Thomas Tuchel makes open admission after Chelsea lose first CL encounter

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that his side is not in a better state after suffering a 1-0 loss in their first Group E encounter of the UEFA Champions League to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.

Mislav Orsic scored the winning goal for Dinamo in the 13th minute with a beautifully dinked finish.

The result saw the Blues suffering their third defeat in seven games in all competitions this season.

The pressure is now mounting on the German and his side following a heavy spending in the previous transfer window.

“We are clearly not there, where we need to be and where we can be,” the gaffer said on BT Sport after tthe game, as cited by BBC. “So it’s on me, it’s on us, we need to find solutions.

“At the moment, everything is missing, [there is] too much to analyse. I’m a part of it.

“I am angry at myself, I am angry at our performance. I didn’t see it coming.

“We need to be much better. We are not finished, we are not happy but I thought we were on a good way. I am surprised by this performance.”

Tuchel added: “It’s an underperformance from us. We have the same story as always.

“We have an OK start, we don’t finish our half-chances, we don’t feel it when the game is already there to put to bed in the first 15-20 minutes.

“Then we concede one counter-attack, which is far too easy, and from there we struggled.”

Asked how many players were at the top of their game, Tuchel replied: “Not a lot at the moment.

“I don’t know where this performance comes from. It’s a lack of hunger, intensity, a lack of determination to win duels, to actually do things on the highest level.

“You cannot expect to win games, not in the Premier League or Champions League. We are not where we want to be.”

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