Chelsea boss Tuchel: Players better for two day break | OneFootball

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says giving his players two days off this week has freshened them up.

A Tuesday match at Brighton followed by a Sunday one against Spurs did afford the chance for everyone to go away and switch off on Wednesday and Thursday, although for Tuchel himself it was not perfect relaxation, as he had to visit the dentist!

"It is hard to think about football when you are at the dentist," he smiled when discussing the recuperation period.

"We needed it [the break], all of us. This is always a team effort and I felt the team mentally tired, which I could understand, and I felt them disappointed and frustrated after the last result and also the result at Man City.

"It was harder for us to overcome the obstacles that it is normal to overcome in periods like this. There are reasons for it which we have talked about, reasons for which we cannot be blamed.

"We don't want to make our excuses but we want to be adult and honest enough to look into the reasons why we maybe feel this kind of fatigue.

"We were not so good all together on Tuesday at Brighton. That's why we played a draw. For example, how we conceded the goal you can see we lack a bit of freshness and the mental ability to step up again and again and not accept it.

"The two days off alone does not solve the problems. It's on us now to use Friday and Saturday [training] to be absolutely right in attitude for Sunday."