Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admitted he was not happy with
how his wing-backs allowed so many crosses into the box despite
the 2-0 win over Fulham.
It was a rather comfortable win , and the Blues managed to keep
another clean sheet. However , Tuchel insisted his team could have
defended better.
Tuchel was even heard shouting at the two wing-backs; Ben
Chilwell and Reece James, during the game.
It seems harsh given the eventual result, but Tuchel certainly had a
fair point.
While Chelsea defended really well in front of their goal, Fulham
still had 21 cross attempts (only three were successful) in the
game.
To put it into perspective, Chelsea attempted just three crosses
throughout 90 minutes and none found its target.
“Yeah, I was not so happy with the blocking of the crosses, like you
heard maybe, because there was no spectator so you could hear
everything,” Tuchel said in his embargoed post-match press
conference.
“It is one thing to defend crosses when they arrive in the box, but
if we defend with five, it’s crucial that the wing-backs are there
and aggressive enough to block crosses.
“I have a feeling that we can improve on that, be a little bit more
aggressive, and in positioning, be a bit deeper to make it harder [for
the opponents] to put crosses into dangerous areas.”
Tuchel added that he did not expect his team to have their
“brightest game” at the weekend considering it was a game in
between two big Champions League semi-final legs.
“When you hear something like this, it’s about the situation,” he
added.
“We want to inform players, wake players up, demand something —
and in this case from the wing-backs.”
Leave a Reply