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Thomas Tuchel must turn attention to Chelsea’s next priority and win £80m transfer race
Chelsea recovered from a poor first-half to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0.
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Romelu Lukaku’s £97million arrival has been regarded as Thomas Tuchel’s final piece in the Chelsea puzzle. However, Tottenham Hotspur’s high press and high intensity performance against the Blues in the first-half appeared to have discovered chink in their armour.
While goals from Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kante, and Antonio Rudiger secured an impressive 3-0 away victory in the North London derby, Tottenham were by some distance the better term in the opening 45 minutes.
Nuno Espirito Santo pipped four central midfielders against Chelsea's midfield pivot, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele, Dele Alli, and Giovanni Lo Celso took the game to Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho in the opening stages.
The Chelsea pair looked like they were being attacked by seagulls as they were not afforded a single second on the ball in the first-half.
Tuchel has emerged to become one of the best football tacticians and strategists in world football, having reconnected Frank Lampard’s divided squad and pieced together a Champions League winning team.
Lukaku appeared to have completed his master project in the summer, but his side's performance in the opening stages was anything but complete.
Maurizio Sarri is an example of a Premier League manager whose strategy and way of playing appeared impenetrable.
‘Sarriball’ looked destined for glory until their 18-game unbeaten streak was abruptly ended by, guess who, Tottenham Hotspur.
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Unlike the current Lazio manager, Tuchel was not afraid to overhaul his tactics when his team were being overwhelmed.
Instead of letting his footballing virtues and philosophy cloud what he witnessed in front of him against the North Londoners, he scrapped his preferred formation and added Kante into the midfield in place of Mason Mount to sure up the side Not only did Chelsea get themselves back into the contest in the second-half, they even got themselves in front.
Marcos Alonso’s out-swinging corner was met perfectly by Silva, who diverted a perfect header into the bottom corner.
If Tuchel’s substitution was not already impressive enough. Kante even went on to double Chelsea’s lead, albeit with a fortuitous deflected strike.
Rudiger swept in a late third, but Tuchel would have learnt plenty from the match. Tuchel may need three central midfielders more often if clubs become inspired by Santo’s tactics against the German.
A new structure, formation as well as additional personnel may even be required for the future.
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The former Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain manager demanded an ice-cold killer of a striker to finish off opposition and results, but he may need a powerful, intelligent and dynamic midfielder to evolve this Chelsea team.
And Tuchel may need to raid his former club to for Jude Bellingham to revolutionise the reigning Champions League holders.
The classy box-to-box midfielder has already recorded one goal and two assists in his opening four Bundesliga matches. He also netted the opening goal in Dortmund's 2-1 away victory against Besiktas in the Champions League.
Despite only recently becoming old enough to buy an alcoholic beverage in the pub, he is already producing performances befitting of player ten years his senior.
He has already experienced what it’s like to play in the European Championships and the Champions League, as well as already accumulating 33 Bundesliga appearances. Many have touted him as a player for the future which he may be.
But the performances, attributes, and footballing brain already appear to be ready made for the highest level.
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