Thomas Tuchel offered his full support to “super nice guy” Mason Mount after his Wembley penalty heartbreak.
No player deserves to go through such misery but it seemed particularly harsh on Chelsea ’s homegrown hero to be left down and out, distraught on the pitch after his miss in the shoot-out. Mount, 23, is so committed, so determined and showed bravery to take a spot kick as Tuchel admitted that Chelsea’s priority now is to underline their commitment to him with a new contract.
England midfielder Mount has gone through the wringer of social media abuse in the past - especially while on international duty after being cast as the teacher’s pet - and this is a time when he needs as much support as possible.
Mount has got two years left on his current deal, he is the club’s future and Chelsea want to tie him and Reece James down for the long term this summer when the handcuffs of Government sanctions are removed.
Chelsea boss Tuchel said: “The penalty will not change anything on my opinion about Mason. If you see his record and the importance of the game that he plays consistently for us he is a key figure in this squad and club. He is a super nice guy and we don’t start doubting now because he misses a penalty.”
Mount is a rarity in football that he is as hard-working as he is skilful. He may not be as glamorous as some of his England rivals like Jack Grealish but that does not make him any less important. However, it does seem to make people target him because they do not seem to understand just how important he is for club and country.
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It was Mount’s prompts and passes that set up Chelsea’s chances in the game which if they had taken then it would not have gone to penalties. And yet even straight after the FA Cup final defeat, the social media abuse had started with poisonous replies and taunts.
Tuchel insisted he could not stop that or lift Mount but urged people to lay off him. He said: “Nothing I can say will stop these guys doing it. I don’t understand social media anyway. It has a huge impact and I don’t get it.
“I’m not on social media and it keeps me healthy, more healthy than I would be on it. It’s a very thin ice for everybody who is in such a spotlight to be out there.
“Of course, abuse is not acceptable be it here or on social media but I don’t want to predict stuff I don’t know about and this happens and if someone thinks he has the right to write it we will not stop him but maybe we can investigate.”
Once again, Chelsea narrowed the gap on Liverpool in a final. They are 19 points behind in the Premier League but you would never have guessed it in a repeat of the tense, nail-biting Carabao Cup final which also finished and went to penalties.
Overall, Chelsea arguably had the better chances with Marcos Alonso, in particular, so unlucky as he was denied by the woodwork and Liverpool keeper Alisson.
Tuchel has not lost to Jurgen Klopp in 90 minutes - or indeed 120 minutes - but lifting Chelsea for one game is different to finding a consistency to launch a title challenge.
Chelsea now face a summer rebuild with Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen both leaving and they desperately need to strengthen in defence. But with uncertain times under a new owner, it will be a challenging summer to push Chelsea closer to Liverpool and Manchester City.
Tuchel added: “It’s maybe impossible, I have to say, maybe impossible. They are improving their squad in every transfer window they have. It seems like we are losing key player. We are losing, of course, Toni, we’re losing Andreas. So this is tough and we already have gap close.”
