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Chelsea dancing to the Tuchel tune
“It's a big step and feels excellent,” said Tuchel who is unbeaten in 13 games as Chelsea coach since replacing Frank Lampard last January.
Emerson scoring with his first touch against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday was symptomatic of how Thomas Tuchel has hit the ground running as Chelsea coach. The 2-0 win against La Liga leader—Hakim Ziyach had scored the opening goal—took Chelsea to the quarter-final of the Champions League for the first time since 2014.
“It's a big step and feels excellent,” said Tuchel who is unbeaten in 13 games as Chelsea coach since replacing Frank Lampard last January.
Chelsea have a history of coaches starting well—Jose Mourinho in his first stint, Avram Grant, Roberto di Matteo, Guus Hiddink and Maurizio Sarri—so while auspicious, the beginning of Tuchel’s 18-month stint isn’t unique. Yet, though goals are still a problem, there are reasons to believe that Chelsea has turned a corner.
They were ninth in the Premiership when Lampard left; they are now fourth, having won 22 of the 30 possible points after Tuchel, 47, was parachuted in. They are also alive in the FA Cup and has conceded only twice and kept six straight clean sheets, 11 in all.
Defensive solidity has been key to Tuchel’s success. From his first game, a 0-0 draw against Wolves on January 27, he has switched to a three-back formation. “…so we could defend with five and have a quicker press..,” Tuchel had then said. Lampard’s team was vulnerable against counter-attacks and set-pieces but Chelsea now protect their goal better (expected goals against (xGA) is now usually less than 0.65, down from 1 in Lampard’s last few games.)
And once the ball is won, the idea, according to Tuchel’s mentor Ralf Rangnick, is to get to the rival goal in 10 seconds. Crucial to that would be a strong run at the opposition defence and Chelsea’s second goal—set going by N’Golo Kante who then ran almost the length of the pitch and created space for Emerson on the other side—showcased that well.
Against Atletico Madrid, who played with 10 men after Stefan Savic was shown the red card in the 81st minute, Tuchel started with a 3-4-2-1 formation. It was what the German had employed against Wolves too but Tuchel is not set in his ways. According to a report in “The Athletic”, between 2015-16 and 2016-17 at Dortmund, he played 4-2-3-1 in 24 games, 4-1-4-1 in 15, 3-4-3 (13 games), 4-3-3 (6 games) and 3-1-4-2 (5 games). At PSG in less than two seasons (2018-20) he played 4-3-3 in 26 games; 4-4-2 in 14; 4-2-2-2 in 10; 4-2-3-1 in eight and 3-5-2 in seven.
No one also knows what team Chelsea will line up. Till last week’s game against Leeds United, Tuchel had used 19 different players and never the same starting line-up twice. Not only does that keep a large squad happy, rotation also helps Tuchel keep players fresh in a difficult season. It has also given players such as skipper Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso, Antonio Rudiger and keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga a new lease of life. Of course, it helps that Tuchel has a young squad; Chelsea are the sixth youngest team in the Premiership.
“We know what he wants, so when we are on the pitch we have to show why he has chosen us,” said goalie Edouard Mendy after the 1-0 away win at Atletico Madrid.
Frequent changes to the start list can also get players to evolve, like Tuchel did with Raphael Guerreiro at Dortmund, converting the left back into a central midfielder. In his short stint, Tuchel has used Callum Hudson-Odoi as a right wing-back and moved Kante to central midfield from his usual right side in a 4-3-3. Azpilicueta has been slotted as a right-sided centre-back and thus is not in competition with Reece James for the right-back slot.
“We have the capacity to hurt everybody in every competition with this squad,” Tuchel had said after the Wolves game. When on Wednesday, he said, “I'm pretty sure no-one wants to play against us,” it felt like an extension of that idea into Europe.
