CHELSEA manager Thomas Tuchel has provided insight into what his side did in the second half on Sunday to beat Tottenham Hotspur in their Premier League clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The match was goalless at half-time but Chelsea turned up the volume in the second half to score three unreplied goals through Thiago Silva, substitute N’Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger.
The 3-0 win took Tuchel’s side to the top of the league, but the German was not impressed with the first-half performance.
“I was absolutely not happy with the first 45 minutes,” he said during his post-match interview.
“There were individual performances that were already great like from Kepa and Thiago Silva, and even more players were good, but in general we lacked energy and being more relentless in duels.
“I had the feeling that we wanted to impress by pure skills but in a game like this in the Premier League, a derby away at Tottenham, it’s not only about skilful play. It’s also about aggression, winning duels and performing better as a team.
“We lacked energy and we spoke clearly about it at half-time but the second half was a very good performance and a well-deserved win. It was a very good reaction so I’m absolutely happy with our performance in second half.”
The German detailed what his team did differently to dominate after the break.
“Actually we did not change the system but that’s maybe the whole point,” he noted. “It seems like we changed the system but we just played the system with more belief, energy and quality. It was simply too sloppy in the first half.
“With N’Golo on the bench, when you want to step up then he’s the best player to bring on because he’s unique and he can change any momentum.
“We wanted to improve our compactness and ball wins to put the match in the opponent’s half. That was the idea behind it and I’m happy with it.”
Tuchel surprisingly left out his first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and gives reasons for the key decision.
“We tried everything throughout the week and yesterday in training but it was so-so,” he said. “It comes from the last-minute kick against Zenit in the Champions League so it’s very painful and he felt it.
“He was not 100 per cent comfortable to go for a full stretch or to land on it so we decided to go for 100 per cent, which was Kepa, and have Edou with us to be supportive and to have a good energy. I’m so happy that Kepa played a crucial role today to have a clean sheet because it’s what he deserved.”
