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Thomas Tuchel has basically mirrored exactly what Frank Lampard said about his players almost a year a go to this day.
Albeit the words used are different, but essentially they are saying the same here, as I’ve reported on Si & Dan Talk Chelsea today. I go into so much more detail in the article and give other managerial examples, but here are two of the quotes.
This one from Tuchel last night…
“We had a very good first 15 minutes and then we stopped doing the things we did in the first 15 minutes,” the boss said of the performance against Zenit.
“The feeling was we could smile, the feeling was that this is okay what we are doing as we are in charge and we are the better team. But we were forgetting why we were the better team, which was because the level of concentration and the level of physical investment was high enough to be the better team.
“Once this drops even 10 per cent, once we start managing results and change our behaviour because of what the score is, we get punished. That happened to us at West Ham and it happened to us today.
“We start playing balls back, we start not attacking with the same aggression, the same hunger as before, and we got punished now twice.”
Now where have I heard this before? Oh yes, that’s right, here…
“We should have seen the game out,” Frank Lampard said after our 2-1 defeat to Wolves almost a year ago to the day.
“If you’re not playing well, which we weren’t, you should hang on, not allow counterattacks.
“Maybe the players can think about that. This is the Premier League. If you don’t perform, you lose games.
“My experience with the Premier League tells me that if you drop your standards, which we have in two games, and particularly away from home, you can lose matches, so a big lesson for the players.”
Tuchel questioning Chelsea’s reaction when they lose a goal or something goes against them. Their heads drop, as they did against Zenit last night, and Tuchel has now noticed it.
It’s easy when things are going well, and this is the first time that Tuchel has been forced to deal with a rough period of games. We are certainly in a blip, but this is how this time differs to a year ago under Lampard.
It was clear that, for whatever reason, Lampard had lost a few of his senior players in the dressing room, and we all know that often there is no way back from that.
Tuchel however, is still clearly trusted and respected by every single player in his squad, even the ones not playing so much, that to me is obvious. So I expect the players to provide a reaction on the pitch against Leeds United on Saturday, because the togetherness and all round vibe in the group has felt and seemed so much better under Tuchel, and I am adamant this will just be a small blip and the players will step it up, despite Tuchel’s concerning words above.
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