Thomas Tuchel said he will continue to experiment with Chelsea‘s starting line-up despite finding the winning formula in his second match in charge.
Chelsea beat Burnley 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday for their first win under Tuchel, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso both on target as the Blues edged closer to the Premier League top four.
Azpilicueta also started last week’s goalless draw against Wolves, but for Alonso it was a first Chelsea appearance since September’s 3-3 draw with West Brom, and one which he capped off with a fine volley six minutes from time.
Alonso’s surprise return at wing-back was the biggest indicator yet that Tuchel has approached this new role with an open mind, and still shy of a week in the job the Chelsea boss admitted he will keep on tinkering.
“If we manage to find a starting XI that can guarantee us to win 20 in a row we will not change, but that’s very unlikely,” he said. “We need everybody. I’m only some days in, we decided very late for a back three.
“We’ll give everybody the chance to show up in competitions. Every player has every right to start for us, because I’m very happy with the quality and emotion in training.
“It’s super-hard in selection, or maybe also super-easy because I’m giving everyone the chance to show their abilities.”
On the opposing flank to Alonso, Tuchel picked Callum Hudson-Odoi ahead of Reece James for the second successive game, and once more the 20-year-old impressed when assisting Azpilicueta’s well-taken opener five minutes before half-time.
Asked why Hudson-Odoi is being played at wing-back, Tuchel replied: “Why not? Of course we knew him, there were big rumours around him and Bayern Munich but we knew before if you are interested in football, upcoming players, he was in the focus way before I ever thought about being his manager.
“He has the ability to be decisive with his runs, his speed and at the moment we have opted for this structure. He had another good game, if we can improve the precision of our guys in the box then maybe we can score more goals.”
Meanwhile, Burnley boss Sean Dyche was not overly surprised with the end result after his side failed to register a single shot on target.
“The second half showed the truth of the market we’re in sometimes,” Dyche said.
“The super-power clubs that put all the money into the players, with the quality they’ve got, when they turn up and play like that, it makes for a difficult afternoon. I thought they were excellent second half.”
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3teo7Om
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