IT’S FAR TU EASY!
Jose said managing Blues was easy but Spurs
It does look pretty easy to manage Chelsea right now and a lot harder to be in charge of Tottenham when they do not have Harry Kane.
Tuchel made it two wins and a draw from his first three games, has even got a turn out of Timo Werner and Chelsea look a team transformed, way too good for Spurs.
Manager Mourinho, who tried to wind up Tuchel before the game by claiming how easy it is to win trophies at Chelsea, suffered the indignity of seeing Tottenham lose three league games in a row for the first time since 2012.
And the reason looks perfectly obvious as Spurs miss Kane so much they look toothless without their England striker, Heungmin Son (right) is lost without him, and a dreadful defensive mistake cost them dear.
They look a team wracked with fear, a team without a plan and were halfhearted in much of their play as, for what feels like the umpteenth time, their season is at a dangerous crossroads. But the Blues suddenly have a real confidence about their play, they dominated the game and painted pretty patterns around the Tottenham defence. It was no surprise when Chelsea went ahead as Cesar Azpilicueta’s ball over the top split the hosts’ defence open, Werner raced through and Eric Dier brought him down with a rash challenge in the box. Blues midfielder
Jorginho did not bother with his usual hop, skip and jump – but instead just despatched the ball into the left corner, beyond Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris’s dive.
The problem for Tottenham was, without Kane, they lack a focal point for their attack and the one time that Carlos Vinicius got the ball in a dangerous position, he delayed his pass to release Son and the opening was gone. Kane would have done it without thinking.
Tuchel is going to be entertaining on the touchline as, despite Werner’s contribution, the manager kept losing his cool with his fellow German as he con
tinually chose the wrong pass or play broke down when it reached him. Thiago Silva went off injured after pulling his hamstring while stretching for a ball and was replaced by Andreas Christensen.
Serge Aurier headed one chance wide, Tanguy Ndombele fired straight at Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy, and you could only imagine that Mourinho was happy for half-time not just to get out of the rain, but to try and reorganise his disjointed team.
The hosts did find a response after the break, they finally began to put their foot in and make challenges, and turn the tide to stem Chelsea’s one-way traffic. Finally, Spurs bared their teeth and made a proper game of it. Werner came close to a second for Chelsea but for Aurier’s last-ditch challenge and Mateo Kovacic also went through only to poke a shot wide as Tuchel (right) got increasingly frustrated with his team’s failure to take their chances.
Christian Pulisic ( far right) saw a cross-shot well saved by Lloris and the biggest fear was Tottenham snatching an equaliser they would have barely deserved last night.