Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea slump ‘unacceptable’ but remains confident over future

Thomas Tuchel concedes it is unacceptable to be so far behind Manchester City in the race for the title, but he is convinced he will be given time to make Chelsea champions again.

His side sit 13 points adrift of Premier League leaders City ahead of tonight’s clash with Brighton.

And in a season when Tuchel was considered the biggest threat to Pep Guardiola’s dominance, he admits he has fallen short of his own expectations.

Asked if it was good enough, Tuchel said: “No, of course not. We would never have accepted that before. Never. But this is the reality now and just because it is like this, not everything is bad.

“If you think that is the way to tell the story, it is fair enough and we can take it. We know what we do and we know what we are up for. At the moment we are 13 points behind and we are in a race of the top three.

“But we would not have accepted it one year ago. I would not have accepted it four weeks ago and I did not accept it when we arrived at City in the moment that we are.

“That is what makes us and I am absolutely comfortable to not accept it because I work for Chelsea and we play for Chelsea, so when we play, we play to win.”

Chelsea can still win the Carabao Cup, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Champions League, with the European Super Cup already secured.

And last night Tuchel was named the FIFA Best Men’s Coach of 2021 after conquering Europe within four months of taking over at Chelsea.

Thomas Tuchel is confident he will be permitted to see out his current Chelsea contract
PA

Yet he knows the expectations of owner Roman Abramovich, who is determined to break City’s dominance of English football.

Tuchel insists he is confident he will be given time – but admits history is not on his side.

Coming up to his one-year anniversary in the job, the German said: “I think I am under contract until 2024 and let’s stay with this and let’s try to stay as long as this contract says because history tells us it is not that easy.

“But I feel very confident today that I can make it and I don’t want to be anywhere else.

“I feel very happy and let’s see what is going on. But we know what we need: results. I am responsible for creating an atmosphere that gives us the results. So the focus goes into the process and not the results.”

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