Things are going very well for Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea since the German took over as head coach.
The facts are clear, he has had 9 clean sheets, and gone 11 games unbeaten as things stand, which can only be described as nothing less than very successful.
They face Leeds United at the weekend and a chance to keep that positive momentum going whilst confidence is super high in the squad.
But former Blue Pat Nevin believes there is one thing that Tuchel has done that has really helped the success so far, that is use pretty much the full squad, and not only that, but get the best out of these players.
Players like Marcos Alonso, Antonio Rudiger, and Andreas Christensen who weren’t really featuring under Frank Lampard – he has bought them back in and got them playing well.
Nevin was speaking via his column on the Chelsea website, and he was touching upon recent games.
He said:
“There is that fact, but there is no doubt that he has also managed to get more out of some players such as Andreas Christensen, Marcus Alonso and now Kai Havertz than we had done before.
“It may be that the most important point is hidden in here – he has increased the size and strength of the squad without actually acquiring any new players.
“By doing that, he has added to our flexibility and his ability to rest players when needed, even the constant motion machine that is Mason Mount had a seat on the bench at the start against Everton!
“What it has given him is choice, a number of options that is the envy of every other team in the league.
“Last week, I was at Crystal Palace vs Manchester United, followed by Liverpool vs Chelsea and then Liverpool vs Fulham, before doing the Everton vs Chelsea game for the 5th Stand app.
“What was very apparent in every game was that Liverpool, United, Everton and indeed Palace had squads stretched to the absolute limit, and sometimes beyond.”
