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Thomas Tuchel was clear in his analysis of the 3-3 draw with Zenit St Petersburg after Chelsea continued a worrying trend in Russia on Wednesday night.

Magomed Ozdoev’s stoppage-time thunderbolt consigned a patched-up Chelsea to a draw and second place in Champions League Group H. Timo Werner thought he had settled the argument with a smart, late second goal in the closing stages, only for Ozdoev to lash home a half-volley from the edge of the area at the death.

Juventus’ 1-0 win over Malmo secured top spot for the Italians. It leaves defending champions Chelsea sweating on a potentially-tougher draw in the last-16 knockout stage.

And afterwards Tuchel, who was unwilling to discuss individuals, blamed his side’s mental approach when going ahead.

“If you are coach of Chelsea and you concede six goals in two matches, four times we’ve given the lead away, my ambition to talk about individual performances is not so high. We can’t be happy today or against West Ham,” said Tuchel in his press conference, via Football London.

“It is like that now not to talk about individual performances. Nobody can be happy.

“I think we had a very good first 15 minutes but we stopped doing the things we did. I had the feeling, and this is my opinion, that we forgot why we were the better team. And once this drops, once we start managing results, we get punished.

“It happened against West Ham and today. The reaction is good because it shows that it’s not about what we can do. When we concede goals we can show a reaction but once we have the lead, we give it away again.

‘Our behaviour changes’

“We start playing balls back, not attacking with the same aggression and hunger than before. We got punished twice and it is for me the level of investment we have to do right, not matter what is on the scoresheet.

“My analysis is very clear: our behaviour changes when we have a lead and this is something we’ve never done and should never do.

“The challenge is to close the door and minimise the possibility. We need a higher level of sprints, runs, concentration levels. The basics need to be pushed while we are in the lead. They can’t drop when we are in the lead. It’s not the big picture.

“They played exactly as we thought: with quality if we give space, with counter attacks.

“If we give space they will punish us. We need to do our stuff at the highest level and if we do it, you get a game like the first 15 minutes. This is what happened.”

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Reece James just filling in at No.6

Asked whether Reece James would now be considered a No. 6 after filling in there in Russia, Tuchel said:  “I expect N’Golo, Mateo, Jorgi and Ruben to start in midfield but they are all out so we had to get creative with Reecey. The target is to put him on the wing but we need players in midfield.”

Tuchel’s opposite number Sergei Semak said Chelsea’s changes left them open.

“We managed to create a lot of opportunities but unfortunately we let them score. It’s great we scored in the end because during the game we could’ve scored more, but then so could have they. The result is ok,” said Semak.

“Chelsea played openly today. If you look at the last five games, they let their opponents only score once and today we scored three times. For them, the game was easy in terms of motivation.

“Their head coach let a lot of players rest so today’s team meant the game was open and it meant there were a lot of opportunities. It’s difficult to play like that all the time.”

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