Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has admitted that the Blues' dressing room was left “surprised” after Thomas Tuchel was abruptly sacked.
The German was moved on by the Blues’ new owner Todd Boehly in the aftermath of the West Londoners' defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener last week. The decision - Boehly’s first managerial call of his Stamford Bridge reign - was certainly a brave one considering Tuchel’s previous success with Chelsea.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain schemer had led Chelsea to the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup during his spell with the club. Jorginho has suggested that the Chelsea dressing room - alongside the majority of club employees - were taken aback by Tuchel’s exit but refused to divulge any specific conversations between his teammates.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League showdown with Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg, the Italian said: “It was a surprise of course for everyone. But what has been said between players, will stay there. I’m sorry.
“Of course there is talking around what happened, but now we have games coming and life is quick so we don’t have time to keep thinking again and again. We talked, but now we need to concentrate and focus on what we need to do.”
One of Tuchel’s final actions as Chelsea manager was taking aim at his players. He accused the Chelsea squad of being low on confidence and mentally weak - something that led to their shocking reverse in Croatia last week.
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Jorginho has since responded to those accusations and has revealed exactly what the Blues need to do to arrest their stuttering recent form. He continued: “That was his feeling in that moment and he said that to us as well. We tried what we could to try and do our best.
“But unfortunately it wasn’t working anymore and the new challenge is to rebuild that confidence because Chelsea are a big club and we have a lot of work to do. To do that we all need to be working in the same direction.”
Chelsea will certainly be aiming to get back to winning ways against Salzburg on Wednesday evening having won just three out of their opening seven matches of the campaign thus far this season.
The game will also represent an excellent opportunity for Graham Potter to put together a positive start to his Chelsea career. The former Brighton boss was appointed as Tuchel’s successor on a five-year contract and has his first chance to lead the team on Wednesday.
However, he is being made to wait for his first Premier League game as Blues boss with this weekend’s home clash with Liverpool having been postponed due to policing issues caused by the upcoming funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
