In Thomas Tuchel’s first 10 games in charge, Paris Saint-Germain scored 35 goals. “Ok, but…” you say, pointing out PSG’s contrasting financial strengths to their opponents.
In Thomas Tuchel’s first 10 games in charge, Borussia Dortmund scored 37 goals. “Ok, but…” you say, pointing out that four of those matches were in Europa League qualifying. This time there’s an answer: Dortmund outscored Bayern in the Bundesliga that season for only the second time in 20 years.
If Tuchel purports to be anything concrete rather than a fluid, tactically flexible coach who eventually falls out with those above him, it is through a commitment to attack. “My philosophy is an aesthetic one,” he once said. “Aesthetic means to control the ball, the rhythm, to attack in every minute, and to try to score as many goals as possible.”
And yet at Chelsea, the opposite. Tuchel’s Chelsea is still in its embryonic stage, but it is a gutsy, gritty, grinding – and still unbeaten – team. His tenth match comes on Thursday night against Liverpool at Anfield, but we need not worry about the goalscoring standards set elsewhere. Chelsea have scored 10 goals in nine matches under their new manager and conceded just two.
There are benefits to being everything that your predecessor was not. Under Frank Lampard, Chelsea were watchable partly for pure entertainment and occasional excellence but also because your comedic radar suspected something might go very silly with little notice. Chelsea’s Premier League matches under Lampard contained the second most goals of any team (after Manchester City, boosted by scoring 138 goals). With Tuchel, their games have had the second fewest.
This is mainly a deliberate ploy: Fix the defence and the rest will take care of itself, aka the original Chelsea Jose Mourinho argument. With Thiago Silva out injured, Tuchel believed that Chelsea needed a little more protection. Three centre-backs and two patrolling midfielders would help with that while the wing-backs offered the width and creativity. Only Manchester City have faced fewer shots and shots on target during Tuchel’s tenure.
But it also reflects on the difficulties of taking over an ambitious club in midseason. Tuchel has changed the team shape, the training drills and the personnel. It takes time for him to communicate his demands and longer for his players to understand them. That is why managers – particularly at elite clubs – prefer to be unveiled in the summer. Pep Guardiola has always done it; Tottenham was the exception to Jose Mourinho’s rule.
And Chelsea’s attack is still stuttering. The nagging issue of Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 formation is how to get the “2” into the game without them having to drop so deep that it leaves the central striker isolated. The best answer Tuchel has found so far is Chelsea attacking predominantly down the right, with Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi doubling up on a left-back, but then that creates a problem if Hudson-Odoi is caught high up the pitch and possession is lost.
Either way, pragmatism is the reasonable short-term strategy and we should not expect it to change at Anfield. There have been 15 goals in the last three meetings between Jurgen Klopp and Tuchel, and the latter knows that he is far less likely to win a gunfight than a chess match.
And nor should Tuchel feel a pressure to change. The gap to the top four has narrowed from six points to one. Chelsea are favourites to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals having been outsiders when the draw was made. They have kept four league clean sheets in a row at Stamford Bridge for the first time in three years. If we were told to expect fireworks – on and off the pitch – when Tuchel was appointed, there is great merit in him keeping his powder dry.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3qeRCNh
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