ZIYECH delivers as Blues stay on track
THOMAS TUCHEL modestly chose not to highlight any of his own qualities when discussing why he has enjoyed so much success since taking over at Chelsea.
And when there was more praise heading his way last night, he was keen to make sure it was shared around.
Facing dogged opponents, he appeared to make the tactical tweak which finally broke down a spirited Malmo.
At half-time, he ordered Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech to swap wings. Eleven minutes later, Hudson-Odoi burst down the right and crossed for Ziyech, who drifted in from the left and scored Chelsea’s winning goal.
It seemed like yet another occasion when Tuchel’s work had done the talking for him, but the Chelsea boss revealed: ‘All the credit to my assistant Arno Michels. He had the idea at half-time and we liked it.
‘We had the feeling that when we enter into spaces behind their back five, we would lose seconds if Callum or Hakim had to switch back. We thought we can save important tenths of a second.’
The winning goal was a first strike since the Super Cup against Villarreal in August for Ziyech and another key contribution recently from Hudson-Odoi. He has had to wait patiently to show what he can do in attacking areas. Tuchel has even admitted he has had to take one for the team and fill in as a wing-back. But injuries to Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner have opened the door for Hudson-Odoi and this was the third goal he has been involved in during his last four games. Having thumped Malmo 4-0 a fortnight ago, Chelsea might have expected to score more and had enough chances to repeat that rout. But they were rarely troubled and Ziyech’s strike was enough to secure them a third win from their four Champions League group games and edge to within a point of qualification for the last 16.
Tuchel said: ‘We needed a result and we delivered. There were a lot of reasons you could stumble. The pitch was not in good condition, lots of travelling, some injuries. But we got the job done.’
Complacency looked like being the biggest obstacle for Chelsea, and when Ruben Loftus-Cheek was robbed to present Malmo with an early counterattack, the Swedes might have hoped that was a sign the holders were not fully focused.
But the attack came to nothing and Malmo rarely got out of their half after that.
Chelsea dominated, their best chance falling to Kai Havertz who went through after a burst from midfield from Loftus-Cheek.
Havertz took too long to sort his feet out, giving Johan Dahlin time to burst off his line and smother.
On his first Champions League start for six years, the creation of that chance was one of a number of eye-catching moments from Loftus-Cheek. The skill he showed to escape his markers and turn towards goal was impressive.
The save was the best of a number of stops from Malmo goalkeeper Dahlin. His team-mates defended defiantly and got heads, limbs or bodies in the way when needed to reach half-time level.
Had Antonio Colak got his volleyed contact right when Sergio Pena’s pass dropped over Thiago Silva, they might even have taken a smash-and-grab lead.
Chelsea kept pushing after halftime with Loftus-Cheek and Marcos Alonso going close, and then the Blues’ set-up change paid off.
Hudson-Odoi combined with Havertz and raced on to the German’s return pass down before bending in a cross which Ziyech tapped in, Chelsea’s 500th goal in European competition.
It then seemed only a matter of whether Chelsea could add to their tally, but Malmo were determined to avoid another hefty defeat and limited Tuchel’s side to just the one. Anel Ahmedhodzic repelled efforts from Thiago Silva and substitute Ross Barkley while Dahlin won another one-on-one battle with Havertz.