Thomas
Tuchel has challenged Chelsea to stop fixating on the scoreboard and
coasting when in the lead.
The Blues rounded off their Champions League Group H campaign with a galling
3-3 draw at Zenit St Petersburg, finishing second behind Juventus.
The Stamford Bridge side had already secured their slot in the last 16, but
twice squandered control in Russia - to take their goals conceded tally to
six in two matches.
A frustrated Tuchel insisted his players were still taking his messages on
board, but have fallen into a bad habit of relaxing once ahead in matches.
Chelsea will jump straight from Russia to hosting Leeds in the Premier
League on Saturday, where Tuchel will demand standards rise quickly,
especially in light of last weekend's 3-2 defeat at West Ham.
"I won't take it personally that you make a judgement here that my players
are not listening to me, which I don't find so nice but I leave it with you
and your opinion," said Tuchel.
"I think that we had a very good first 15 minutes and we stopped doing the
things we did in the first 15 minutes.
"We were forgetting why we were the better team, because of the investment,
the level of concentration, the level of physical investment was high enough
to be the better team.
"Once this drops, five, 10 per cent, and it does; once we start managing
results and changing our behaviour from what the score is, we get punished
at the moment.
"It happened to us at West Ham and it happened again today. The reaction was
good again, that shows me that it's not about what we can do, because we can
do it.
"Suddenly when we concede two goals we can step up, we can show a reaction.
But once we have the lead we give it away again, like also today.
"The last six minutes again we started playing balls back, we started not
attacking in the same aggression, the same hunger as before and we got
immediately punished, now twice."
Timo Werner bagged a brace and also teed up fit-again Romelu Lukaku for a
tap-in, but the Blues leaked three frustrating goals on a chastening night
on the road.
A host of enforced changes due to injuries and fatigue took their toll on
Chelsea's usually-rigid tactics, but Tuchel remains unsatisfied with the
current state of affairs in west London.
"My analysis is very clear: our behaviour changes when we have a lead and
this is something we never did and we should never do," said Tuchel.
"We do the things that we want to do on the highest level and we push
ourselves and it hurts and it has to hurt.
"You have to play through pain - physical pain - and you have to raise your
level of concentration and you have to overcome adversity.
"If you change your behaviour because of the score, you allow the
possibility to get punished. And it's very easy; we need a higher level of
sprints, a higher level of runs, a higher level of intensity and
concentration.
"It's as easy as the basics. The basics need to be pushed onto a higher
level while we are in the lead."
When is the draw for the last 16?
The Champions League last-16 draw takes place in Nyon, Switzerland on
Monday, December 13.
The last-16 ties will be split across different weeks, with the first legs
taking place on February 15-16 and February 22-23. The second legs are then
on March 8-9 and March 15-16.
What's next?
Chelsea host Leeds at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League (kick-off 3pm);
Zenit visit Dynamo Moscow at 11am on Sunday.
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