Thomas Tuchel with fierce criticism of his side after lowly defeat to Southampton

• Thomas Tuchel has come out to accuse his players of not being tough enough after a second successive defeat to Southampton
• The Saints fought back from two goals down to deservedly claim all three points at home
• Tuchel urged his side to show a different mentality in their next away game, which will be in the UEFA Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says his side did not show the right mentality after slumping to yet another away defeat, this time at the hands of Southampton.

Despite going ahead through Raheem Sterling, who scored his third goal in two games, Southampton bit back through another former Manchester City player Romeo Lavia who fired in a super effort after Edouard Mendy failed to clear a corner.

In truth, Southampton were the better side from then on and eventually found the lead when Adam Armstrong was neatly picked by Romain Perraud and his effort found the back of the net via a deflection from Kalidou Koulibaly.

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Speaking after the game, Tuchel did not hold back in his assessment, saying as per Sky Sport:

"We are not tough enough to win these matches away.”

“It was the same story in Leeds, there we thought the problem was we didn't score in the first 25 minutes and then they pushed us off-balance in two minutes with two goals and we could not find any answers.”

“Soft defending”

In terms of his team’s defence, the gaffer added:

"Soft defending. What stops that is pure mentality, stop it with defending mentality. There is no superiority for the opponent, there is no need to give shots away, just toughen up as a team and show a different mentality”

Chelsea will have to dust themselves up fast as they have a London derby against West Ham on Saturday, before opening their Champions League campaign with a trip to Croatia to face Dinamo Zagreb.