Thomas Tuchel not upset by boos after Chelsea draw at home again - with ‘good’ performance enough for manager

Thomas Tuchel has refused to take offence after boos rang around Stamford Bridge on Thursday night after Chelsea drew at home to Everton.

The German is adamant the European champions are not in crisis, despite falling further behind Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of the table.

A 1-1 draw against a depleted Everton side was the latest blow for Chelsea, who have slipped from first to third in recent weeks as their form has deserted them.

That is now dropped points against Burnley, Manchester United, West Ham and Everton in their last seven Premier League games. And such was the frustration among fans after Thursday’s setback that jeers were heard on the final whistle.

But Tuchel took a pragmatic view of that reaction and admitted his own frustration at the manner in which his side have allowed themselves to become derailed.

He said: “Okay booing happens, but I don’t think it was for the performance. The people were disappointed. They came to support us and in the end they were disappointed and we were as well.

“I refuse to take it personally. These things happen and I can just tell everyone that we need the support, we need the players at the top level and we need the supporters at the top level. Especially when things get a bit tough and a bit tight.”

Chelsea have now conceded in each of their last six games in all competitions – while their lack of cutting edge up front has only added to their problems. But Tuchel insists he is not overly concerned.

“We’re disappointed, very disappointed because we’re in exactly the place where you don’t want to be,” he said ahead of Sunday’s game against Wolves.

“We have good performances, sometimes very good, but we don’t have the results. This is exactly the place where you don’t want to be.

“If you have bad performances and don’t have the results you just focus on the performance and you say it out loud. You get your things done, get the details better, get the performance better. Whatever needs to be done, get it done to increase the possibility of a result.

“A good performance and no result is the worst place. A bad performance and a good result is the best place because you say focus on the performance and we still win and you have the [good] atmosphere.

“In this space where we are, it’s tricky because I don’t see where we played a bad game at West Ham and I refuse to analyse the Everton match from the result. I can understand the disappointment of the supporters because we were all super disappointed. It felt like a loss, but I absolutely refuse to analyse this match from the result because it makes no sense.

“We can focus on the performance and we can focus on details against West Ham. We lost two points against Manchester United because we made a silly mistake. We were clearly the better team. It seems to be a pattern, but only if you look at the result.

“And if you only look at results in football you can be misled, horribly misled.”

Meanwhile Tuchel says Chelsea will continue to target a quintuple of trophies, despite the risk of fixture congestion in the New Year.

His side travel to Abu Dhabi in February for the Club World Cup, which will see two Premier League games postponed. Chelsea are also in the Carabao Cup and enter the FA Cup next month.

Asked if he would have to sacrifice a competition, Tuchel said: “No, we will never do this because if we think we need to rest players or give players a chance to play, like it’s a bit of a tradition in the Carabao Cup, we will do it, but then we will prepare the match to win the match.

“This is the spirit we have to keep ongoing. It is a struggle, of course it’s a struggle and it feels very, very demanding for everybody, staff and most of all the players. But we will push through it.

“There is no other option. We love to play in these competitions and we want to stay in the competitions and we want to arrive in March, April, May in these competitions, so no we don’t start judging games for their value.”