Tuchel gives honest verdict on Chelsea's season after FA Cup defeat

The Blues failed to claim the FA Cup title after another penalty shoot-out heartbreak against Liverpool.

Thomas Tuchel admits his side have struggled for form but says he won’t judge Chelsea’s season by their two lost finals.

The Blues lost the FA Cup final against Liverpool after a dramatic penalty shoot-out on Sunday.

It was the second time this season that Tuchel’s side missed out on a trophy in the last step. Another penalty heartbreak against Liverpool prevented the Blues from claiming the Carabao Cup back in February.

However, Tuchel believes it would be unfair to judge Chelsea’s season based on these two performances.

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“I refuse to judge the season by two penalty shoot-outs,” the German boss insisted. “If we won both, it would be one of the most successful seasons with four titles [after winning the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup].

“We lost two but it doesn’t make it less impressive what the team put in. But we’re the first to admit that it’s not the same to play a final and win a final.

“So it’s a bit of an imbalance judging the season given the circumstances. We struggled with corona, long-term injuries, a war that had a big effect on our club in particular.

“There’s always room for improvement, but we arrived in this [FA Cup] with key players out, Mateo [Kovacic] and N’Golo [Kante] with only half a training session, with the club sanctions, there is a lot of things that are impressive. Hopefully, we can come third and that is progression.

“We maybe compete against the best teams to play in this league. So from there we go. There is no need to lose sleep and think we should’ve done this and this.

“There is a lot of ambition in us that we are not satisfied with.”