Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has refused to give his players any excuses after their 2-1 defeat to Southampton.
The Blues suffered their second loss of the season, both coming away from home, as the Saints showed their class to defeat Tuchel's men.
It looked to be a fairly comfortable match, with Chelsea getting in several times early on but unable to convert.
However, Raheem Sterling found the breakthrough on the 23rd minute, netting after a Mason Mout pull-back.
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After winning 6-0 at St Mary's last season, it looked like the floodgates could open after Sterling's opener but just five minutes later, Southampton had an equaliser.
Romeo Lavia's shot from outside the box saw them level before Adam Armstrong put them ahead just before half-time.
With Ruben Loftus-Cheek going off injured at half-time and Chelsea missing Conor Gallagher and N'Golo Kante through suspension and injury, Tuchel was left with a lack of options.
The German risked Mateo Kovacic at half-time despite being advised to play the Croatian for a maximum of 20 minutes.
Despite this, the head coach has refused to give his side any excuses for leaving the south coast empty handed.
Speaking to the press, as quoted by football.london, Tuchel also refused to take the last six months off-the-pitch into account as an excuse.
He said: "Maybe, maybe. But the line is so thin between excuses and explanations, so I better not go down this road because I don't want to give any chance for anybody – myself, staff players – any room for excuses.
"We need to find solutions.
"What will help is the closing of the transfer window.
"We will know then who has the full commitment, what we demand, what role everybody needs to play and fulfil.
"And then everybody, including myself, needs to step up to a new level of performance because these are ok performances, not a disaster, but they are ok and ok can never be enough for us."
The transfer market slams shut on Thursday, with the Blues still looking to bring in reinforcements before the deadline.
Wesley Fofana is set to sign while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wilfried Zaha and Anthony Gordon have also been linked.
Topics: Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel, Southampton, Football, Premier League
Nick Emms