Chelsea Training - Behind the scenes with Thomas Tuchel
We take a look at the atmosphere and the changes in the Chelsea camp since our new German boss arrived
Training with mini footballs, Netball rather than football, padded up goalkeepers, tennis balls in their hands - these are just a few new things Thomas Tuchel has introduced to Chelsea training in the short time he has been here so far.
The atmosphere at Chelsea is fresh, clean, and happy since Tuchel arrived at the club.
At the end of the Frank Lampard reign, the mood was mixed and you couldn’t avoid the dark cloud constantly hovering over Cobham.
When a team is not getting results, especially at a club like Chelsea where success is expected and demanded, there will always be player unrest and a divide between those still backing the manager, and those who think it is time for a change.
Players do not make the decisions of course, but the atmosphere around the base is something that is impossible to hide.
Things have been collectively happy and exciting in the last few weeks, even players who remained loyal to Lampard are all out there pulling in the same direction and excited to be working under a manager with the extensive tactical knowledge that Tuchel has.
He’s introduced mini footballs in training to improve close control, made some defenders carry tennis balls to stop them pulling shirts and giving away silly free kicks, got them throwing the ball around like Netball players in some drills to perfect movement and quick transitions, and he has even used Rugby pads to attack the goalkeepers with whilst they come and claim crosses, simulating attackers going up with them for the ball.
These are just a few things that Tuchel likes to do to help implement his tactics on the pitch, which we are already seeing evidence of in games.
Of course, it’s easy to be happy when results are going your way. But there is a real collective sense of feeling that under Tuchel, this squad can be very successful, and the belief that they can even win a trophy this season has risen. This has been great motivation for the players, with some of them needing a bit of a kick.
Tuchel has the perfect mix of being someone who puts his arms around a player and nurtures them when needed, to giving them a real ticking off in private if they have done something stupid. He operates a tough love type of man-management, and a lot of players will react well to this.
He claims that he will never berate his players in front of the group, he will always do that privately. But at the same time, Tuchel will put out the criticism to the group as a whole in order to encourage open debate and discussion as a team.
Chelsea players really believe into Tuchel’s philosophies, and they have bought into it already. You can see that he has become VERY hands on in training putting himself right in the mix of the sessions being very animated, something that Lampard wasn’t always as keen to do.
He isn’t one to bark instruction after instruction and give the players information overload, he prefers to use exercises rather than instructions. This teaches the players to do it themselves on repetition, like setting up training pitches with diagonal touchlines to encourage quick and tight passes.
It is the same with the tennis ball in hands trick, it’s making them learn to not pull shirts, rather than telling them not to.
Tuchel calls it ‘guided discovery’ which is an approach that encourages players to come up with their own answers and rather than giving them instructions.
There is a real feel of optimism at Chelsea right now, but the question is, with certain players not playing as much so far who featured more under Lampard, how long before some of them begin to get restless and disgruntled?
It’s a big squad, and will be near impossible to keep everyone happy.