Wednesday November 24th 2021
Chelsea plows through CL and PL
What was Thomas Tuchel doing there?
Needed by David
Juventus Turin swept 4-0 off the pitch: After two defeats in September, Thomas Tuchel transformed his Chelsea FC into a powerhouse that dominated the Champions and Premier League with a spectacular offensive and hardly any goals conceded. How did the German coach do it?
It was a small final. Of course only in group H of the Champions League, but with three points the so far unbeaten old lady from Turin would have won the group almost certainly. But against Thomas Tuchel’s FC Chelsea there is nothing to be gained these days. Juventus also had to acknowledge this in the 4-0 (1-0) England win, with which the Blues fought for the lead in the group. In some cases, Tuchel’s team played on the sidelines in its 50th game, the Italians around defense boss Andrea Bonucci dizzy, while there was hardly anything behind. This top class with torrent is the current normal situation: What did the German coach actually do with Chelsea?
Tuchel had to do without the not yet fit Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku against Juve. But no problem. As so often this season, Chelsea could rely on their own generation from the junior academy: 1-0 Trevoh Chalobah (22, in the club since 2007) in minute 25, 2-0 Reece James (21, since 2006) in the 55th minute Minute, 3-0 Callum Hudson-Odoi (21, since 2007) just eight minutes later after presentation by Ruben Loftus Cheek (25, since 2004). Mason Mount (with the club since 2005) and international striker Timo Werner also achieved the final score in stoppage time.
“That was masterful,” applauded Chelsea legend Joe Cole in his role as TV analyst after the game. “Words fail to describe what the team are doing. It will be difficult for anyone to stop them.”
“Loan Army” integrated
Only goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny prevented with brilliant saves that the defeat against the brilliant blues did not turn into a worse disgrace for Turin. Nevertheless, it was the first bankruptcy for Juve with a four-goal difference in all competitions in almost 18 years. But who can be trusted to do something like that in Europe at the moment, if not Chelsea? The round of 16 ticket in the Champions League is booked, the table in the English Premier League is led by three points ahead of the mighty Citizens from Manchester. In the premier class and league, Tuchel’s men won eight of the last nine games (one draw) and did not concede a single goal seven times.
Since his takeover in January, Thomas Tuchel has transformed Chelsea – and this season he is increasingly relying on the players from the Chelsea Academy, which is currently probably the best management team in the world. The German coach has finally found a way for London to successfully integrate the many talents that have been awarded across Europe over the years (which gave rise to the infamous nickname “Loan Army”). A certain Jamal Musiala also belonged to the academy from 2011 to 2019, who is now on the hunt for goals for FC Bayern and the German national team.
Reece James and Ben Chilwell (24, trained at Leicester City) in particular made a huge leap forward as full-backs this season, although they weren’t Tuchel’s first choice at the start of the season. James confirmed his top form with a wonderful chest acceptance and volley goal against Juventus and is currently seen by many observers on the right wing even in front of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. “He shoots like a horse,” laughed Tuchel after the 3-0 win over Newcastle in late October, in which James scored a brace.
“Wouldn’t call them defenders”
After taking office, Tuchel switched to a three-way defense, which is currently incredibly difficult to crack with German national player Antonio Rüdiger, old master Thiago Silva and either Chalobah or Andreas Christensen (25, in the academy and club since 2015) and the additional full-backs James and Chilwell is. That was the first goal. Because in the previous season, the coach wanted to achieve one thing above all else: prevent goals that the Blues had rarely managed in previous years. The full-backs therefore didn’t move up that far, mostly acting around the center line.
But now it is Tuchel’s inoculated momentum for the offensive on the outside that makes Chelsea so dangerous. “I wouldn’t call them defenders,” said the team manager even about his two young stars on the outside, whom he positioned further forward and gave them a lot of freedom. Again and again James and Chilwell storm into the box, as the penalty area is called in England, and create chances or score goals themselves. According to Sky Sport, the two have on average more ball contacts in the opposing penalty area than any other defender. Only in a single league game did the Blues fail to score.
The full-back role is not an easy one, but it is perhaps the most important in the fast-paced, physical game of these years, which is about opening up spaces and using them as effectively as possible and filling in the gaps that strikers leave behind. Tuchel knows this and has accordingly progressively adapted the game of the blues. “We ask a lot from our full-backs,” said the coach at the beginning of this season. “They have to defend when it is time to defend and they have to attack when we get into the opponent’s box.” Without the two full-backs you could “not be dangerous in half space,” said Tuchel. They provide the breadth to crack a dense defensive line: “You have to have options to pull the defense apart.”
James and Chilwell pay back the coach’s confidence in performance. James scored four goals and provided as many assists in nine league games, while Chilwell scored three goals and provided an assist in his six Premier League games. And the back of the vest is almost always white. In the Champions League, 10: 1 goals are on the account, in the Premier League after twelve games 30: 4 goals (best defensive and second best offensive after Jürgen Klopps FC Liverpool). Tuchel said he saw the two 1-0 defeats in late September in the first leg against Juventus and in the league against Manchester City as a turning point. Then he let go of the James-Chilwell wing tongs for the first time, Tore en Masse (without Lukaku and Werner in the past few weeks) and no further defeat have been the result so far.
Transformer Tuchel does not have enough
Another reason for the few goals conceded (since his takeover in January there are only 17 in the league): Tuchel not only stabilized the defensive, but also the midfield, where there were always frightening gaps among his predecessors. The former BVB coach managed to create a balance in this important central part of the team with European champion Jorginho and world champion N’Golo Kanté. The space between defense and midfield, which opponents previously liked to exploit, is no longer there. For the offensive there is then James and Chilwell – and a certain Lukaku and strike partner “century talent” Havertz.
One of the most important tasks in terms of defense now comes to Tuchel off the field. The pillars Rüdiger, Christensen, Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta have contracts that expire at the end of the season. Negotiations are ongoing, of course, and the fact that the successful transformation coach Tuchel recently said that he was aiming to stay at Chelsea for the long term may have a positive effect.
“From broken to brilliant” was the headline of the English “Guardian” in May about Tuchel’s measures to change from a broken Chelsea FC to a brilliant top team. Subsequently, the Blues won the Champions League and this year they sat at the top of the Premier League with more offensive tactics and talents from the management team. And what now? Of course, transformer Thomas Tuchel has not had enough: I want “that we are the team that nobody wants to play against.”