History repeats itself
Chelsea were always going to be without N'Golo Kante for the trip to St Mary's to face Southampton. Conor Gallagher was ruled out too following his red card against Leicester City on Saturday. That left Thomas Tuchel with a midfield problem to solve given Mateo Kovacic is not yet able to play 90 minutes following his recovery from injury.
What Tuchel needed was the rest of his squad available. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Reece James was ruled out in the build-up to the game with an illness and was joined on the sidelines by Tevoh Chalobah. The centre-back was nursing a knock sustained at the weekend in a clash with Jamie Vardy.
READ MORE Every word Thomas Tuchel said on Chelsea defeat, late signings, injuries, squad mentality, more
So Tuchel went with what he had – although let's not pretend the starting XI was devoid of quality. Every player selected was a full international. Every player selected had top-level experience in abundance. Every player could offer more than enough to beat Southampton.
Yet after Romeo Lavia cancelled out Raheem Sterling's opener, Chelsea showed very little in the way of fight. And when Adam Armstrong put Southampton ahead moments before the interval, the Blues meekly surrendered. It is a concern for Tuchel. And he highlighted after the game why history is currently repeating itself.
"Do you know what it reminded me of? Juventus last season. We played a fantastic match at Stamford Bridge, and after that, we had Chilly (Ben Chilwell) out for eight months and Kante out for three months," the Chelsea head coach explained in his post-match press conference.
"It was the same against Tottenham: we had a fantastic performance. After that, our key players say goodbye for six weeks in N'Golo. Then it's red cards, it's again a red card for Conor. Ruben (Loftus-Cheek) goes off injured tonight. Mateo Kovacic is injured for eight weeks since pre-season. This is what it reminds me of – Reece James is off for the game with illness too.
"It's key player after key player. It's a fact, and with our demands and the ambition we have it's simply like that. But it's even more important if these key players are missing that we need to show a different mentality. It's not enough at the moment to win at Leeds and Southampton.
"There's no shame in it; we are humble enough to admit we can lose football matches, although we hate it. But it's too easy to push us off the track, too easy to win challenges, too easy to bully us."
Attacking frustrations continue
Tuchel could have shaken up his attack at St Mary's, could've gone with something a little different. And while Hakim Ziyech – whose move to Ajax now appears to be off – did come into the side for his first start of the campaign, the trio of Sterling, Mason Mount and Kai Havertz all started.
There were flashes of quality from each player and moments where they posed Southampton a threat. Yet there were also instances of sloppy passes and poor decision-making which halted promising attacks. Sterling was guilty in the opening period of not finding Havertz on a counter-attack and also not playing Mount through when the academy graduate was in space.
That incident brought a cry of frustration from Mount, who debated with Sterling after possession had been lost. But the summer signing from Man City did take his goal well. And in the second period, with Chelsea searching for a goal, Sterling wasn't afraid to take on possession to try to make something happen. Sadly, he came up with little.
What will be of concern to Tuchel is that five games into the Premier League campaign, neither Mount nor Havertz have found the net. They haven't played particularly well either in those appearances and there will come a point where the Chelsea head coach has to make a change.
Armando Broja was introduced in the second period against Southampton and while he didn't get on the scoresheet, he showed flashes of what he could offer Chelsea. The Albania international will hope it's enough to get a start come Saturday against West Ham United.
Transfer priority clear
The minutes ticked away in the second half as Chelsea toiled in search of an equaliser. Kovacic had been introduced at half time and in the 67th minute, a triple change saw Ben Chilwell, Christian Pulisic and Broja brought on. Still, the Blues struggled to find a way through Southampton.
Tuchel had another substitution up his sleeve but never came close to using it. Those outfield players left on the bench – Ethan Ampadu, Billy Gilmour, Carney Chukwuemeka and Harvey Vale – didn't even come out to undertake a warm-up. They simply watched on like the rest of those in the stands.
That spoke volumes for how Tuchel views the younger members of his squad; they are not trusted and will not be used unless absolutely needed. "Yesterday we had 16 players in training," Tuchel said bluntly after the game. "I just have what we have on the training pitch, and this is not a lot at the moment."
Chelsea co-owner and interim sporting director Todd Boehly will look to change that before the transfer window closes at 11pm on Thursday evening. The Blues are expected to be busy with signings anticipated to be made and exits from the first team and Development Squad likely to be sanctioned.
But what Boehly and Tuchel can't do is panic. Yes, the defeat at Southampton was disappointing and there are obvious areas of the squad in need of improvement, but every decision has to be taken logically and without emotion. A big mistake will be made otherwise. They can't lose their grip on the reality of the situation.
Wesley Fofana's move is expected to be confirmed today – that's the second central defender Tuchel wanted. Another attacking player is on his agenda – Chelsea will continue talks over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – and an approach for a midfielder can't be ruled out given the injuries issues with Kante and Kovacic over the 18 months.
There is still quality in this Chelsea squad. It just needs to be coaxed out of players who appear to have lost confidence. The transfer market is not a cure-all solution. It's important that is remembered.
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