Southampton 2 Chelsea 1: Blues flop to another loss as frustrated Tuchel waits on transfer splurge to save season
THE next 48 hours could well decide Chelsea’s season and that is a big worry for Thomas Tuchel.
Despite a summer of steady squad building you can still see glaring holes in the brickwork.
Win, draw or lose as his team did at St Mary’s he is spending every 90 minutes with his nerves under a red hot grill.
No wonder he got so hot under the collar with Tottenham boss Antonio Conte recently.
Not even spending £152million could buy him an easy night at a ground where Chelsea normally wait out time before picking up three points.
A first defeat here since 2013 when this should have been the ideal opportunity to gain some momentum after another uncomfortable match in the 2-1 win against ten man Leicester at the weekend.
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There was Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and formidable defender Marc Cucurella in the starting line up and promising midfielder Carney Chukuwuemeka on the bench.
Yet Tuchel is still depending on the remaining few hours of the transfer window to bring in the new players he desperately needs just to put up a decent fight against Manchester City and Liverpool this season.
And it only takes a phone call to Mikel Arteta over at Arsenal to learn how risky it is to put your fate in the hands of striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who isn’t even that bothered about leaving Barcelona for Stamford Bridge we hear.
From a goal up, Chelsea ended up two down and the defence in particular comes under the spotlight for its failings on this occasion.
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Tuchel is awaiting clearance to formalise the signing of Wesley Fofana - a young player who downed tools and was considered not in the right frame of mind to play for Leicester because of a bit of transfer speculation.
At more than £70m that deal will take Chelsea’s spending this window to more than £200m. There is also the pursuit of Everton’s Anthony Gordon. A talented but raw forward.
Tuchel is rolling big dice and must hope he gets the numbers right because they didn’t go his way last night.
He was forced to make changes to a winning team. The sending off of rookie midfielder Conor Gallagher on Saturday was a particular headache with injuries also causing problems with personnel in that area.
The return of centre half Kalidou Koulibably was a boost and Tuchel tinkered with his tactics and plumped for Sterling and Havertz up front as twin strikers in a rare 4-4-2 formation.
St Mary’s is traditionally a welcoming place for Chelsea managers with six wins in the last seven trips to this part of the south coast.
And when Sterling finally zeroed in on target to put the visitors ahead in the 23rd minute, for a few minutes at least it looked as if it could turn into another routine win, if not quite the 6-0 hammering they dished out here last season.
But despite a timely boost with their new star’s third goal in two games, Tuchel’s rejigged team were under the cosh and crumbling pretty soon.
Chief culprit at the start of Saints’ impressive comeback was vastly experienced Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
In the 28th minute and under little pressure in his own box he poked the ball out for a corner when a simple clearance or even a pass back to his keeper to clear the danger would have sufficed.
The 33-year-old defender made a hash of his attempt to slash the ball back upfield too with a terrific slice that sent the ball spinning to Southampton’s exciting new midfielder Lavia 18 yards out.
The Belgian teenager, let go by Manchester City after six years, showed his class by thumping a rising shot past Mendy to level.
It’s a familiar feeling to Saints to watching team get up off the ropes. These young lads did it to save a point against Leeds and to beat Leicester. But they must have been surprised at how easy Chelsea would open up.
Azpilicueta is suddenly looking his age and has been left out for much of the opening games of this season so is not up to full speed.
And it was from his patch at right back where Chelsea were sunk again.
James Ward-Prowse fed Romain Perraud out on the flank who had time to calmly cut the ball back across the area.
Adam Armstrong had pulled back and was unmarked to collect the ball and weave a shot past four Chelsea defenders to make it 2-1.
Worried Tuchel was forced to make a change with Ruben Loftus-Cheek swapped at half time for a half fit Mateo Kovacic to try to strengthen the spine of the team.
But had it not been for the reactions of Cucurella and Mendy, the night would have got even worse for Chelsea to underline the problem of consistency and the shakes at the back.
No clean sheet since the first game of the season for them. Okay, it is only five games in but the four intervening matches were against Tottenham, Leeds, Leicester and now Southampton.
Three of those teams should not have posed the problems they have.
Cucurella has settled into his new club remarkably quickly, a blessed relief for Tuchel.
Had he not then Chelsea could have been in even bigger trouble.
The stocky Spaniard is impossible to shrug off the ball and is quick to react.
Luckily too for the Blues as he blocked a clear goalbound header from Mohamed Elyounoussi and the same player followed up to shoot and draw a save on the line from keeper Mendy.
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Old soldier Thiago Silva had to push the emergency stop button too in the 73rd minute when only a final flick of his ankle at a goalward header from Mohammed Salisu on the line stopped it becoming 3-1.
Tuchel insists he is cool about whether or not he gets new men in by Thursday's 11pm transfer deadline. That could be a big mistake.