Echoing Chidge and the gang from the Tuesday Fancast (We have assumed control) us Chelsea fans probably have been spoilt in the clubs current choice in First Team Coach, Thomas Tuchel.
He is one game away from equalling Maurizio Sarri’s record of the first 12 games being unbeaten. However, Sarri had significantly easier running, and it was in a period in the season where the pressure isn’t exactly on the team yet.
Not to mention that Tommy T took over a team on the verge of destruction. So this weeks article is going to further some of the points made in the Fancast as well as expand on some different points in which Tommy T is duly, gaining some credit with the Chelsea faithful.
Marcos Alonso was an outcast after the dismal draw at West Brom earlier in the season. Frank Lampard rightly dropped him as I think it is wrong for a player to abandon his team during a game like he did. Frank however, clearly lost a player who isn’t done yet.
He not only has been consistently good back in his favoured left-wing-back position, but we’ve gained another player on the pitch who takes a fantastic dead ball, but also attacks the opposition at any given chance.
Alonso has the uncanny ability to go from defensive left-sided player to secondary winger. The run he made for the goal Kai Havertz should’ve been awarded was better than any run Christian Pulisic has made since the back end of last season. All in all, Marcos has gone from a ‘get him out in the summer’ to a reliable 8/10 every week.
Kai Havertz has also come into some form and I think this is mainly down to Tommy T but I also believe that it’s down to the fact that he’s fully fit again. When Frank was in control Havertz did have a few games where he was fantastic, Southampton at home comes to mind as well as his hat-trick against Barnsley.
He then annoyingly caught covid and then was plagued with injury through much of the winter months. Tuchel chose to play Havertz over Mason Mount in his first game against Wolves, a game in which I felt that Havertz played really well.
It’s no secret that I’ve been overly critical of Havertz but when you combine his performance against Everton and Wolves I think we’ve got a serious player on our hands.
It’s fair to say as a Chelsea supporter I’ve seen what Havertz actually can offer the blues. I really like the idea of Havertz and Mount playing behind a striker as support players, this could really be a dominating force in years to come.
The system under Tuchel is reminiscent of Sarri, mainly because of the reliance on Jorginho plus another midfielder in a double 6 (I LOVE this term) but also the way the team builds everything from Eduard Mendy at the back.
I have identified three key players to make this system work over the previous 11 games, Mendy, Jorginho and Mount are all vital in this system working. Mendy’s main role is obviously as the goalkeeper, however, he plays out from the back with such composure that the team rarely panics from the get go.
The defensive link to the midfield in the Jorginho, he does nothing else other than successfully link the defence and the midfield.
By having Jorginho do this it gives N’Golo Kante/ Mateo Kovacic the freedom to go further forward and aid the attacking players in the team to create successful attacks. Mount is then the tip of the spearhead. He receives the ball in the oppositions half and he causes chaos. He is Chelsea’s chaos causer and I love it.
Whenever he gets the ball he travels forward into space in the same way Eden Hazard used to. So long as Mount is fit this Chelsea team will always have an outlet further up the pitch, not to mention how he will always defend when called upon, which is a very unselfish trait to have as an attacking player.
The credit Tuchel deserves is astronomical. He’s well and truly turned the team around and for the better. Players that seemed on their way out are now huge parts of this successful system. Players like Cesar Azpilicueta who looks past it all of a sudden seem back to their best as a solid third centre-back. It is harmonious and I am loving it.
Tuchel deserves all the credit, and I think it can only get better.
