Thomas Tuchel lauds Chelsea’s resilience after 1-1 draw at Liverpool

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was a proud man as his team, reduced to 10 men for their second-half, managed to seal a 1-1 draw at Liverpool in their Premier League match on Saturday.

Chelsea had led through Kai Havertz’s superb header in the firsthalf but conceded an equaliser at the stroke of half-time through a penalty which Mohamed Salah slotted in. Notably, the Blues were reduced to 10 men while conceding the penalty as Reece James was sent off for handling on the line.

An injury to French international midfielder N’Golo Kante added to Tuchel’s problems at the interval but the German tactician made a double switch during the break which helped his side cope with the pressure from Juergen Klopp’s side.

Until the penalty incident, Chelsea had played with verve and creativity after taking the lead.

“Fantastic, I saw a strong first half, a strong Liverpool side. We were very, very good, scored the first goal, had a big chance for the second goal with Mason Mount,” Thomas Tuchel said.

“But the pressure was high, the quality from Liverpool, the energy was high. At some point you have to suffer, this is what we did and then in the last second (before halftime) we conceded a penalty and a red card,” he added.

“At halftime we have to substitute Kante due to injury. Suddenly the world is upside down,” he added.

But with Thiago Silva added to the defence, Chelsea handled everything Liverpool threw at them. Liverpool came up with umpteen attacks in the second half but the Chelsea backline stood like a wall with Eduoard Mendy doing a fine job between the sticks on Saturday.

The draw ensured Chelsea remained at the 2nd spot, tied on 7 points with No. 1 West Ham United and 3rd-placed Liverpool. Only Tottenham Hotspur have the opportunity to go to 9 points after the first 3 matches of the league season.

Can’t praise the team enough: Tuchel

“I cannot praise the team enough. I do not know if there is a harder stadium than City and Anfield to go one man down.

“Because of Liverpool’s quality and energy, for the first 10 minutes (after the break) it felt like it was never going to end.

“Then, the next half an hour it was like maybe we will create a chance and score one and make it harder for them.

“For the last five minutes hopefully we survive and take a well-deserved point. Our resilience and team-work was absolutely fantastic.

“With pure will, we took the heat out of the game. That was team effort at its very best,” he added.