See why Tuchel was quick to defend Lukaku after Chelsea’s shock defeat

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City were able to finally return the bitter taste of defeat to Chelsea on Saturday as the Etihad club handed Chelsea their first loss of the new Premier League season.

Gabriel Jesus’ second-half strike was enough to seal all-three points for City after a thrilling encounter at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, it was disturbing how Chelsea’s hitman Lukaku cut an isolated figure in the Blues’ attack and failed to register a shot on goal against the Premier League champions.

But Tuchel who was quick to defend his new acquisition was adamant that the former Inter Milan machine who has scored four goals in seven appearances since returning to Chelsea, was not to blame for his side’s struggles in attack.

‘I don’t think it is necessary to talk about Romelu struggling today when we reached Romelu the attack was already half over because there were not enough people and there was simply no belief and connection,’ said Tuchel.

Lukaku’s bad day in office with no single shot on target

‘It was a team problem, not an individual problem.’

Tuchel also claims his Chelsea players ‘lacked belief’ and suffered from a drop in confidence after every mistake.

‘Part of performance is to make your opponent under-perform, this is what City did today. They were stronger, sharper, had more precision,’ said the Chelsea manager.

‘We lacked belief and confidence to escape in a situation where it was possible to escape.

‘With every mistake we did we lost more and more confidence and this can happen.

‘In the happen we defended very, very well until the goal but it was too deep. The game is so complex, you need a good performance on any level if you want to deserve a result and this was not the case today. We have to accept and keep on going.’