Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has commended the mentality the Chelsea players showed during their 2-1 victory over Leicester City at Stamford Bridge.
The blues played almost 65 minutes of the match with 10 men after Conor Gallagher was shown a red card in the 28th minute.
Two second-half goals from Raheem Sterling were enough to gift Chelsea the needed three points to give them their first home win of the season. The result was needed following their 3-0 defeat to Leeds United last week.
Reflecting on the win, Thomas Tuchel was excited about Chelsea‘s performance against Leicester City with 10 men.
What did Thomas Tuchel say about Chelsea’s win against Leicester City?
Reacting to Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Leicester City, Thomas Tuchel said: “I think we were in total control, 20/25 minutes of total control. We had big, big chances, more than a chance with Ruben [Loftus-Cheek], a penalty overturned with a marginal offside that looked a bit strange because on our mobile devices it looked not offside but ok.
“Suddenly, we’re one man down with Conor [sent off] from an opportunity for us to score and open the game with a set-piece goal. We were sloppy again with set-pieces and concede a huge counterattack. It was a bad decision from Conor and gave us a massive disadvantage in these conditions where we come from a defeat and it’s so hot.
“I’m happy we hung in and showed the mentality that was needed to have at least the chance to get away with a win. Keeping the clean sheet as long as possible, or throughout the match, was the target for the second half. We conceded a goal – totally not needed – and therefore we were under a lot of pressure in the last minutes and conceded two chances.
“We were lucky in the end not to concede the equalizer but we did everything to have the chance and the mentality was very good.”
Tuchel added when asked what lessons did he learn from his team today: “Yes because we can see individual behaviors. It’s difficult to analyze the team performance tactically when you’re a man down for 65 minutes, that will not make much sense in terms of physical data. But individual behavior, who protects who, and how we compete in challenges, we can always analyze.
“The first 25 minutes was eleven against eleven and we will use it. I think we started very well, but I think we can be more aggressive and be more in the box if we are so dominant like the first 20 minutes. We should be able to create more chances, deliveries, and half-chances.
“I felt that we maybe didn’t smell how big the chance was to put the game to bed with one or two goals in the first minutes. Of course, we created a huge chance in transition and we had a penalty and then no penalty.
“There are things to improve but after 25 minutes, it was just necessary to survive first of all and then to have our head clear for the second half and be ready to sacrifice and wait for the chance to get all three points that we did.”
