Thomas Tuchel slammed ‘sloppy’ Chelsea after Brentford shocked the European champions, but described the Bees as ‘lucky’ despite their emphatic win at Stamford Bridge.
Brentford came from behind to cause a huge upset in the west London derby, recording their first victory over Chelsea since 1939 and move closer to safety.
Antonio Rudiger’s remarkable strike gave Chelsea the lead three minutes into the second-half, but Brentford responded with three goals in 10 minutes.
Vitaly Janelt scored twice and Christian Eriksen netted his first goal for Brentford as they turned the game on its head and left the London club in shock.
Yoane Wissa added a fourth for Thomas Frank’s side late on as the Blues slipped to a fourth league defeat of the campaign, with their place in the top-four place now not so certain.
Tuchel told BBC Sport: ‘Nobody saw it coming, especially after going 1-0 ahead. It was very untypical of us. ‘But we stopped defending. We were not aware of enough of the danger, were sloppy with the defending and got punished.
‘They made the most of it in those 10 minutes. Right after their third goal we had 10 minutes where we had big, big chances and we missed them.
‘They were lucky and clinical enough to get three goals. We did not defend like it is needed to in the Premier League and got punished.’
The German coach added: ‘We lost control for 10 minutes. It was a tough start for us which is also not the first time after an international break. We were OK in the first half and had a very good start to the second half and took the lead.
‘Maybe we thought it was already done and we got punished in 10 minutes. In general we allowed too many shots and in general we lacked energy. We looked mentally tired which is normal after being around the world.
‘After scoring we forgot we still had 40 minutes to play. I think it was deserved we took the lead.
‘I did not have high expectations. We struggled and we found a way to be in the lead. We made life very complicated for ourselves because we stopped defending.’
Brentford manager Frank, meanwhile, said: ‘It’s always easy after, but I said in the press conference if we could win here it would be the biggest result of the season and it definitely is.
‘Before the game I said to the players I think we have a chance. The character and mentality in these players is very impressive.’
Chelsea will need to respond on Wednesday when Real Madrid visit Stamford Bridge for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final.
