Thomas Tuchel newly selected Chelsea signing Kalidou Koulibaly for praise after the Blues were thrashed by Arsenal in Florida.
Chelsea were blown away by Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, with goals from Gabriel Jesus, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Albert Sambi Lokonga sealing a 4-0 win for Arsenal in Orlando.
Tuchel criticized his Chelsea players after the emphatic defeat, admitting the result was “worrying” for the new season.
But the German boss saw one reason to be positive after Arsenal’s win, with newcomer Koulibaly impressing in a cameo in the second half.
The Senegal centre-back, who made a £33million transfer from Napoli last week, came into action in the final 20 minutes and was “incredibly good” according to Tuchel.
“He was the best player on the field for us,” Tuchel said. “He was unbelievably good I must say.
“On a night where nothing felt right, this felt really good.”
Chelsea finished third in the Premier League last season, five points above Arsenal but 19 points behind champions Manchester City.
Liverpool also steered clear of the Blues and Tuchel says it is pointless to compare Chelsea to the Premier League’s two elite clubs after a disappointing preseason.
“Given our last two weeks, our game today, we can’t name the two teams in front of us,” Tuchel said.
“We have definitely been beaten by a team that won’t play Champions League football next season and finished behind us. But right now they seem to be way ahead of us.’
An obviously excited Tuchel added: ‘I think we deserved to lose – and that’s fair enough – because we just weren’t good enough.
“We were absolutely not competitive. The worrying thing is the level of commitment, physically and mentally, because this game was not the same, it was much higher for Arsenal than for us.
‘We can say that they played with, I think, their strongest line-up; they have been together for several weeks and over a year now.
“They have strengthened their line-up, played the same structure and this is the line-up they will try to start Premier League games.
“It wasn’t our strongest lineup and this is part of a statement, but only a small part. The other part is worrying.’
LAKE : Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta provides updates on Jesus and Vieira’s injuries after Chelsea win
LAKE : Thomas Tuchel lashes out at Chelsea stars after ‘disturbing’ Arsenal defeat
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