Chelsea are looking to bounce back quickly after a heartbreaking aggregate loss in the champions league to Real Madrid, on Sunday they will face Crystal Palace at Wembley in the Semi final of the Fa CUP. Chelsea have lost their last 2 FA Cup finals against Arsenal under Frank Lampard and then Leicester under Tuchel.
Here is 3 talking points from his latest press conference ahead of the game :
Romelu Lukaku back in the squad :
On team news, Tuchel revealed that everyone is fit and in the squad besides Callum Hudson Odoi who is struggling with his Achilles and obviously Ben Chilwell who is out long term as he recovers from his ACL Injury. Romelu had been out for the previous 2 matches but is set to make his return to the squad on Sunday after being involved in training ahead of the semi final.
Tuchel spoke to Connor Gallagher ahead of the FA CUP Semi final on Sunday :
It’s disappointing for Chelsea loan star Conor Gallagher, but under loan rules the current Crystal Palace man CANNOT face his parent club and Chelsea denied a request from Crystal Palace to allow him to play, harsh? Maybe, but more understandable as Conor has been Crystal Palace’s best player this season and not allowing him to feature in midfield makes Chelsea’s opponents weaker and the path to the final easier.
“ I had the chance to speak to Conor and I could also see his frustration. We met some weeks ago – after the international break by coincidence – we ran into each other in a restaurant and we had a chat. The subject came up and I apologised because I know how competitive he is and I like him a lot “
“ I know his character very well and was a pleasure to have him here in pre-season. This is the way it is. We play to win the game and the rules were clear when we made the loan. I can totally understand Patrick Vieira and the disappointment of Conor, but these are the rules when we did the loan and we don’t want to suffer from our rules.”
Tuchel insists that Chelsea selling talents such as Marc Guehi and Valentino Livramento was the right idea :
Marina Granovskia had been coming under fire lately from fans after seeing the performances particularly from Crystal Palace Centre Back Marc Guehi who Chelsea sold last summer for £18m, why did Chelsea sell him? Why not keep him and trust him? These are questions fans constantly ask about Guehi and Livramento, Tuchel gave his response here :
“ They are decisions we took together and are happy about these decisions. You cannot go back and reflect at this point. When we took the decisions, it was the right thing to do given the circumstances. For example, all the time, individual decisions. For Tino Livramento, we had a plan and we preferred a loan. He felt his future was to go and the situation was then better to agree to the sale “
“ For Marc, his is a fantastic development. It’s very hard or maybe even is impossible now to say if we kept him he would have been better, worse, or been the same. Maybe he needed to leave. Maybe he needed the change of environment, a different club, a different or bigger role, more minutes to develop his full potential “
“ It just tells you over and over again that if you trust younger players and have a role for them, they can on a very regular level match expectations and even over-perform. It’s nice to see so many Chelsea players out there in every league. We are well aware for it. It is nice to play against them and see them develop.”
The full transcript can be found on Football.London
