelsea have lost two of their five league games already this season and are placed eighth in the league table. The German boss, who absolutely "dislikes" to lose, said that it isn't difficult to defeat Chelsea at the moment.

"I don't know if concern is the right word. I absolutely dislike to lose, it is the second time this season and I don't think it takes a lot to beat us and this I don't like," Tuchel told BT Sport, according to Goal.com.

The Blues are scheduled to next host West Ham at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday.