Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel believes his side’s 1-0 victory over Everton was a mirror image of their last trip to Goodison Park as he explained the attributes needed to secure the club's first success at the ground since a 3-0 success on April 30 2017, enroute to the Premier League title under Antonio Conte.
Tuchel said: “It was a very tough fixture last season and we made the one mistake that put Everton one zero ahead and then we could not score, we could not find the back of the net. (Jordan) Pickford was fantastic that day and you drive home and you don’t know why this was really necessary. Today it was the other way around. For us it was important for us to get the opening goal of course.
“In general, Everton defended very deep and if you play against a whole block, it’s a lot of discipline and a lot of effort, it’s always difficult to find a chance with the one on ones and you need the quick accelerations and the belief in your game and a bit of freedom. There’s still things to improve and with a bit of luck, spirit and passion, we managed to get the win and to start with an away win is a fantastic result.”
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Tuchel, who confirmed that Marcos Alonso was left out of the squad because he wants to join Barcelona, admitted that the result was always the most-important factor in a match that Chelsea had lost the last four corresponding fixtures. He said: “It’s always about the win. When you play Premier League, it’s always about the win. A win is a win is a win.
“That’s what we play for. Of course it’s very important now to build confidence, build up belief and an atmosphere, be open for improvement, be open for criticism because there are a lot of things to improve but there are good things to take away. We struggled in the last years with Chelsea to steal the points here and to win and we got all three and a clean sheet.
“It was difficult in the first half and maybe not the most exciting Premier League game in the history of the Premier League. There were seven minutes of stoppage-time in the first half and 10 in the second half, which very much tells the story of a lot of interruptions and no team could really find the rhythm.
“Everton defended very deep in the first half, we struggled with the switch of play and we struggled in moments to understand the moments, feel the moments, for the change of speed. It seemed we did not want to make decisive mistakes or take the risk we needed in the last 25 metres to open a space up.
“It was generally okay and in the second half we simply had not enough movement on the ball and that created a lot of ball losses from which we suffered and the game was stuck in between the halves, it was not in our half, not in their half.
“You hang in there and it some point, it was the first away game, you do what is necessary to keep a clean sheet and get the win.”
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