Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has rubbished claims of him publicly criticising the club over a lack of January market action.

Tuchel did admit the squad needed additions before Monday's deadline.

But he says: "When I described the situation that we lacked key players and we lacked maybe points because of this, I just described the situation - there were no messages to the board or to [director] Marina [Granovskaia].

"If I want to give a message I can go to my phone and call her or directly can do a meeting.

"So it was just to give my opinion why maybe things in the league table and the results and the style of play do not work out like we want them to work out.

"Of course we looked into the transfer market. Of course we were informed what is possible. Of course people offered us players. But you have to calm down the noise around it and it has to make sense. To make sense you need a big package because you need the quality, the personality and the position.

"Players like Malang Sarr stepped up when they played lately so considering the opportunities, it left us with the decision not to do anything, and it was a decision we took together."

Tuchel added: "I'm very calm. I still have trust in what we have. Everybody needs to step up and of course the group is not very big, we can struggle when we have injuries, but if there are doubts [over a transfer in], I have learned better not to do it and to trust in what we have, and also my job is to find solutions and bring out the best in all of us."