https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/11/26/
tuchel-on-hitting-top-form-and-why-man-utd-can-t-be-underestimat
Tuchel on hitting top form and why Man Utd can't be underestimated
26 Nov 2021
Thomas Tuchel is delighted at the way his Chelsea side are performing
after his 50th match in charge but knows we need to keep pushing if we are
to continue that good form when we host Manchester United at Stamford
Bridge in our next game.
https://i.imgur.com/sXY1sAe.jpg
We welcome the Red Devils to west London on Sunday on a run of 10 games
without defeat in all competitions, having won nine of those and kept
seven clean sheets. Any doubts that Tuchel has got the Blues firing on all
cylinders were dismissed in our last two performances, as we triumphed 3-0
at Leicester City in the Premier League before inflicting Juventus'
biggest-ever Champions League defeat, 4-0 at the Bridge on Tuesday
evening.
Speaking to the media ahead of our next match, our head coach was clearly
pleased with what he has seen from his team recently, especially the
balance in our performances, although he was reluctant to be drawn into
whether this is the best Chelsea have played under his management.
'We are on a very high level, a consistently high level,' he said. 'I'm
not so much into judging if this is the best, but it is very strong.
'We feel very competitive and we feel that we have a good mix of
discipline, of structure, but also the freedom and a certain sharpness and
a certain grit in our games and performances, which makes us very happy
and very competitive.'
That win over Juventus earlier this week marked Tuchel's 50th game as
Chelsea head coach in style and demonstrated the impact he has had at the
Bridge. No other Premier League side has suffered fewer defeats or
conceded less goals than the Blues in that time, while no club in any of
Europe's top leagues has kept more than our 30 clean sheets.
While he insists he tried to come here with an open mind and avoid
expectations, Tuchel conceded that he would have found it hard to believe
that things would go so well so quickly for him in west London, when asked
if he anticipated his first 50 games being this successful.
'No, but maybe that was a good thing,' explained. 'We had no time to think
about things like this or get carried away. You can always get carried
away or you can hold yourself down because you think something's not
possible.
'It was very difficult to imagine it like this because the decision was a
very quick one and the situation was that we were eight points behind
Liverpool in this moment and Liverpool were fourth in the table. This was
the target, to reach somehow Champions League qualification.
https://i.imgur.com/WupEDVL.jpg
Tuchel celebrates victory over Juventus in his 50th game as Chelsea head
coach
'What I can tell you is that I was very surprised that it was already 50
games, it did not feel like 50, time went by so quickly, but it was a
fantastic journey so far and I hope I make some more packages of 50 that I
can add to it.'
Tuchel also discussed our upcoming opponents Manchester United. The Old
Trafford side are in a period of transition following the exit of manager
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this week, with caretaker boss Michael Carrick likely
to be on the bench again after overseeing their Champions League win over
Villarreal.
https://i.imgur.com/S4nETxd.jpg
Carrick was in charge for Man Utd's last game against Villarreal
However, the German is clear that a team with the talent at their disposal
of United can never be discounted, either in a match or the wider Premier
League race.
'I will never write anyone off, not in this league and not in this game,
because it is a big club, first of all, but it is a very experienced and
individually top-level group of players. So this is still the case and
part of the performance from us is to not let them perform, because once
we let them perform you can see within seconds and within minutes in every
game the full potential and the talent of these players, which is on the
highest level.
He also doesn't believe you can try and judge whether this is a good time
to face Man Utd as they prepare for life under a new manager, and is just
looking forward to another tough challenge.
'You can see it either way, in the end we will not lose too many minutes
thinking about this, but we will give all our energy and focus on our
squad and what we want to do right. We only have one game with Michael
Carrick in charge to focus on and to analyse. Of course we have some
individual behaviour and some group behaviour that we think we can see as
patterns and want to prepare our team for it.
https://i.imgur.com/3MJVvhP.jpg
'On the other side it is always the best moment to play against Manchester
United because we are up for the big challenges and we want to be out
there to play on the highest level, to prove ourselves and to prove a
point. We just came from a tough match and there's the next one, this is
where we are, where we love to be, and we get challenged on the highest
level again on Sunday.'