Ole: We don’t get penalties after rival bosses moaned
Solid defence has replaced attacking swagger
LUKE SHAW accused referee Stuart Attwell last night of refusing to award his team a penalty to avoid a backlash — although Manchester United later said the defender misheard the claims. In an incredible post-match interview, the left back claimed Attwell told United skipper Harry Maguire that he chose not to overturn his ‘no penalty’ call after Chelsea’s Callum HudsonOdoi had appeared to handle in the area — even though VAR advised him to award a spot-kick. Shaw said: ‘The referee even said to H (Maguire), “If I say it’s a penalty, it’s going to cause a lot of talk about it after”, so I don’t know what happened there. Harry said that they got told it was a penalty by VAR.’ Shaw’s manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer added fuel to the fire with explosive comments of his own, insisting his team ‘100 per cent’ should have been awarded a spot-kick. He went on to accuse his fellow Premier League managers of influencing officials not to award United penalties. Jurgen Klopp, Frank Lampard and Jose Mourinho are among the bosses to have commented on the number of penalties United are awarded. Solskjaer also took aim at Chelsea over an article published on their club website before the clash that suggested key VAR rulings have gone Maguire’s way this season. ‘Yes we were denied a penalty, 100 per cent,’ Solskjaer said. ‘I don’t understand why. You can see it’s handball, it’s taken two points from us.’ When asked about what Attwell allegedly said to United’s players, Solskjaer replied: ‘I can’t say because that’s not going to be good for him, I don’t want to cause controversy. It’s not right, is it? ‘It’s all the outside influences, VAR talk before the game on Harry when they put that on the website. Cheeky — that’s influencing referees. You can read what they’re saying about Harry Maguire and putting pressure on referees to give penalties against us. ‘Was it Frank (Lampard) that started it? Loads of talk about us getting penalties when there’s no doubt and today we should’ve had a penalty. ‘It’s gone now but I’m a bit concerned we don’t get those penalties after what noises were made, so there is clearly a point of managers influencing the referees, which they shouldn’t do. ‘That’s the nature of us as managers — anything that goes against you, you want to highlight it. If something goes for other teams, you want to try to stop that. I trust the referees are not being influenced by it.’ Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel warned Tammy Abraham he needs to show a marked improvement after axing him from the matchday squad yesterday. The England striker, who has been nursing an ankle issue, remains the club’s top Premier League scorer this season with six goals but his future is now under a cloud. ‘We have a strong squad, we only have Thiago Silva injured, which means we have to take hard decisions,’ said Tuchel. ‘Things are a bit difficult for him, not as easy as they should be. ‘It’s not his fault, it’s just the moment and he has our full support. ‘He needs to do exactly what he does — train well, be in a good mood and accept it. When these moments arrive, there’s no other answer but to fight for his place in the squad, and I’m sure he will do that.’
ONE month of life under Thomas Tuchel and there is evidence of progress for Chelsea. Unbeaten in nine games, they have taken 15 points from seven in the Premier League, are into the last eight of the FA Cup and are nicely poised in the Champions League, a goal up after the away leg against Atletico Madrid.
Tuchel will be encouraged, if not entirely satisfied. They are more solid, albeit not quite such fun to watch, and they ended his first month at the helm as they started it — with a goalless draw at home.
Frank Lampard’s first nine games in the job produced a blaze of 38 goals and his last nine produced 27, with almost as many conceded as scored in each case.
Tuchel’s Chelsea have scored just 10 — three of them penalties — and let in only two. It is a familiar cycle when a tactical coach steps into a misfiring team in the middle of a season.
The instinct is to tighten up. In this instance, reverting to a back three and deploying two slightly deeper, screening midfielders. And adding a little more experience.
Defensively, the outcome has been successful. Chelsea have coped well with the absence of Thiago Silva and the return of Cesar Azpilicueta has restored defensive acumen and an important voice in the ear of the officials.
Edouard Mendy has retained his place in goal and made an excellent block to deny Scott McTominay in the closing stages against Manchester United yesterday. N’Golo Kante is back in midfield, proving there are few better when it comes to breaking up play.
But goals have been hard to find, increasingly so as time has offered opponents the chance to study his strategies and plot to neutralise threats.
At Southampton, Chelsea needed a penalty to rescue a point and Tuchel’s side also required spotkicks to win the games against Sheffield United and Tottenham.
Against Atletico in Bucharest, they were grateful for Olivier Giroud’s flash of brilliance. His reward was to keep his place. This time, however, Giroud was unable to make the difference and replaced by Christian Pulisic.
Timo Werner was thrown on later. Werner has been more influential, but Tuchel’s arrival has not launched him back to his prolific best as he might have hoped.
Chelsea have acquired resilience and cohesion and yet balance is everything. It always is. Tweak the team, play with more freedom and you could expose the defence and concede more goals.
Lampard is probably at home thinking he could have made them tighter at the back at the cost of scoring. Or he could have delved back into the transfer market, as is usually the way at Stamford Bridge.
Still, signs of progress for sure. When Tuchel arrived, Chelsea were ninth. Now they are fifth, and in touch with qualification for the Champions League, which is always a factor in the boardroom.
But they are no closer to the top. They are 18 points from the leaders. When they sacked Lampard they were 11 points adrift and those leaders were United.
It has been an encouraging month for Chelsea, but February belongs to Manchester City.