‘We spend very little time on it’ : Thomas Tuchel on Chelsea’s impressive defensive record


‘We spend very little time on it’ : Thomas Tuchel on Chelsea’s impressive defensive record

Chelsea ended Manchester City’s quadruple hopes on Saturday night after a 1-0 win over the cityzens to progress through to the finals. Hakim Ziyech’s solitary goal in the second half proved to be the difference.

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Now Chelsea will be facing either Leicester City or Southampton FC in the finals. The second semi final is going to be played tonight.

Thiago Silva comes back into the Chelsea side with yet another clean sheet

Thiago Silva played at the heart of the defence and put in a solid show against Pep Guardiola’s side. Kepa Arrizabalaga has now kept four clean sheet in as many matches under Thomas Tuchel.

Thiago Silva’s game by numbers vs. Man City:

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100% aerials won
100% tackle-success
100% passing accuracy
55 touches
44/44 passes completed
6 clearances (most)
3/3 aerials
2 interceptions
1 clean sheet

Ever since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea’s defensive frailties have been very much recovered. Tuchel has now defeated Jurgen Klopp, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, Diego Simeone (2) and now Pep Guardiola and is yet to concede a goal to them.

Speaking about Chelsea’s impressive defensive Tuchel said that they don’t spend much time on it.

Thomas Tuchel

We do very, very few minutes in training isolated on offense or defence,” admitted Tuchel. “We train for complex situations because the game is complex. We don’t try to divide the situations in an artificial way. That’s the first thing I want to express.

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“I spend 90% of my time thinking about solutions offensively. If you have good ball possession against City, maybe it is the best way to defend.

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