Thomas Tuchel says he has overseen a reset of his Chelsea squad during their first clear week in almost three months after fearing they had lost their edge.
Since the international break at the end of March, Tuchel’s team have taken seven points from an available 18 in the Premier League and gone out of the Champions League, losing to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. They were able to beat Crystal Palace to reach the FA Cup final.
Tuchel fretted about Chelsea’s grip on a top-four place – something that had looked secure – after last Sunday’s defeat at Everton, and before Saturday’s home game against Wolves he opened up about a dip in standards.
“You analyse the data and you see on a physical level that we drop intensity, we drop kilometres, we drop actually effort,” Tuchel said. “So you ask yourself: ‘Should I have been aware of it before? Should I have changed more positions, fresher legs? Where did it come from?’
“We play tomorrow for tomorrow. This is the mentality and lately, after the international break, we struggled with the focus on this very match. We struggled at Manchester United [in the 1-1 draw on the Thursday of last week] … maybe a bit too much praise for only one point and then it can be a bit too comfortable. This is what I feel and what I saw in the Everton match.”
Tuchel cited the takeover saga at the club and the remorseless of the schedule as reasons for the toils. He said: “Maybe the team had a bit the feeling that we have not so much to win, not so much to lose [in the league] – you maybe lose the edge. This can be enough to lose matches and lose confidence.”
The previous time that Chelsea did not have a midweek game was after the Club World Cup final victory over Palmeiras on 12 February. This week, Tuchel has put his players through proper training sessions on three consecutive days and “not like recovery, recovery and match day minus one be careful”. They have played small-sided tournaments, where the intensity has been high and the results important, according to Tuchel, rather than “only tactical and possession games”.
Tuchel discussed the notion of a reset. “It is a little bit like that,” he said. “It was the time to do it. Let’s start from scratch and see who’s ready for Saturday. It’s not to install something new, it’s just to re-find it. It’s a normal process during such a long season and we are at that very point so the reaction tomorrow is important.
“You need to come up with solutions and, in my experience, it is most of the time on the training pitch. You can talk about it and hold speeches and show videos, but it’s the best thing to react on the training pitch.”
