Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was critical of his side’s poor start after they were dealt back-to-back defeats as they lost to Juventus on Wednesday.
Fresh off the back of a 1-0 reverse at the hands of Manchester City in the Premier League, the Blues needed a quick start in Turin as they attempted to get back on track.
The early signs were somewhat promising, if a little uninspiring in an attacking sense, as Chelsea headed into the half-time interval level.
Tuchel bemoaned his side’s pedestrian start in Turin and admitted he was baffled as to why his side were so slow out of the blocks.
Talking to BT Sport, the German said: “I don't think we started sharp enough. We had possession and possession, but I think in the first 15 minutes we could have harmed them much more, we could've been much more sharper and putting the rhythm up high.
“There was plenty of spaces and we [should] have put much more dangerous balls into their box and asked more questions.
“We had a lot of possession, we had many high recoveries, we had two crucial ball losses where we almost gave goals away. You cannot have this on this kind of level, it was without any pressure.
“We struggled to create our own rhythm because they were so deep and so passive, so we struggled to find our own intensity because this is what you need to do, and it's not an easy thing to find the spaces and accelerate, and to accept ball losses, but in the final 20 metres.
"We were lacking runs behind the last line, we were so good yesterday in training, and not good enough, not free enough today.
“I don't know why but I felt we were a bit slow, a bit tired, mentally slow with our decision making, and that's why it’s a bit of a strange one to analyse.”
Whilst the Blues were level after the first 45 minutes, it only took a matter of seconds in the second-half for them to go down - Federico Chiesa opening the scoring with a well-taken strike over Edouard Mendy.
Tuchel highlighted his frustration at an even slower start to the second period.
The German continued: “It is impossible in this kind of level to concede a goal like this in the first seconds of the second half when you know what's coming and you have defensive organisation like we have. We got punished for it.”
