Tuchel praises Chalobah and is ‘sad’ for ‘unlucky’ Anjorin

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Thomas Tuchel praised Trevoh Chalobah after the defender impressed in Chelsea’s pre-season friendly against Tottenham.

Boss Tuchel again deployed Chalobah in a back three for the game at Stamford Bridge, where Spurs came back from two down to draw 2-2.


The impending returns to the squad of international defenders Thiago Silva, Andreas Christensen, Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta mean it is unlikely Chalobah will be in Chelsea’s first team this season.

But Tuchel felt he deserved credit for a strong display.

“He did very well in pre-season and we wanted to continue with the back three,” Tuchel said.

“With the arrival of Thiago, Andreas Christensen. Reecey and Azpi, that’s a huge, huge conquerance for him, but he did very well.”

Another young player, Tino Anjorin, featured as a second-half substitute.

It has been a frustrating period for Anjorin, whose hopes of impressing during pre-season were crushed when he recently contracted Covid-19.

Tuchel explained: “I’m a bit sad, because he trained so well for us in the last half a year and the race for top four was on and there were so many decisive matches so it was not the moment to try stuff with young players.

“When the season ended we both agreed that he would stay for pre-season and get his minutes that he deserves.

“Unfortunately, what happened was that before the first friendly he caught Covid and really suffered for 10-12 days.

“Today was the first time he could be back on the pitch and it was quite a lot for him.

“So he was very unlucky without having any fault. Honestly, I cannot really judge him. But what I saw today was very promising.

“He’s confident, strong and creative. I wish we had the possibility to see him so that he could really make a statement.

“The main thing for him now is that he gets fit because he had some trouble today adapting to the intensity. He still struggles I think with his illness. We need to be very careful about him.”

Tuchel refused to be drawn on the issue of Chelsea’s attempts to sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan.