Check Out How Thomas Tuchel Managed 42 Chelsea Players During Pre-Season

 

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed how he coped with managing 42 players following his side's pre-season friendly against Arsenal.

During his first pre-season since his arrival to Stamford Bridge in January, the German manager had a series of young players and others returning from loan at his disposal, with most first-team players granted an extended leave of absence following their participation in the European Championships and Copa America.

Previewing his side's nearing UEFA Super Cup tie against Villarreal on Wednesday evening in Belfast, Tuchel was quizzed about the struggles of effectively managing 42 players at Cobham.

The 47-year-old said: "After the friendly match against Arsenal, we had the last group arriving, and we went through our list and realised that it would be 42 players on the pitch the next day," as quoted by Football.London.

"It was clearly not then possible to provide high-level training, and to provide the appreciation and the quality for everybody that was the moment when we split the group again that was the group that was already with us last half season and then to the group who came back from loan.

"But before the Arsenal game we mixed the group together, and saw everybody on our pitch at Cobham. It was a very new experience for me, I never did this before.

"I was a bit uncertain what to expect. In the end, it was super easy, because the loan players came with a fantastic attitude. 

"I was almost surprised how positive it was and how fast it felt like really training a normal team and not a team in which the players feel a lot of insecurity, where is my next step and not only players, they have families which live in different countries.

"Not an easy situation for them, but they did excellent and we had very good spirits in the training camp in Dublin, we did very good matches with this mixed group and everybody had the chance to show up and bring positive energy and this is what they did.

"After Arsenal, we split the group back again and sometimes we mixed in slightly smaller groups and levels of physical preparation we are in. we now have Trevoh Chalobah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, they are here with us to make the squad complete and give us options for tomorrow (against Villarreal).

"This is a constant process to stay in touch with these players that they know my opinion that the board know my opinion, and the club knows my opinion and to try good solutions for them for the future."