Thomas Tuchel blasts his Chelsea players over lack of hunger after defeat to Zagreb

My Football Facts ⇒ Articles

By Martin Graham | 7th Sep 2022

Chelsea lost their opening Champions League match 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb in a poor performance. The German coach said his team lacked hunger and precision and was disappointed after the result.

The Champions League started on Tuesday night with some puzzling results. The pointers are already there that the season would be exciting. The competition is barely through the first match day, and the upsets have started. Results from the first day have shown that there are rarely any minnows in football anymore.

The smaller teams operate within their limits to challenge the more illustrious sides. The patterns are unfolding, with tactics that have been honed well on the training pitch and executed to perfection on match day. It is a sign to the big teams that they have to buckle up.

Chelsea got a taste of the new regime when they took on Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia. The home side showed no respect to their more illustrious guests and challenged for everything on the night. They gave no quarter and took no prisoners. Eventually, the minnows walked away with a 1-0 win, to the frustration of Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

Thomas Tuchel is an angry man

There was anger on the Chelsea bench during their Champions League tie against Dinamo Zagreb. The Blues were not having things their way as Dinamo got under their skin and frustrated every effort the west London side made to garner three points in their opening game.

Evidence of the frustration of the German came when the referee awarded a yellow card to Thomas Tuchel in the 76th minute. It was a difficult night for Chelsea, and Dinamo got a deserved victory. After they scored an early goal, Dinamo defended with all they had and went home with all three points.

Thomas Tuchel was in a rage and slammed his wards for a strange performance in Zagreb. The German said his side showed no hunger or determination in the Champions League loss on Tuesday. The Chelsea manager said he did not see the performance coming, especially as he thought the team had turned a corner.

The Blues see their woes continue

It has been a pathetic start to the season for Chelsea. The Blues have had it rough since the beginning of this campaign and have struggled for goals. Despite the lack of goals upfront, the west London side has found a way of conceding goals at the back.

On Tuesday night, their woes continued as they conceded an early goal and could not return from the setback.

The loss to Dinamo Zagreb is the third in five games for Chelsea.

In Zagreb, they looked rudderless and lacked bite in attack. The defence was flatfooted and conceded an easy goal on the counter-attack in the first half.

Tuchel took the blame for the loss and said it was not the performance he was expecting. The defeat at Zagreb comes after a narrow win over West Ham last weekend.

An angry Tuchel told reporters he was in the wrong movie. Tuchel said he thought the last game had helped the team, and they were ready for the game. He continued that he was unsure where they got that performance. Tuchel said his team lacked determination, hunger and intensity to do the things needed at the highest level.