Some managers try to pretend they are still in the title race long after any realistic hopes have been ended. Others choose to make a premature departure from it. Thomas Tuchel tried to withdraw Chelsea from contention on Wednesday. “How should we be in it? How should we compete in a title race?” he asked, citing COVID cases and injuries.
And then perhaps he undermined his own argument. “We would be stupid to think we can do it out of COVID and injuries and just play, and everybody would be stupid to do it without 23 fit players,” he said. The chances are that no one has consistently had 23 fit players over the last month; perhaps, by Tuchel’s rationale, there is a no-team title race.
While he was complaining, Manchester City were winning at Brentford without Kyle Walker, John Stones and Rodri. Deciding to sell Ferran Torres gives them fewer players. Their month began with a victory at Aston Villa, when the semi-fit pair of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish were the only senior outfielders on the bench.
Pep Guardiola has sailed on serenely while Tuchel has cut a more fractious figure. City’s run of 10 successive wins has given their rivals no margin for error. If Chelsea cannot win the league, as their manager insists, City’s flawlessness may be the major reason. Yet Tuchel’s team were top when December began, with the division’s best defensive record.
A month may have exerted a decisive swing: in the standings, but also in Tuchel’s mood. He appears to have developed a can’t-do mentality, complaining about injuries and illness, about the Premier League’s refusal to postpone the game at Wolves and to grant him five substitutions, and about referees. That his team have given up leads to lose to West Ham and draw with Everton and Brighton, always with a cast of enviably good footballers on the pitch and still more on the bench, suggests some of their problems are self-inflicted.
Return to their previous levels of excellence – and is it stupid to suggest they could be in contention?
Because while Timo Werner appears to have had a worse dose of coronavirus than most, cases tend to be temporary. Only Ben Chilwell looks a long-term absentee with injury and there are hints Tuchel will look to sign a left wing-back in January. Chelsea only have three (albeit very tough) league games before the Club World Cup; in several weeks’ time, the landscape may be radically different.
The broader picture is that Chelsea have a terrific squad and a brilliant manager. Winning the Premier League this season, and making up an eight-point deficit to City, would be less improbable than taking over a side 10th in their domestic league and conquering Europe. Tuchel did that last year. He plotted tactical triumphs over the sorts of sides Chelsea face in the next few weeks.
Winning the Champions League elevates expectations. Signing a £98 million striker elevates expectations. Romelu Lukaku fired Inter Milan to a league title last season; if Tuchel can find a way to get the best of his record signing and ensure the second half of his season is laced with more goals than the first – even after recent comments of unhappiness from the Belgian – then Chelsea have plenty of scope for improvement.
As it is, there is some untapped potential among his other attackers who, Mason Mount apart, have had mixed fortunes under Tuchel. Money may not be everything but while Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi came through the youth system, their other forwards cost £300 million. They were not bought simply to roll in a distant third.
Tuchel said at the start of the season they were “fourth favourites” for the title. Perhaps he was happier as an underdog and maybe Liverpool were underestimated.
But Chelsea have the outstanding player in last season’s Champions League knockout stages, and arguably the best midfielder of his type in the world, in N’Golo Kante. They have the player who came third in the Ballon d’Or vote, in Jorginho, and team-mates who finished fifth, 12th, 19th and 29th. They have a goalkeeper, in Edouard Mendy, many were recently touting as the finest in the global game and a defence that appeared the most frugal.
They have such depth that they should be better equipped than most to cope with absentees. The chances are that Roman Abramovich doesn’t think it is stupid that Chelsea should compete for the title.
And while, if January is as damaging as December, they may not, if Tuchel stops feeling sorry for himself, he ought to see it is eminently sensible to say Chelsea could and should still be involved in the battle for the crown.
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