Harry Diamond
Andreas Christensen has revealed Thomas Tuchel’s message to his Chelsea players as the Blues aim high following a recent resurgence under the new manager.
Tuchel has made an impressive start to his reign at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea, unbeaten in five Premier League fixtures and winning their past four in succession to move into the top four and Champions League places.
Chelsea have looked defensively stronger under the new management and have conceded just one goal across those five games, with the German having utilised a back three in a tactical shift from the previous regime.
Christensen has now opened up on the former Paris Saint-Germain manager’s impact and says Tuchel has helped restore a belief to the squad, insisting Chelsea are aiming high after moving back into contention for a top four finish.
“We had a little dip. But I think when the group came together we had one goal,” Christensen said, as per the Mirror.
“It is not just aiming for top three or top four whatever, we just wanted to get back on track and we knew if we did that anything was possible. At the moment we are getting the wins. We might not play beautiful football for 90 minutes, but we are getting there.
“Manchester City are flying at the moment. But again now we are in the top four, we obviously want to stay there, and make sure we play Champions League again.
“I have played four games in a row now, it has been a while since I have done that.
“All the manager says is just be comfortable. If you don’t need to play the ball, you don’t have to. Wait for someone to come and take the ball, don’t take last second decisions, know what you’re going to do and make it happen.
“He has basically told us to be comfortable. To believe in ourselves.”
Christensen also discussed Timo Werner after the summer signing scored in the 2-0 win over Newcastle on Monday, ending a run of 14 games without a goal for the Germany international who has endured a difficult debut season in English football.
The defender believes that goal will help increase the 24-year-old’s confidence as he bids to rediscover his best form at Chelsea, admitting his hope that Werner can now find consistency in front of goal.
“Yes, maybe Timo needed that. He always works hard and I think the team appreciates that. That’s all we ask of him and that he keeps going. But I think it was more important for him personally to get his goal and keep scoring.
“Sooner or later it was going to happen. Even the amount of chances he has, he always pops up in the right places, so we knew he was going to get the chances, it was just a matter of time. Hopefully this was just the start.”
Read – The longest unbeaten away runs in Premier League history
Read Also – Five of the best players to play for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain