Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea are a defensive team under Thomas Tuchel
While speaking to L’Equipe (h/t Football.London), Mauricio Pochettino described Thomas Tuchel’s tactics at Chelsea as defensive.
In a recent interview, Paris Saint-German manager Mauricio Pochettino was questioned about the French club’s defensive loopholes and why they are ‘one of the most exposed teams’ in the Champions League. The interviewer then compared the defensive ability of Manchester City and Chelsea, as they presented far better results than the Paris team.
In the response, the Argentine manager said that Chelsea are a defensive team, unlikely PSG who plays aggressively. Furthermore, he added that PSG signed attacking-minded full-backs to match with the team’s attacking goals.
“Chelsea are a defensive team, playing the transition and the block. We signed attacking full-backs Hakimi and Nuno Mendes. The club have the ambition of an attacking game.”
He agreed that Les Parisiens concedes many goals, but that is the price they pay to play attacking football throughout any game.
“It’s true, we concede a lot of shots, but that’s one of the characteristics of attacking teams, to have full-backs who go up, to project themselves into the opposing half… We are in the phase of understanding.”
Chelsea have been one of the most successful teams in the Premier League this season so far. But this is not a story of one season. After Thomas Tuchel took over the club at the beginning of 2021, the team’s dynamics have changed hugely. The Blues have turned the table under the German manager by winning the UEFA Champions League 2020, a statement of solid intent.
Chelsea has one of the most aggressive full-back pairs in the Premier League this season. Both Reece James and Ben Chilwell has proven clinical in front of goal. In fact, they are the highest scorer of the Blues so far this season, having bagged four (James) and three (Chilwell) goals.
On the other hand, Pochettino is yet to get his hands on some silverware in his managing career. Despite having one of the strongest squads in Europe that included Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, he lost the league to Lille last season.
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With the inclusion of Messi in the team, the former Spurs manager have one of the best-attacking trios in the world.
However, the back line of PSG ain’t any dull; they signed Sergio Ramos, one of the greatest defenders of all time in the summer. So, it’d be interesting to see how Pochettino’s men fare in this season’s Champions League compared to the Blues.