https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/05/18/
tuchel-judges-chelsea-s-season-and-provides-update-on-hudson-odo
Tuchel judges Chelsea's season and provides update on Hudson-Odoi
18 May 2022
With our 2021/22 campaign in its final week, and a top-four spot secure,
Thomas Tuchel has assessed Chelsea's past nine months and given his
verdict on whether we can consider the season a success or not.
https://i.imgur.com/y2hNbJz.jpg
From our very first match back on 11 August, a gruelling UEFA Super Cup
penalty shootout triumph over Villarreal, until our most recent encounter,
another cup final decided by spot-kicks but this time not in our favour,
the season has contained untold ups and downs, even by Chelsea Football
Club's standards.
It has certainly kept Tuchel busy in his first full year in charge of the
Blues, not least with the amount of pre-match press conferences he has
conducted. At his 62nd and penultimate of the campaign today, ahead of the
meeting with Leicester, he was asked to rate his team's showing.
'It's in balance judging the season,' he started. 'Given the
circumstances – we struggled with corona, long-term injuries and then the
situation nobody could predict, a war that had a huge effect on our club
in particular – there are a lot of things that are quite impressive. In
the end it's important to look in the mirror after the season. Did we give
everything? I think we did.
'I told the team after the cup final I was proud how we played these cup
finals. I refuse to judge the season by two penalty shootouts. If we had
won them, it would have maybe one of the most successful seasons you can
ever play, with four titles.
https://i.imgur.com/dZB6RTw.jpg
Tuchel with the Super Cup way back in August. It was the first of four
finals that went to extra-time this season
'Now we lose two penalty shootouts, that does not make the effort the team
put in and the success the team had to reach these two finals less
impressive. Of course we are the first to admit it is not the same to play
a final as to win a final, and the first to admit we are here to win
trophies. We compete on this level to win.
https://i.imgur.com/WXs59lB.jpg
'Hopefully we come third, so is there progression,' he added. 'We have
constantly been in the top three in the toughest league. We have competed
with maybe the best teams ever in this league. Put it in perspective,
don't lose sleep about having not done this or that, but there is a lot of
ambition in us that is not satisfied. It's good to admit it, but also not
be too worried about it.'
One player who has not featured as much as he would have liked this term
is Callum Hudson-Odoi. The winger has played 28 times and not since the FA
Cup win at Luton in early March, an Achilles problem lingering on.
https://i.imgur.com/20RJvQy.jpg
Hudson-Odoi staying positive before individual training
'He is still in individual training, progressing, but not in team
training,' updated Tuchel. 'Like Ben Chilwell he will come earlier to
pre-season, to start an individual program to be back on 2 July for team
training.'
Looking ahead to the return of the squad for pre-season and the 2022/23
campaign that awaits, the boss explained why the sanctions will continue
to make things problematic for us over the summer.
'We have a huge delay in approaching players and making plans. Liverpool
and City are already improving their squad. We are affected by key players
going. We are not improving the squad; we are rebuilding it. This is
challenging, but we are up for the challenge.
'I don't know where we are on day one of pre-season. What I can promise is
I will be here with full energy, positive energy, no matter what. I refuse
to think in negative scenarios.'