Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak has praised Chelsea’s strong defence under new manager Thomas Tuchel ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Tuchel will still have to come out with an idea on how to get Chelsea’s forwards firing on all cylinders, but he will be pleased with their defensive records.
The immediate formation change, from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3, was initially viewed as a big gamble, considering Tuchel had just one training session prior to his first game.
But it paid off. In the seven games they have played under Tuchel, Chelsea conceded just two goals.
Even Atleti’s Oblak seems impressed with the Blues’ strong defence.
“He [Tuchel] did a great job in [Borussia] Dortmund and Paris [Saint-Germain] and now he came to Chelsea and the team is playing great,” the Slovenia international told The Times.
“They’re really strong defensively, they almost not just concede a goal but a shot on the goal!
“Chelsea [also] have quality in the middle and in the strikers so it’s a difficult team to play against.”
Chronicle view
The Atleti goalkeeper clearly did his research.
Chelsea faced just 13 shots on target in the last seven games (FBref), without facing any shot on target in Tuchel’s first two games in charge (v Wolves and Burnley).
Unfortunately for the visitors, they will be without an important piece of their strong defence in Thiago Silva.
The fact that 11 of the 13 shots on target Chelsea faced were in the games in which Silva was absent tells how important he is.