Turgid first 26 minutes, an equaliser, then another turgid 64 minutes
Make no bones about it, Chelsea barely deserved their lead given to them by Hakim Ziyech in the 28th minute when he lashed one home from 25 yards out.
Robert Sanchez in the Seagulls goal should have done better with the effort from distance, beaten at his near post and getting a decent hand to the ball as Ziyech’s low effort ended up hitting the roof of the Albion net.
Ziyech barely celebrated the goal, his teammates gathered around him for a few seconds but that was about it. Perhaps it was in reference to how poor Tuchel’s side had been up to that point.
The Blues were very fortunate to grab the lead as it came very much against the run of play. The home side were by far the better side yet some woeful finishing had let them down, which arguably sums Brighton up under Graham Potter.
Tuchel was livid with his Blues players from the get go. Usually he aims fire at the players nearest to him but captain Cesar Azpilicueta bore the brunt of it to begin with and he was all the way on the other side of the AMEX.
A number of wasteful passes from the Spanish veteran drew the ire of his head coach and he was bested on a number of occasions by the once-again impressive Marc Cucurella.
Marcos Alonso copped an earful from Tuchel and the head coach turned away in disgust at one of a number of misplaced passes by Jorginho in the first 25 minutes of the game.
At one point, there was something most unusual for Tuchel. He sat down in his seat for all of 15 minutes, almost refusing to get up and shout instructions to his players. He was so fed up with what he was seeing.
Once Ziyech’s goal went in, the German didn’t take long to get out of his seat again though to remonstrate with whoever he wasn’t particularly happy with.
Reflecting on the game, Tuchel didn't speak much about the match itself but more the relentless schedule his side have been handed in the past couple of months.
"It is very tough to play at Brighton. The noise at full time was like we lost the game and this can give you the impression we lost. But we didn't. Other teams will struggle to get points here and it's tough when you're at full strength and you're not tired.
"I refuse to be angry. It's not about the ambition. We were lucky to be one goal ahead. We struggled to show the quality and we know the reasons. We demand a lot for us but it is not the time to be too harsh with the team.
Chelsea didn’t start the second half in brilliant fashion either and it was no surprise when the Seagulls levelled at 1-1 courtesy of Adam Webster’s piledriver of a header when he was inexplicably left unmarked 11 yards out.
It was no less than Brighton had deserved up to that point as the European Champions were extremely poor.
Chelsea’s transition between midfield and attack is a big area of concern
Thomas Tuchel often talks in press conferences about how his team transitions from defence to attack.
They kept Brighton largely at arm’s length down at the AMEX, only to be undone by a set piece when Adam Webster boomed in a free header from 11 yards to get Brighton deservedly back on level terms.
Tuchel made a change in midfield from the 1-0 loss at Man City on Saturday, Jorginho replacing Mateo Kovacic. The Italian struggled to get up to the pace of the game throughout and it was a surprise he lasted as long as until the 80th minute before Tuchel introduced Kovacic off the bench.
But throughout the game, there appeared to be a real lack of cohesion between the midfielders and the front two, who were Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku.
Far too often, players got in each others way, made the wrong run, went down a blind alley and moves broke down that left Tuchel frustrated on the touchline.
The 4-2-2-2 the German had employed for the game when the Blues were in possession didn’t work and Chelsea only looked threatening in the final ten minutes with the introduction of Timo Werner, who stayed wide and ran at the mightily impressive Cucurella.
Chelsea should have taken the Brighton left wing-back on the bus back to Stamford Bridge as he was excellent against the Blues for a second time in three weeks.
But when you take the game down to the bare bones, Chelsea simply were not good enough at the AMEX. The upwardly mobile Seagulls were much better, only their poor finishing cost them.
Chelsea's need some days off and Tuchel will give it to them before Spurs
It is now no win in four for the Blues since the turn of the year and if you stretch it back further, it is three wins in their last ten for Tuchel and Chelsea.
That's a poor run of form that has seen them drop well of the pace set by a relentless Man City at the top of the Premier League in a race that is almost over with Pep Guardiola's side romping to a fourth league title in five years.
Tuchel said that his players badly needed some rest and he has handed them two days off on Wednesday and Thursday before reporting back to Cobham on Friday to prepare for the visit to Spurs this weekend.
How badly do the Blues players need it?
"So, so badly," Tuchel said.
"You can use the excuse but it is like this. Look at the schedule, when we arrived at Man City we had a Carabao Cup match and we arrive here and they had more time to prepare.
"We have played since November; we play and play and play. We need to recharge the batteries and disconnect. This is my feeling.
"We will use Friday and Saturday to prepare for Sunday against Tottenham."
The players will have some vital rest over the next couple of days but with the Club World Cup, a Champions League tie at Lille, a Carabao Cup final against Arsenal or Liverpool and the Premier League games to come, it is not going to get any quieter for Tuchel.
