Thomas Tuchel admits he and players were ‘clearly not happy’ after ‘huge distraction’ of the ESL | OneFootball

Amongst all the madness last night, Chelsea actually had a game of football to play in between the circus that was the launch of the European Super League.

I say launch, but that appears to be dead in the water before it has even began, literally two days after it was announced.

Whilst you’re here Chelsea fans, please go check out my personal project – Si Phillips Talks Chelsea, where you’ll find a weekly Podcast with top guests, a weekly newsletter, inside reports, exclusives, and all your Chelsea transfer news! All content FREE – Subscribe here!

Of course, Chelsea announced their involvement, and the drama and warfare that ensued will go down as a major event in the history of sport.

Chelsea have since seen the error of their ways and have now announced they have started the process to leave the ESL already, but that didn’t change the fact that it has already clearly effected our players and our boss, who were trying to win a game of football to keep their top four hopes alive.

We ended up drawing 0-0 to Brighton and although it was a horrendous performance from us, there is no doubt that the events of the past two days was having an effect on the minds of the manager and our players, as Tuchel confirmed after the game.

As reported by the Chelsea website, Tuchel said:

“I was a bit concerned about the physical impact of travelling after Porto and of Man City, but we decided to let the team play with not so many changes between Porto and Man City.

“Today we had enough changes [five to the starting line-up] I thought to be a bit more fresh but maybe we lacked one day.

“It is a big difference if you have two days between matches and three. Maybe we lacked one day to be a bit more relaxed, to be a bit more fresh, but we have to admit also that it was a huge distraction since two days, it was not the full focus on our game which maybe also plays a role in all this, so maybe given all the circumstances, we are clearly not happy but I have to accept that we did not deserve more today, which is maybe for the first time.”