https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/05/10/
thomas-tuchel-press-conference-ahead-of-leeds
Tuchel on injury news for Leeds, cancelling Sunday off, words with Alonso
and the right risk
10 May 2022
Thomas Tuchel hopes to have midfield reinforcements available for
tomorrow's trip to struggling Leeds United for what he admits will be a
tough challenge, although he is well aware that Chelsea are on balance,
achieving better results away from home than in our own stadium.
https://i.imgur.com/eLMpm4l.jpg
Fifty-five per cent of our Premier League points this season have been won
away from Stamford Bridge and if we do gather another three in Yorkshire,
it will leave just one more needed to secure Champions League football for
next season.
However the Blues are going into the game off the back of the
disappointment of letting slip a win at the weekend when we hosted Wolves,
having been 2-0 up in that match before being pegged back to 2-2 late on.
Two players missing from that match due to injury were Jorginho and N'Golo
Kante.
'We are fighting for Jorgi and we're fighting for N'Golo for tomorrow, but
it will be close and I don't know if we make it,' Tuchel reported on
Tuesday afternoon ahead of training, before going on to explain why he
added an extra session at Cobham on Sunday in the wake of the Wolves
set-back, on what was originally scheduled as a day off.
'We planned the free day but after the disappointment it was not to punish
them. Of course maybe some felt like it's a punishment but it was not the
moment for a free day. I explained to them it's better to be together and
to talk about it than to go and everybody has his own opinion, everybody
has his own truth, and you have more risk to be in fragments than to be
here.
https://i.imgur.com/pYfhlat.jpg
Jorginho in training yesterday
'So we did here very, very light training, we just had a run together and
spent time together discussing things and how we want to approach the next
days. It was not to show to a video session and show all the mistakes.'
It also gave a chance for the squad to support the development squad side
in their game at Cobham that day when they were ultimately successful in
avoiding relegation.
'That was very nice to see and it is what we are, a very supportive, very
open-minded group of players,' noted Tuchel, who when questioned about
words he exchanged with Marcos Alonso during the first half of the Wolves
game, had this to say: 'It started and ended in the first half, it was not
continued at half-time and nothing else. Things are solved.'
Looking ahead to Leeds, Tuchel says he expects a tough match in front of a
tough crowd.
'We have no real explanation but we are aware of the fact that we
collected more points on the road than at home. We are on it but maybe it
helps us tomorrow a little bit, who knows, and the FA Cup final is also
not played at Stamford Bridge so let's take it from there.
'Leeds have stepped up in their physical input which is quite remarkable
because we thought they already play on their top level physically under
Marcelo Bielsa.
'They look very committed and in general this is a fast, hard-working team
which is pretty talented individually and it is a match for them where
it's almost like a cup game.
https://i.imgur.com/gOVudUd.jpg
'In our last match we took too much risk in our structure. We were not
disciplined enough in our structure because the structure was already very
offensive and very risky. So our game management needs to be better for
this game.
'For the Everton game we would have wished for more physical input, for
the game at Manchester United I would have wished for nothing but more
goals because we were excellent there but couldn't win the match.
'So every match tells us a different story. That's why it's a bit hard to
put the focus on one thing and get better because it's a bit of an up and
down lately which we don't like. We're on it on different things but for
tomorrow we need to be spot on from first to last minute.'