Thomas Tuchel has now also achieved his verdict in the Premier League, and he showed up last night with 1-0 victories from Anfield from Anfield on a “full display” of his charges. Ten matches, ten unbeaten. Even more impressive, only two goals were conceded, and only one was scored by an opponent.
The comparison with Mourinho’s start of life at Chelsea also remains valid, with The Special One scoring one win better (8-2-0 against 7-3-0 in all competitions), but with identical strong defensive records (only 2 conceded ). By the way, game No.10 for both drivers was a 1-0 win against Liverpool: Joe Cole passed on the Bridge in October 2004.
The key to Tuchel’s defense scheme was the switch to a back try, with Thiago Silva initially anchoring the line. But it was Andreas Christensen who came out of the cold to put together a series of impressive performances after Silva suffered an injury against Spurs. Christensen has made his sixth start in the last seven games, with Chelsea scoring a fifth clean sheet during the run. The 24-year-old played so well, it became far from a foregone conclusion that Silva would get his place if he eventually returned from his thigh injury.
‘Andreas played against Tottenham in the middle of the first half, which was a very difficult thing to do. From the first moment, he was absolutely impressive.
‘He is brave, strong in individual challenges, brave and intelligent in building, and plays with a lot of confidence. I am absolutely pleased with his performances and how he enhances them. He was a big part of our performances. ”
-Tomas Tuchel; source: Football.London
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Photo by Chelsea Football Club / Getty Images
There were, of course, absolute heroes across the field for Chelsea, but another one singled out by the head coach was N’Golo Kanté, who had a quiet impressive Jorginho in the game.
It was only the fourth start for Kanté under Tuchel (although he did return in the first two games unless he returned from injury), and his most impressive game yet, both on and off the ball. In addition to the glorious help he gave to Mount, he had a vintage ‘70% of the earth is covered with water, the rest is covered by Kanté ‘.
If you want, a gift, and Tuchel definitely.
‘[Kanté] is a gift. It’s amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. On practice, in games, he never stops. We look at the data on his intensity and he is incredible. He really is a gift. ‘
-Tomas Tuchel; source: RMC Sport via Metro
If we want to worry about omens, Mourinho’s 11th game at the helm of affairs has its first loss (and only one in the Premier League that season), 1-0 against Manchester City, which was still a bit upset at the time. Chelsea have a huge test against Everton on Monday, as the top-four battle always comes down to the wire.
But if we can keep the defensive excellence going, we definitely have a great chance of finishing in the top four.