Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea transformation faces the ultimate test against Manchester City


Richard Jolly
  • English
  • Arabic

Thomas Tuchel brought up 100 days at Chelsea on Thursday, fresh from becoming the first manager to reach back-to-back Champions League finals with different clubs. The temptation is to call in the first 100 days in charge of anything since Franklin Delano Roosevelt coined the phrase and made an immediate impact.

As Timo Werner put it: “When we started under the new manager we were 10th in the league. Now we can reach everything.” It might not have made for pleasant listening for Frank Lampard, but Chelsea could do the Di Matteo double of winning the FA Cup and the Champions League, but with the bonus of a top-four finish as well.

It may say something for the peculiar dynamics of a club that has institutionalised instability that Chelsea have reached three Champions League finals, each after a mid-season managerial switch.

If Manchester City represent one model, qualifying for the final in their fifth season under Pep Guardiola and with a squad largely signed by him, Chelsea are another.

Saturday's league game is a dress rehearsal for the showpiece in Istanbul; perhaps for next season’s title race, too. City could clinch the title now, but they are the only team with more points than Chelsea since Tuchel’s arrival. No one has conceded fewer. And he has done it with his predecessors’ players, in a quintessentially Chelsea way.

The pattern of rejuvenating those who had been consigned to the margins continues. In 2012, Lampard captained Chelsea after a season when he had been dropped at times by Andre Villas-Boas. In 2021, Cesar Azpilicueta, demoted to second-choice right-back by Lampard, will lead out Tuchel’s team, his fortunes transformed to such an extent that he now looks the first choice in two positions.

Antonio Rudiger only started one league game before Christmas, but is now a cornerstone of the defence. Chelsea have only conceded nine goals in the 27 matches he has started.

Jorginho, who indelicately suggested that Lampard was not ready for the Chelsea job, is the Maurizio Sarri ally who has produced his best Blues form for Tuchel. Alongside him, N’Golo Kante has proved that, while Sarri and Lampard rarely played him as such, he is at his finest as a “double six,” in Tuchel’s terminology, one of two defensive midfielders.

That Kante and Kevin de Bruyne have both got three of Uefa’s man-of-the-match awards in the knockout stages sets the scene nicely for a final battle between destroyer and creator. That Kante was honoured for both legs against Real Madrid highlighted his influence. A catalyst in winning Premier Leagues and a World Cup may add another medal. He proved the scourge of Real’s ageing midfield. They looked a team in decline. The balance of power in Europe has seemed to shift north.

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Chelsea v Real Madrid player ratings

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Chelsea have dented Real’s chances of renewal. Kai Havertz struck the woodwork twice in another game where he provided everything but the goal. Rewind a little over a year and the expectation in Germany was that he would join Real. Then Covid exerted an effect on their finances and Chelsea took advantage of a market where others could not spend. And yet even as Havertz and Werner’s misses are preventing Tuchel’s Chelsea from being more prolific with a recurring theme of control being undermined by profligacy, it is notable that Mason Mount remains the automatic choice in the front three.

Lampard's protégé is a study in exponential improvement. There was something symbolic in him scoring the goal that clinched Chelsea's place in the final, just as there was when he got the opener in Porto and the winner against Liverpool.

It was impossible not to hark back 20 months to Old Trafford, to Lampard’s old mentor Jose Mourinho criticising him for pitching the youngster in for a Premier League debut at Old Trafford. Mourinho was far from Mount’s only doubter, but he is not alone in being proved spectacularly wrong. Mount looks a shoo-in to be named Chelsea’s player of the year, in what might yet prove the outstanding campaign in their history.

“We can achieve greatness,” said Mount. They can do it in an inimitably Chelsea way, of expensive underachievement and unhappy mediocrity giving way to something special.

Final round

25 under -  Antoine Rozner (FRA)

23 - Francesco Laporta (ITA), Mike Lorenzo-Vera (FRA), Andy Sullivan (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG)

21 - Grant Forrest (SCO)

20 - Ross Fisher (ENG)

19 - Steven Brown (ENG), Joakim Lagergren (SWE), Niklas Lemke (SWE), Marc Warren (SCO), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT)

Company%20profile
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RESULTS

6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,200
Winner: Miqyaas, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).

7.05pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Untold Secret, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.

7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m​​​​​​​
Winner: Shanty Star, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly.

8.15pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 1,600m​​​​​​​
Winner: Alkaamel, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.

8.50pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 1,400m​​​​​​​
Winner: Speedy Move, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.

9.25pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (D) 2,000m​​​​​​​
Winner: Quartier Francois, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.

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Ballon d’Or shortlists

Men

Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)

Women

Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)

 

 

MATCH INFO

Fulham 0

Aston Villa 3 (Grealish 4', Hourihane 15', Mings 48')

Man of the match: Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)

MATCH INFO

BRIGHTON 0

MANCHESTER UNITED 3

McTominay 44'

Mata 73'

Pogba 80'

MATCH INFO

Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 1', Kane 8' & 16') West Ham United 3 (Balbuena 82', Sanchez og 85', Lanzini 90' 4)

Man of the match Harry Kane

BELGIUM%20SQUAD
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Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Motori Profile

Date started: March 2020

Co-founder/CEO: Ahmed Eissa

Based: UAE, Abu Dhabi

Sector: Insurance Sector

Size: 50 full-time employees (Inside and Outside UAE)

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Safe City Group

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Xpanceo

Started: 2018

Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov

Based: Dubai, UAE

Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality

Funding: $40 million

Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)

The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

The%20Color%20Purple
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