“You cannot do that”-Chelsea boss explains the reason behind defeat to West Ham United

Thomas Tuchel blames individual mistakes for Chelsea defeat against West Ham

Speaking to BT Sport on Twitter, Thomas Tuchel claimed that Chelsea lost against West Ham United due to too many individual mistakes on their part.

Only our second league defeat of the season, it does put our hold on the top spot in the Premier League under threat. The London derby is one every fan looks ahead to, and this result shall not go down well with Tuchel or the supporters.

Thiago Silva gave us the lead at the half-hour mark before Jorginho and Edouard Mendy cost us a penalty. Manuel Lanzini slotted home from six yards out before Mason Mount scored a sumptuous volley just a minute from half-time. Jarrod Bowen got the Irons back on level terms in the second half with a sensational strike.

Arthur Masuaku was the hero in the end as his strange shot from a crossing position led to the Hammers taking all three points. Tuchel claimed after the game that his side’s individual mistakes made the difference on the day.

“We had too many individual mistakes. It was the same against Man Utd and Watford. We talked about it before, and obviously, it didn’t help. That’s the story. Everybody is involved. The decision is not the best to pass the ball back.

Tuchel was particularly annoyed by the backpass that led to West Ham’s opener on the night. The German made it clear in no uncertain terms that such mistakes have no place at the top level.

“We struggled a bit, defensively too. We have a horrible pass back in the feet of the opponent. You cannot do that in the top level. Every loss is a bump in the road. That will not hold us back with what we demand from us. We need to play more accurately and more stable.”

Too many errors

After the 4-0 victory against Juventus, it felt like the Blues were going to take their performances to the next level. However, a draw against Man United and a narrow victory against Watford were signs that there is work still to be done.

West Ham were going to make us punish for our errors, and they surely did so. Bowen was a thorn in our backs all afternoon while Michail Antonio bullied our centre-backs consistently. Mendy could have cleared the ball for the first goal, but his faulty decision-making cost us heavily.

But then one could also argue that Jorginho had no business making the pass to begin with.

Marcos Alonso looks awful and a distant shadow of the player who kept Ben Chilwell out of the starting XI earlier this season. Romelu Lukaku was supposed to guarantee us goals, but he was non-existent since coming on at half-time for Kai Havertz, who limped off the pitch after a rough challenge by former Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma.

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Regardless, we have games coming up after every three days for the next four weeks. With games coming thick and fast, there is no time for us to mop. The sooner we learn our lessons and move on the better.