Thomas Tuchel failed to start his career as a Chelsea manager after the Londoners drew with Wolverhampton at Stamford Bridge in their first game under him. The `Blues` seemingly dominated all the time, but showed the typical recent weakness in attack. The Wolves recorded their first clean sheet in the championship since October, which is also indicative of the opponent`s game in the offensive plan. Thus, Chelsea is left with only one victory in its last six games in the Premier League. However, Tuchel has only been in London since yesterday, so it is difficult to expect him to change anything in such a short time.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach has made as many as 10 changes compared to the match with Luton in the fourth round of the FA Cup, which was the last for his predecessor Frank Lampard. Hakim Ziesh was the only player to keep his place. From the match with Leicester the corrections were four - Aspilicueta, Jorgeninho, Ziesh and Giroud started. Mason Mount, Timo Werner, Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham stayed on the bench for the start. The changes made by Nuno Espirito Santo compared to the last championship match with West Bromwich were three. Daniel Podense, Max Kilman and Ryan Ait Nuri started as starters. The new addition Villien Jose remained on the bench, but made his debut in the second half.
Chelsea had a huge territorial advantage in the first half and controlled the ball almost 80% of the time, but there were no clear positions. The team tried to dynamize their game with many short passes. The Blues registered 433 successful passes until the break, which was their best achievement in this regard in a match according
questions of fixed tips in the Premier League since the 2003/04 season. Tuchel had given a lot of freedom to Ziesch and Havertz, but Chelsea did nothing special at the door of the guests. Wolverhampton calmly accepted the game in their own half and even once Dendonker managed to make a dangerous header.
In the 61st minute, Chelsea finally reached a clear goal position. Havertz was brought well from the left, then returned to Chillwell, but the English national team`s shot went over the door. Three minutes later, Zies found Giroud in front of the small penalty area, but the Frenchman was out of balance and failed to strike hard.
20 minutes before the end came the big moment of the `wolves`. Neto passed Mandy forward, but the ball landed on the crossbar. In the next few minutes, Tuchel released Pulisic, Abraham and Mount, who replaced Jury, Chillwell and Ziesch. In the 82nd minute, Kovacic shot very well from the edge of the box, but the ball went inches away from the goal.
However, the goal never fell. Once Patricio intervened well after a shot by Hudson-Odoy, and in added time Havertz was close to being a hero for the hosts, after he intercepted a cross from a corner with his head, but Willian Jose scored in front of the goal.
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