The Blues appear to be stuttering slightly on the domestic front heading into the festive period with just two wins in their last five matches in the Premier League. Only Arsenal, Tottenham and both Manchester clubs have attempted fewer than the 729 long balls that Chelsea have tried so far in the league this season. Even Chelsea boss Tuchel has revealed that he is not a fan of his side looking longer.
Thomas Tuchel said: “We don’t care against who we play, we do our thing and we need to be better. It’s about making opponents underperform. City did this to us, they had high ball wins. We talked about the high pressing but with our decision-making I never felt fully confident we would escape the pressure with short passes. I never felt fully confident when we decided to go for long balls. We have Romelu [Lukaku] up front who we can put long balls into, but without that genuine belief and confidence, and also without the moments where you really hurt your opponent, it gets more and more difficult.”
Ahead of next weekend’s clash against Leeds United, the Blues will certainly hope to reset their sights from range.