DBasia.news – Chelsea some time ago had been in the spotlight when they performed well and won 4-0 over Juventus in the Champions League. The Blues took the first position in Group H from Il Bianconeri.
Chelsea’s fate to seal the position of one group is in their own hands against Zenit Saint Petersburg at Krestovsky Stadium, Thursday (09/12) morning, WIB. While Juventus played against Malmo.
Juventus won 1-0 over Malmo but Chelsea failed to win and had to settle for a 3-3 draw in Russia. Two of Chelsea’s goals came from Timo Werner (2′ 85′) and Romelu Lukaku (62′), while Zenit’s three goals came from Claudinho (38′), Sardar Azmoun (41′) and Magomed Ozdoyev (90+4′).
As a result, Chelsea, who was in first place in Group H, dropped to second with 13 points, two points adrift of Juventus in first place. Thomas Tuchel did not want to make his players the scapegoat.
“If you are the coach of Chelsea and we conceded six goals in two games, giving it the advantage four times, then my ambition to talk about individual performances is not very high. Nobody can be happy today, nobody,” Tuchel told UEFA’s official website.
“The technical level is very high, so you need to do your job at the highest level. If you don’t and the feeling of ‘This should be fine’, you will be punished because the level is too high, and this is what happens.”
Tuchel’s selection of tactics and players was highlighted after the match. The German coach conducted experiments on several players and it did not show results.
After being loaned from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2021, Tuchel is still looking for ways to bring out the potential of Saul who was highlighted for his poor performance, even though it was in his playing position as a midfielder.
In this match Tuchel has put him as a left wing-back. From the offensive side Saul performed well and it resulted in Werner’s goal, but from the defensive side Saul left many gaps that were exploited by winger Zenit Malcom.
In the end Saul was replaced by Marcos Alonso in the 75th minute and the left wing-back position, after midfielder, was not Saul’s best position.
This is not a new position for Hudson-Odoi as Tuchel has tried before. But the defensive side is not the best aspect of the Chelsea academy product. Against Zenit, Hudson-Odoi got the help of Cesar Azpilicueta at right centre-back.
How he defended can be seen when Hudson-Odoi received a yellow card and was eventually replaced. Tuchel didn’t want to take the risk, but his choice of playing Hudson-Odoi in that position was inefficient.
If you look at Trent Alexander-Arnold as a midfielder by Gareth Southgate in the England national team, then it happened again to another right-back, Reece James who was revealed as a midfielder by Tuchel.
James partnered with Ross Barkley in midfield in a 3-4-1-2 tactic that was unique. Tuchel left Ruben Loftus-Cheek on, rested Jorginho, then put on James-Barkley to replace Mateo Kovacic, injured N’Golo Kante.
Zenit also used this line when the game was 20 minutes in. Chelsea are known for their tight defence, but the defense is wide open and the midfield is easy to penetrate.