Thomas Tuchel holds 'honest' meeting with Chelsea players after defeats

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said he has had a meeting with his players "where everybody can take criticism" after two successive defeats.

"It was not a discussion type of meeting," said Tuchel.

"It was more that I gave my point of view and that's sometimes necessary."

Chelsea's defeats came after the international break during the process of the club being sold following Russian owner Roman Abramovich being sanctioned by the UK government.

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"We always take the players' view into account. But over the last two games we felt it was maybe necessary to give our point of view," added Tuchel.

"It was behind closed doors in an atmosphere where everybody can take criticism.

"We don't point fingers, we don't look for people who are guilty, we are in this together.

"But we needed to point out some things in our game where we were not happy, but it was about the game.

"We are aware of the problems and we don't like them. I don't know if we are concerned, but this is very untypical for us.

"We looked into it and we talked to the team about it, to try to figure out how to improve and to stop this direction of travel as soon as possible."

'It isn't amateur football'

Chelsea, who are third in the Premier League, face a trip to Southampton in the top flight on Saturday.

The Champions League holders will then travel to Spain for the return leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday prior to playing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday, 17 April.

"I don't know if the meeting is a turning point, you need to take care of the process. And the process [on Thursday] was to be honest with the team and explain your reactions and why it's like this," said Tuchel.

"It's necessary so the players understand if the manager is sometimes angry. I think I had some reasons and I presented my reasons and from there on we go.

"Nobody will lack support from now on, nobody will lack my love or my appreciation for how they are as a group and as players.

"But sometimes you have to handle things like this, it isn't amateur football and you have to be honest."

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