Thomas Tuchel praised USMNT winger Christian Pulisic after his first game at the helm of Chelsea, and also revealed his surprise at knowing so many of the current Blues team so well, as he plans to create a difficult team to face.
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Tuchel, 47, was named Chelsea’s new coach on Tuesday and led the team to a 0-0 draw with Wolves on Wednesday when it dominated possession but failed to find the finishing touch. never appearing defensively vulnerable as the man who replaced Frank Lampard hailed 16 final third recoveries during the game.
Asked by ProSoccerTalk about how to have players he already knew well at Chelsea (Pulisic and Thiago Silva previously played for him) and how important they would be to convey his tactics and ideas, Tuchel said.
“The funny thing is that you join a team in the middle of the season and you already know Kai [Havertz] and Timo [Werner] and Toni [Rudiger], and I fight for many years to have N’Golo Kante in my team that is here, and I spoke French with Olivier Giroud, and I have a clear picture because I am following the Premier League all the time ”, said Tuchel. “Even when I’m training in Dortmund and Paris, I have a clear idea of what the boys are capable of. Finding a guy like Azpilicueta suddenly in his office is just incredible, because in the end I’m also a fan. I’ve been a football fan almost since I was born. “
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“Christian, for sure, I know very well what he is capable of. He had a great contribution. It was an unfair decision today for him not to start. I told him it was just because I know what you can get from the bank because I know you. I don’t know the others and I’m not sure what others can do with the bank, but you are a player who can start for us and can absolutely change things for us at the bank. He was incredible. And at the break he said ‘hey coach, you said the wrong name for Azpi!’ He helped me with that. Maybe it was a big help and that’s why we love him. “
For anyone wondering, Pulisic was probably pointing out to Tuchel that Azpilicueta’s nickname is simply, ‘Dave’ among fans and others.
As for Pulisic, he is clearly a player Tuchel trusts and will be the key to this reconstruction, as his brief participation on the bench caused so many problems for the Wolves, as the USMNT star served as a right-back.
What does Tuchel want to create at Chelsea?
Tuchel said he was “surprised” at how his Chelsea team managed to adapt to his ideas so quickly, and he was repeatedly asked by journalists what he has to change and what was wrong before he arrived.
The German coach has said several times that very little is wrong and instead plans to focus on Chelsea’s strengths to push them up the table.
“We are going to focus entirely on our strengths and the qualities that we absolutely have. We are going to build a team that absolutely nobody wants to play against, ”said Tuchel. “This is the challenge and the challenge is to do this as quickly as possible. For today I was very, very satisfied and from here we can build. “
He also added that they must be “realistic” and that the conversation about returning to the conversation about the title is far away, but focusing on reaching the top four should be the first challenge.
After just 24 hours with the team, you can see a clear change in Chelsea’s playing style and it seems that Tuchel has realized that there is nothing wrong with this team he inherited.