The Blues boss has revealed that he leans on his sweet tooth in troubling times as he handles issues both on and off the pitch
Thomas Tuchel admits that Chelsea’s problems have driven him to a chocolate binge following the recent 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid.
The high-profile loss in the Champions League quarter-final follows a 4-1 league loss to Brentford, with Southampton up next in the Premier League.
The difficult run of form, along with the uncertainty around the ownership, means it has been a stressful time for the Blues.
What Tuchel said?
“The amount of chocolate I needed was immense to go through the match again and compensate,” Tuchel told reporters at Cobham about how he rewatched the match immediately after getting home from the midweek match.
“You sit there in the middle of the night, it is not nice, you start writing and writing and writing and you realise that you are writing more and more, more minutes with a certain way of explaining things so that you don’t forget it.
“At some point, you press the button to watch it in double speed, just so it passes quickly and then you know you’re not in a good place. At some point, you have to stop and take a walk into the kitchen or the lounge and come back and press to calm down. It was not nice to watch.”
Adding: “Unfortunately, and a bit surprisingly we lacked structure in the last game. Normally our big strength is that you clearly see what we try to do and play.”
How are Chelsea shaping up for the next match?
The Blues are without both Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell through injury.
Furthermore, Romelu Lukaku and Hakim Ziyech are doubtful for the upcoming match at St Mary’s Stadium.
Along with fitness issues, there’s a number of players out of form including Ballon d’Or nominees Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.
Although Tuchel has acknowledged those troubles, he still wants the future of his two senior midfielders resolved this summer, having dealt with speculation with several centre-backs on deals that are soon to expire.
“With important players, it’s a wish as a coach that we solve this in the summer anyway. That it’s clear where the journey is, what the decision is.
“Then we have the same talks about Toni [Rudiger] and Andreas [Christensen], we just swap the names, we talk about it through winter, then comes January, then the agents talk with these clubs and the brother to the other… it would be nice if we can avoid it.
“But in the moment, it’s a bit difficult. Yes, this should be the target for all of us.”
The Blues boss concluded by defending £100 million ($136m) striker Romelu Lukaku who has again been linked with a return to Internazionale this week: “We bought him because we believed in him.
“Did it work out until now in the way everybody wanted? No, of course not. But it is not on him after two defeats. He didn’t even start these two matches.”