Thomas
Tuchel says Ben Chilwell's disappointment at being dropped by England has
been a factor in his recent absence from the Chelsea team.
Chilwell went into this summer's European Championship finals on a high,
having played the full match as Chelsea beat Manchester City in the
Champions League final in Porto in May.
However, he did not play a single minute at the Euros, with Gareth Southgate
preferring to use Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier - a right-back - on the left
of his defence.
Chilwell returned from his post-Euros holiday to find his place in the
Chelsea team had been taken by Marcos Alonso, and he was handed further
disappointment when Southgate dropped him from his squad entirely for
England's World Cup Qualifiers earlier this month.
It means Chilwell's most recent competitive football was that Champions
League final nearly four months ago, and when asked whether being snubbed by
England was tough for the left-back to take, Tuchel said: "Yes, that has
absolutely been difficult for him, and I think it's pretty normal.
"He came from a Champions League win, 90 minutes, a strong performance and a
good end to the season in general. He played a lot of minutes for us in many
important games, at a high level.
"Then it was individually for him a tough Euros, because there were chances
where he thought he could have played. I know it was a tough one, because
you feel a part of the team, but you don't feel it really if you don't sweat
it out on the pitch and if you never wear the shirt. It's a strange feeling,
also to keep training for four or five weeks continuously.
"He had a break and it was hard for him to totally relax and get this
disappointment off his shoulders. When he arrived here, I felt him a bit
mentally tired, still worrying about the situation.
"At the same time, he was very unlucky because Marcos was here the whole
pre-season and he took this opportunity with such a huge quality and
attitude. Marcos was crucial for us from the first day in training and then
he delivered in Chilly's position."
Tuchel revealed he held talks with Chilwell to ease any concerns the
24-year-old may have over his playing time, and suggested he could make his
first appearance of the season when Chelsea host Zenit in their Champions
League opener on Tuesday.
"We had some talks with Chilly about the situation," explained Tuchel. "He
knows I would have done the same thing if it was the other way around - to
trust him if he was here and showed personality and attitude like Marcos
did.
"There are no further worries for Chilly. He just needed to be a bit patient
and keep training. It took some time - we had to give him a little bit of
time to be more patient with himself, to find the joy again and to find
things a little bit more easy on the pitch and to not want to force it too
hard.
"But he's in the race now. He's in good shape so he can play any minute."
Tuchel: I have nothing to prove
Tuchel took charge of Chelsea last season after predecessor Frank Lampard
had already steered them into the Champions League knockout stage, but the
German batted away suggestions May's final victory was somehow diminished by
his late arrival.
He said: "It was never a problem for me to accept the work from Frank that
he did throughout the group stage.
"But it still feels like my title - it does not feel like half a Champions
League that I won. In the moment of the final I was responsible, and during
the knockout games, so it felt like my team and that we were together.
"Do I have something to prove, that I can bring teams through the group
stage? No. This has nothing to do with it.
"We want to win it again but we need to accept how tough this is. Nobody is
shy here to admit that we fight for any competition we play in. We want to
have a good start tomorrow and we need to start from scratch."
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel says new signing Saul Niguez was on the
club's - and his - radar for 'many years' before he joined on loan at the
end of the summer transfer window
Tuchel confirmed Chelsea will be without Christian Pulisic and N'Golo Kante
for the visit of Zenit.
Pulisic is yet to return to training after being injured on international
duty with the USA. Kante returned to training this week, but the head coach
said he would miss the midweek fixture so he is "absolutely ready" for the
trip to rivals Tottenham on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
top