No, Thomas Tuchel has not succeeded in everything he has tried since he has been at Chelsea. An example ? Sunday, in the League Cup final against Liverpool, as the two teams head for a penalty shootout and Edouard Mendy once again performs a crazy game, the German chooses to bring in Kepa. “because he trains with us every day and the players know how good he is in this exercise”, Tuchel will justify himself in a post-lose press conference.
Tuchel, who had never lost a final with Chelsea, will no doubt regret his failed poker move, when everyone had gone faultless until then: it was Kepa himself who started and missed the 22nd penalty, the only failure of this interminable session. “I feel sorry for (Kepa) but I don’t blame him, obviously,” said Tuchel. It was indeed a bit cheeky on his part.