Thomas Tuchel press conference: Touchline ban; N'Golo Kante's injury; Transfer plans
By Tom Gott
Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea will host Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with the boss looking for a reaction after last weekend's pitiful defeat to Leeds.
Ahead of the game, Tuchel sat down in front of the media to answer questions on Chelsea's transfer business, N'Golo Kante's fitness, the interest in Wesley Fofana and a whole lot more.
Here's what he had to say.
Tuchel's touchline ban
What's the latest on your appeal?
"It's not 100% sure. We are waiting for the response."
Does that impact preparation?
"No, I think I can do the same as always: arrive in the stadium, be in the changing room for sure. I cannot be on the sideline it seems, but we need to wait for the final answer because we responded to the written charge. We are waiting for the answer today. I think I can be not on the sideline but in the dressing room and at half-time."
What do you make of Antonio Conte not getting banned even though he was shown a red card as well?
"I think there are two sides to it. The one side is that I got the red card and behaved in a way which is not appropriate and which I regret, but it was out of passion. It was not too aggressive, it was out of passion. I can accept if I get a red card during the match – if this is the decision – I have a touchline ban and am fined. This is one side to it, I don’t dispute it and accept it.
"What’s hard to accept is the context. I don’t think I started the aggression, it started earlier. I don’t think I was the only person involved; we both got a red card. A player pulled another player by its hair two minutes earlier. He can play on, he is not banned. For a firm handshake at the end of the match, one coach is banned. This is very hard to accept but I have accept it. Putting it into context, I cannot understand."
Should Conte have been banned?
"My understanding was that we both had our impact in this situation and both got sent off. I can understand that I get a ban, I get a fine. What I don’t understand is that the other coach does not get the same punishment. Is hard to understand for me."
Transfers
What are your thoughts on Wesley Fofana training with Leicester's Under-21s?
"It’s your job to read into that. It’s not our player. It’s their decision and where it has to stay."
What business do you want to see done?
"We have some ideas but maybe nobody comes in. It’s not a long window anymore, it closes soon. The focus is on the things we can influence. Everybody else is not our decision. No matter what we want, there are always several parties involved that have to agree."
Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth bring you Talking Transfers, discussing Lucas Paqueta's potential move to West Ham, Chelsea's plans to sign Anthony Gordon, Wesley Fofana and Arsen Zakharyan and the latest from Old Trafford. Available on all audio platforms and the 90min YouTube channel.
If you can't see the podcast embed, click here to download the episode in full!
Injury updates
What's the latest on N'Golo Kante?
"We are talking about four weeks plus. I told you at the end of last season he is our key player normally. He gives something to our team that no other player in the world can give to any other team. That makes him a key player. If your key player is out, it’s a situation you don’t like but have to deal with. It has huge influence."
How will you adapt to Kante's absence?
"It’s difficult to replace him, he’s very unique. We were full of hope after pre-season because we built his pre-season very individually. He had a long pre-season, a good pre-season, felt good. For many years he felt very strong, getting enough rest and build-up to be the player he can be for us. We started with one game a week so the hopes were high that he can play consistently for us.
"If we build another system, I don’t know. We have trust in our players. It will maybe be the same system. We played many games, unfortunately, without him in the same structure. It will be slightly different because every player is a bit different. That is the challenge to adapt to this, use different players differently. To change completely because N’Golo is not there, I don’t think so."
How big of a boost is Mateo Kovacic's return?
"He’s back in the group. N’Golo is the only one that did not train now this week. So everybody is back in training. Kova is back in the group and ready to play some 20 minutes [against Leicester].
"We miss him as a personality, his experience and his quality. It’s maybe 20 minutes at the moment. Was his first training week without reaction in the knee so we cannot rush things otherwise we will just sabotage our own plans with him. We need him long term. It’s good to have him back and as an option on the bench."
Champions League draw
What is your reaction to the Champions League group stage draw?
"I think we need to be fast with away tickets because the family of Mateo Kovacic is buying all that we have because it is in Austria, Croatia and his former city when he played for Inter and we are playing AC. I think he is buying all the tickets that are available so this is where the focus is for our players to get tickets for family and friends!
“It is always a difficult group. I have never experienced an easy group in the Champions League. I don’t care about names, which league, if this is our level or not. If we have to we want to go through. I have only experienced difficult group phases even if it looks from the outside if it’s easy and clear. These matches are tough. It’s the toughest competition. I am happy I will play against teams and in stadiums I have never played before. From there we go."