Conor Gallagher left Thomas Tuchel furious as new boy Raheem Sterling scored twice to ensure the 10 men claimed a battling 2-1 win over Leicester at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea managed to beat Brendan Rodgers’ side, despite playing the majority of the game with a numerical disadvantage after Gallagher was dismissed in the 28th minute. The midfielder picked up two yellow cards in quick succession for fouls on Harvey Barnes which could easily have cost his side.
Tuchel, who was forced to sit in the stands due to a one-man touchline ban, did not go easy on the 22-year-old in his post-match press conference. "Today he is responsible for what he did. Of course, he knows it was a huge mistake. We spoke briefly after the game and things like this can happen,” Tuchel said. “It's not purely his fault alone because it's a set-piece for us and it's sloppy how we take set-pieces at the moment.
“We lack belief and precision. We can speak it out clearly. It’s not good enough how we take set-pieces at the moment and on top of it, we give chances away. We are sloppy on the coverage, bad with the decision making and how we cover the set-pieces. We have to stop doing this and improve immediately. We are on it with the team and I don’t know why it happened again.
“At the end of this chain is a decision that brings such a huge disadvantage after 25 minutes. It’s a very, very bad decision from Conor and, of course, he is upset. Everybody was upset in this moment because it almost kills the whole football match."
The reason Gallagher’s poor decision-making did not “kill” the match was Sterling. The England forward was playing in his fourth game for the Blues following his £50million move from Manchester City this summer and finally came up trumps in front of goal.
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Sterling netted with a deflected effort straight after half-time before turning in Reece James’ cross to make it 2-0 in the 63rd minute. Barnes got a goal back, but Leicester could not get anything out of the game, allowing Chelsea to make it seven points from four matches.
Tuchel was blunt in his assessment of Sterling’s contribution to the match. “It was needed. We need him to score, it’s what he does and he will score,” he admitted. “I could feel he wasn’t happy, he wants to score more and have more chances.
“So we played in a more aggressive shape in the first half for 25 minutes and then we are a man down, so we needed him to step up. He did and he did what he always does. He will score, I’m convinced, and he will create chances. The goals were crucial today because they gave us belief and the boost that it was possible. They were responsible for the win.”
