OUR SEASON STARTS NOW!
Tuchel demands of his misfiring squad: ‘We start from scratch & see who’s ready’
Stamford Bridge: 3pm
BY TONY BANKS THOMAS TUCHEL has ordered his misfiring players to restart their season from scratch today.
The frustrated Chelsea boss has seen the team’s grip on third place in the Premier League steadily loosened by Arsenal.
That is on the back of an inconsistent run of only two wins in their last six league games and an FA Cup final date with Liverpool just a week away.
The German used some rare free time after Sunday’s defeat at Everton (right) to draw a line under their worst run of the season - and reboot their faltering campaign today against Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
“We have started again,” said Tuchel. “It was the time to do it. Start from scratch and let’s see who’s ready for today.
“I don’t need to go back four weeks and say, ‘Who was ready all the time, who does it again?’
“It’s not to install something new, it’s to re-find it. It’s a normal process during such a long season. We are at that point, so the reaction today is important
“You have to show it 60 or 65 times a season if you play for Chelsea. The team deserves maximum credit because we played almost the maximum number of matches.”
But he added: “It always starts with me. Did I lose my five percent, two percent? Where was my influence? You analyse the data and on a physical level we’ve dropped in intensity, we’ve dropped kilometres, we actually dropped in effort.
“You ask yourself, ‘Should I have been aware of it? Should I have changed more positions, fresher legs?’ You will never be sure. But you can’t get stuck in the past. You need to come up with solutions on the training pitch.
“That is what brought us there. So we raised the level of intensity. We played little tournaments, we played to win.
“Yes, players are playing for their places. But it is always like this. But we should not confuse it that we play for places at Wembley. We play for today. This is the mentality.”
Tuchel is confident that the takeover of Chelsea by the Todd Boehly consortium will be completed soon but admitted the delay will put the club behind in the summer transfer market.
He said: “I’ve been told we have a preferred bidder and things are going forward. I’m confident.
“Of course we’re hindered with transfers. We can’t get in contact, we can’t make an offer. We’re behind in that race.”