IT was an odd evening for Chelsea tonight.
At the end of the day they got all three points against Sheffield United, but the game very much had a feel of being a tough Champions League semi-final match.
In reality it was against a bottom of the league Premier League side.
Thomas Tuchel is now unbeaten in four matches for Chelsea, but it was actually his trusted and reliable centre-back Antonio Rudiger that made the win tonight very difficult.
In fact ironically, Rudiger has become the first player to score against since Tuchel took the reigns.
His trusted fellow German scored the weirdest of own goals tonight to put Sheffield United back in the game at 1-1, when it actually looked much easier to just clear the ball.
This sums up the oddness of the game, and the oddness of Tuchel’s starting line up.
He went with his usual 3-4-2-1 but it really seemed to lack any real creativity.
Olivier Giroud played in the hole but he looked uncomfortable and unfamiliar with the role.
Tuchel is a tactical genius, so of course he will have valid reasons for that.
But Giroud is a target man and nothing more than that to be honest, a very good target man at that. This formation made him look poor.
I believe that the game tonight would have been much easier if Tuchel had a more creative option playing in that position.
But apparently there weren’t any available with the likes of Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz not even being named in the squad.
Callum Hudson-Odoi came on for Giroud in the second half and it changed the emphasis of the game, Chelsea became a bit more comfortable and won it 2-1 in the end.
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But once again Chelsea were left hanging on at the end for a second game running.
And it makes you feel that Tuchel really needs to find a way to win matches more convincingly earlier on to avoid these situations.
It wasn’t Timo Werner’s fault this time; he played very well and created both goals for Chelsea.
But they really need to start putting together performances that will make them a lot more comfortable in matches.
Of course, the three points are all that matters and helps Chelsea climb up the table even more, this is what is essential for them right now and the German boss is doing the job.
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