Tuchel hoping to rebuild confidence, belief in Chelsea after comeback win against West Ham United

Thomas Tuchel was looking to start the season anew this weekend, at least figuratively since we obviously cannot get back the eight points we had dropped in the first five games of the season, and in terms of narrative, he probably couldn’t have asked for a better way to do it.

Chelsea huffed and puffed against West Ham’s massed ranks, then went behind thanks to yet another set piece goal conceded (the fourth already this season!), but then something rather unexpected happened: we came back to win!

As much success as Tuchel has already had at Chelsea in his year and a half, comeback wins are few and far between. The team’s style is build on steady control, and much of our approach doesn’t lend itself to easily manufacturing comebacks. (We’re not supposed to go behind in the first place!)

That’s not to say that the approach will change, but the head coach is hoping that the team’s confidence and belief will start getting restored after all the recent hits they’ve taken.

“[West Ham] make you under-perform, they make the game slow, they make it difficult to accelerate the game to find the open spaces. [...] It’s hard to create chances, half-chances, and deliveries. And it’s almost impossible to come back when they are ahead. [They] do what they do at the highest level. So to turn this thing around, maybe we needed to be a goal down and have nothing to lose anymore.

“We wanted to restart the season today and we did. Hopefully, the way we did it and the impact from the bench gives us the belief back and the confidence back that we need to play at our highest level. [We] want to use this momentum to kickstart the season new and I am happy to get the luck needed, got the belief, got the atmosphere, and turned it around because these things are needed to play with full belief and confidence.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

The past few months have been full of various distractions, including at the ownership and decision-making levels, not to mention the transfer market, but everyone who needs to fully focus on the football itself can now fully focus on the football itself.

The season starts here. One-for-one. Let’s go!