Having cut a rather weary-looking figure at the Amex Stadium on Tuesday, Thomas Tuchel was back to his spritely best this afternoon when he faced the media ahead of Chelsea's Premier League clash against Tottenham.
Sunday's match will be the Blues' 16th in just 53 days. It is a schedule that has left many within the first-team set-up exhausted, both mentally and physically.
Tuchel has done what he can to keep his squad fresh. Days off have been granted where possible, rotation has been undertaken to compensate for illness and injury. Yet it wasn't enough to keep Chelsea's Premier League title bid alive.
So for the fifth consecutive season, the Blues must focus on ensuring a top-four finish. Champions League football – and the money that comes with it – is imperative given Chelsea posted a £145.6million loss for the past financial year.
Tuchel's side are currently third in the Premier League table and eight points ahead of Tottenham in fifth. However, Spurs have four games in hand and would leapfrog Chelsea if they were able to take maximum points from those matches.
It's why victory on Sunday is imperative for the Blues. Yet Tuchel admits two days off wasn't enough to completely reinvigorate his squad. It wasn't a case of a problem solved.
"These two days will not solve everything," the Chelsea head coach admitted. "It’s good to have and after the Tottenham game we have the chance to give the majority of the players further days off because we simply need it.
"For Sunday, the two days alone are not the solution [to the Blues' recent form]. We have to make sure we are in a different mindset, different attitude, and top shape."
Tuchel added: “It’s a big game. Of course, we can do our mathematics but it is strange to look at the fixtures and see teams competing in the same part of the table but having four games less. This can lead you to a wrong impression that you are comfortably ahead, which you are not.
"The best chance to win competitions is against direct opponents. It’s a London derby, a big rivalry. We know this. We play them now three times [in two weeks]. They know what we do we know what they do. Things are clear. We managed to beat them twice, we will do everything to beat them a third time.”
Tuchel, as he has for much of this month, will be without Reece James (hamstring), Ben Chilwell (knee) and Andreas Christensen (Covid). Trevoh Chalobah is back in training after recovering from a hamstring issue of his own but will not be risked on Sunday.
That may force Tuchel into using a back four once again – it's what he deployed in both Carabao Cup semi-final legs against Tottenham, which Chelsea won 3-0 on aggregate.
There will be difficult selection decisions for the German to make but none quite as tough as whether to continue with Romelu Lukaku as the leader of the attack.
The Belgian striker has scored just once – against Chesterfield – since his interview with Sky Italia in which he admitted he would like to return to former club Inter Milan in the future and discussed his role in Tuchel's side.
A spotlight has been placed on Lukaku since and his form has often been the focus of post-match discussion in recent weeks.
"Welcome to reality," Tuchel said rather matter-of-factly when asked about pressure being on Lukaku, who Chelsea paid £97.5m for in the summer transfer window.
"That’s it. We are in the spotlight, we are judged by all of us and that’s daily business. It’s like this. If you are a decisive player, if things go very well, people talk about you. If not, the same people talk about you. This is part of the business, like it or not."
Lukaku has scored eight goals for Chelsea this term, not a hugely disappointing total considering he spent more than a month out injured earlier in the campaign.
But four of those goals came in his opening four matches following his return from Inter Milan. It doesn't require a maths degree to appreciate four in 19 is an underwhelming return.
Yet somewhat concerningly, Tuchel has admitted he doesn't have the solution as to how to unlock Lukaku's true goalscoring potential.
“I don’t know if I can explain it," the Chelsea head coach accepted. "But it’s very rare in football that you have a situation or a problem with a one thing solution.
'It’s always a mix of a lot of influences. He was already more involved. Now he is struggling; there are reasons for it. We have already discussed them. But he is not the only one that we rely on to win games."
