Alan Shearer has hit back at Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel for claiming his side were ‘tired’ after their 1-1 draw with Brighton on Tuesday night – insisting the Blues should have fared better with a bench worth £220million.
Chelsea were lacklustre at the AMEX as they laboured to an eighth draw of the season in another blow for their hopes of winning the title, with Hakim Ziyech’s early long-range strike being cancelled out by an Adam Webster header.
Ziyech barely reacted after putting the team ahead, and Tuchel believes his squad were too tired to even celebrate in order to ‘save energy’.
Alan Shearer (L) hit back at Thomas Tuchel for claiming Chelsea were ‘tired’ against Brighton
Shearer pointed out that Chelsea’s bench was worth £220m and should have fared better
‘Even in the reaction of the goal you can see we were tired. We were relieved we had the goal but it was not like the pure joy because they are saving energy.
‘That is my feeling of the moment and of the team right now.’
But Shearer gave a scathing response to the German’s excuse, saying every team in world football faces testing circumstances at present – and that Chelsea should be one of the best equipped teams to deal with fatigue due to the depth in their squad and the amount of money they have laid out.
‘Don’t accept that, I’m not having that,’ Shearer told BT Sport.
Hakim Ziyech did not celebrate his goal, leading Tuchel to claim the team were saving energy
Shearer believes the real reason for Chelsea’s poor display was due to a lack of confidence
‘I get it’s been a tough time for every football club in the world, they’ve all had very difficult circumstances, as has everyone, not just football.
‘But he’s got a bench tonight that’s worth £220million. Kovacic, Havertz, Werner, Pulisic… [Tuchel] left Mount out on Saturday, brought Mount back in tonight.’
Instead, Shearer feels the Blues are short on confidence and questioned the unity in the dressing rooom after Ziyech’s moody response to scoring before being involved in a heated discussion with Romelu Lukaku.
‘That performance, certainly going forward, was not a tired performance,’ he added.
‘That performance going forward was a team that’s really struggling on confidence and I’m not sure that they’re all on the same page.
‘That for me is why it was a poor performance.’
