Chelsea is nearing the end of a long season, and Thomas Tuchel appears exhausted, not only from the games and travel but also from the incessant press conferences.
His squad fought Liverpool to the bitter end for the fourth time this season but couldn’t win, and the German coach was asked about the distance between them yesterday.
He pointed out that, while his squad had been able to lift their level to take on the Reds on numerous occasions, they hadn’t always been able to do so, and had tripped up far too often in other games – whereas Jurgen Klopp’s side was simply a winning machine that never slowed down.
The Reds won their seventh championship, while the Blues missed out on their ninth. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, meanwhile, was irritated by his team’s inconsistency in comparison to Liverpool.
He was also concerned that the current sanction imposed on the club as a result of Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s suspension following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had thrown the club into disarray.
As reported by the club’s official website, he said: “It was clear that in some moments we would suffer and unfortunately we did in the first 15 minutes. We looked nervous and tense. We also played with one less day in recovery. We had an away game against Leeds on Wednesday and played again 120 minutes today but it was clear we would suffer against this team during minutes.”
“We managed to stay in the match, clearly because of an excellent goalkeeping performance from Edou. We dug in and got better and better, more confident and we found solutions and created chances ourselves. Everybody is in pain, there is no way you escape this game without pain.”
After holding Jurgen Klopp’s side to a 0-0 draw in extra time, the Blues were denied a title once more on penalties. Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta appeared to have cost the west Londoners when he struck the post early on, but Sadio Mane saved the day with a woeful effort of his own.
Mason Mount’s shot was subsequently saved by Alisson, with the Reds’ Kostas Tsimikas converting the game-winning spot-kick.
Chelsea currently has two games left in the season and will be looking to secure a place in the Champions League for next season by winning the remaining league matches.
