MY ACCOUNT
Thomas Tuchel said his Chelsea side took too many risks as they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.
On the day a £4.25billion sale of the Blues was agreed, Romelu Lukaku scored his first Premier League goals since a 1-1 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion on December 29 to put the hosts 2-0 up before the hour mark.
Substitute Trincao set up a dramatic finale with a fine goal in the 79th minute, before Conor Coady sealed a point for Wolves with a header in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
That goal was the second-latest Chelsea have conceded in the Premier League since Opta have exact times available (from 2006-07), after Luis Suarez’s strike for Liverpool in April 2013 (96:30).
The result meant the Blues failed to win a top-flight game in which they were 2+ goals ahead for the first time since October 2020 against Southampton (3-3), having won 24 consecutive such prior matches.
Although Tuchel was largely happy with his side’s display, the German bemoaned an inability to play things safe after Lukaku’s brace had put them in pole position to claim all three points.
“I thought we started both halves well with an offensive 5-3-2,” he told a media conference.
“We knew about the risks and we need to be disciplined. We showed discipline over most moments of the first half. In some situations we took too many risks.
“That cost us some dangerous moments at the end of the first half. I reminded the players at half-time to stick to the plan. We were 2-0 up and again we took too many risks.
“We invited the counter-attacks and big chances. Once you do this, you lose confidence and invite the opponent to smell something is possible when it is unnecessary.
“It’s not about dropping too much, it’s about where we were losing the ball and the opponent taking a crazy approach. Big chances that we don’t create, the pass is missing, the dribbling is wrong.
“At some point we played like we were 2-0 down not 2-0 up. We tried to change the structure. I don’t know if that was the right decision from me, I need to watch it back.”
Tuchel refuted suggestions that the announcement of the takeover, led by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss, had any bearing on his side’s late collapse.
“I don’t think ownership is a reason for lack of focus,” he added. “We showed when the situation began that we can still focus. I would not consider this as an advantage for Leeds [who Chelsea play on Wednesday].
“It does not change much for us as the sanctions are not lifted. It’s not worth thinking about, we have our own stuff to solve and make better.”
