Thomas Tuchel’s Mourinho start to his Chelsea career continued with a goalless draw against Manchester United, which maintained our most excellent defensive record (only 2 conceded in 9 games so far), but also kept our attacking habits much less excellent (only 10 scored in the same period).
Okay, Manchester United is hard to beat on the road (20 unbeaten out of Old Trafford now) and our recent record against them is pretty bad (seven without a league win), but in the end what decided that game was different against Atletico Madrid in the middle of the week, that moment of absolute quality has not arrived. And when you play in a way that creates few of those moments, each one takes on the greatest importance.
“I had the feeling that we deserved to win, but at this level it is the details that decide. Perhaps there are not many opportunities and we needed luck that we did not have.
“It was a strong performance in the second half, good energy, a lot of courage, very aggressive and a good performance in the second half.”
In isolation, a draw is not the worst result, equaling the result of the reverse game at the beginning of this season, and certainly improving our defeats at home and outside last season.
But in the context of the current classification and our fight for the first four, there are two more points down, and four points have fallen in the last two weekends, making the margins going forward even more tiny. As it stands, we are still one point in fourth, but also now (probably) just one point ahead of sixth place, Liverpool, with whom we will play next Thursday at Anfield. (Liverpool are in action against the bottom of the table, Sheffield United now.)
“It certainly would have been a big step, but we cannot hope for results. United’s victory would have made the difference even bigger.
“We try everything to win. We prepared everything to win, we didn’t talk about other games and we are in the middle of the battle for the first four.
“We closed the gap very, very quickly and now is the time to endure, show performances every three, four days and that requires a lot. We are still in the battle and that is the good news. This could have been a big step for us, but it is not the last step or the decisive step. “
-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London
Each point counts, of course, but we have 13 games left this season and it will be an absolute grind. Take cover.