Thomas Tuchel now also has his Premier League victory, emerging from Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Anfield last night after a “complete display” of his charges. Ten games, ten unbeaten. Even more impressive, only two goals conceded, but only one of them was actually scored by an opposing player.
The comparison with Mourinho’s early life at Chelsea also remains valid, with The Special One making a better victory (8-2-0 vs. 7-3-0 in all competitions), but with identical defensive records (only 2 suffered) By the way, match # 10 for both coaches was a 1-0 victory over Liverpool: Joe Cole scoring at Bridge in October 2004.
The key to Tuchel’s defensive scheme was the move to a three-defense, with Thiago Silva initially anchoring that line. But Andreas Christensen came back from the cold to make a series of increasingly impressive performances after Silva was injured against Spurs. Christensen was making his sixth game in the last seven games, with Chelsea maintaining their fifth game without conceding a goal during that series. The 24-year-old has played so well that it is far from a foregone conclusion that Silva would regain his place if and when he finally returned from his thigh injury.
“Andreas intervened in the middle of the first half against Tottenham, which was a very difficult thing to do, and since the first minute, he has been absolutely impressive.
“He is brave, strong in individual challenges, brave and intelligent in construction and plays with a lot of confidence. I am absolutely happy with his performances and how he stood out. It has been a big part of our performances. “
-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London
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Chelsea Football Club photo / Getty Images
Of course there were absolute heroes across the field for Chelsea yesterday, but another one chosen by the head coach was N’Golo Kanté, who partnered with a discreetly impressive Jorginho in the center.
This was just Kanté’s fourth game under Tuchel (although he played in all but the first two games when he was recovering from an injury), and the most impressive so far, with and without the ball. In addition to the glorious help he gave Mount, he put on a vintage performance “70% of the Earth is covered by water, the rest is covered by Kanté”.
A gift, if you like, and Tuchel certainly did.
“[Kanté] It’s a gift. It’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. In training, in games, he never stops. We look at the data on its intensity and it is incredible. It really is a gift. “
-Thomas Tuchel; source: RMC Sport via Metro
If we want to worry about the omens, Mourinho’s 11th match at the helm represented his first defeat (and only one in the Premier League that season), 1-0 to Manchester City, which at the time was still a little unsettling. Chelsea have a big test against Everton on Monday, while the fight for the top four continues to come to an end.
But if we manage to keep defensive excellence going, we certainly have a good chance of finishing in the top four.