All the talk about Thomas Tuchel’s sacking is that it wasn’t in response to the loss to Dinamo Zagreb in midweek, and instead that the owners had planned it from a few games before.
One can’t help but feel that a single hamstring twang to N’Golo Kante has ended up proving fatal for Tuchel’s time at the club.
Chelsea were playing their best football of the season and leading Tottenham 2-1 with minutes to play when the Frenchman limped off injured.
Moments later Spurs equalised, and Chelsea barely played a minute of good football in the 5 games following that. They managed to beat Leicester and West Ham – barely, but lost to Dinamo, Southampton and Leeds.
If Kante doesn’t pull up lame, Chelsea win that Tottenham game, and probably play a lot better in the weeks to follow.
Sacking Tuchel just wouldn’t have been on the cards then. Football is full of “sliding doors” moments, and this is one of them.
Tuchel knew too well that Kante is injury prone yet he didn’t seem it necessary to have a replacement for him all through the transfer window. You can’t build a midfield around a particular player. He spent so much on defenders, neglecting the midfield.
True.
But Zakaria is as much as Kante.
Truly Kante is d best midfielder but we have been over working him.
so d replacement should have been there before d season began.
Really kante is the Chelsea’s engine….. With Kante absent in the field Chelsea usually play trash…….. Atleast replacement for kante like Zachariah is valuable