Afternoon, Thomas. What's the latest team news ahead of Leeds and is N'Golo Kante's injury serious?
“Quite serious. We’re talking about weeks. So not good news. We are disappointed and sad because N’Golo was super important and was super fit. He will be out for several weeks.
"Armando [Broja] will be out for days and cannot come with us to Leeds. Mateo Kovacic as well, he's still out with knee problems. Christian Pulisic had Achilles problems but he trained today. So let’s see [on him].”
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We know you won't discuss the names of potential signings, but are you frustrated nothing has been done over the past week?
“No, the opposite of frustrated after last week’s match. I’m very happy, very confident after last week’s performance because I saw a good team, a very good team performance, an excellent match. As I told you, we work together on reinforcements but it’s never easy and it’s not like we can just wish for something and it will happen.
"As long as the transfer window is open, there are always possibilities. We know what we are trying, we know what we are doing. The focus is on what we have, not what we could have. The focus from me is the team, they get their full energy and full attention from us.”
There are talks over Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi, what are the chances of players moving on?
“I know there are a lot of talks but will also not comment on our players. We will not encourage our players to go out at the moment. We had now two training sessions [this week] with 18 players and in a schedule where we play once a week, it is not a problem.
"But if I look a little bit, raise the chin up a little bit and look at the schedule that is coming with Southampton during the week and two Champions League matches, it’s coming. It’s in front of the door. We will need a lot of players and quality players to be competitive. At the moment, as I said, we have what we have. We know what we’re looking for. From there we go and only from there we can think about letting players go.”
Mike Dean has since admitted he made the wrong call over Cristian Romero pulling Marc Cucurella's hair, is that something you are pleased about given your frustrations after the Tottenham game?
“I am not frustrated, I told you. So it cannot add to my frustration. Hopefully, I am not too honest but if a mistake is that big and obvious, what’s the point in not admitting it for the whole season? I struggle a little bit to be fully impressed by the statement I have to say. It’s so clear and obvious, I cannot understand how a referee cannot make the decision that was the right decision.”
Have you seen the memes about your handshake with Antonio Conte, do you enjoy those?
“Of course, we laugh. It is very important to laugh about ourselves. I was laughing in the dressing room. It was the heat of the match, for me, still not that bad. A handshake and too long, too heavy. I admit it. No harm was done.
"He’s from my side. He spoke Italian to me so I never know. We didn’t insult each other. I think the thing would have ended if there were not 20 people around us that make the thing look much worse than it was. You are right. If you have a reaction like this, you need to live with the reaction.
"Of course, I laughed about myself. I saw quite some (compilations). Everybody makes fun of me in the building as you can imagine but it’s ok."
Was it just passion that led to the handshake incident with Antonio Conte?
“I think it was passion between two men who fought for their team. It was not more. I hope they don’t make more out of it. Of course in the context, a hair pulling two minutes before.
"It’s not that big of a deal, for me. It was about passion and nothing more. He was fighting for his team, I was fighting for my team. As you hopefully felt before we played Tottenham last season with Conte, and now, I have nothing but biggest respect for him and this will not change because of that incident.”
Has your view of needing a new forward changed at all given the chances you missed against Tottenham, can you compete without one?
“I believe we can compete with this group. To be very honest it is one thing to compete once a week and another 60 times in a year and three times a week. For thi,s you need a strong group. It’s simply like this. You need players who challenge for their place, their minutes and push each other to their highest level.
"It does not come down to only tactics, team spirit but also the challenge and quality of players within the team and depth within the squad. That has not changed. We are very happy about the performance still but we are still active in the market and know what can be possible.
"If not, we will make the very best out of it. If we are looking, we are looking for high quality and personality that suits our group and club. Nothing has changed.”
Do you feel referees do post-match interviews to explain their decisions?
“I mean, in the decision and it’s maybe not the referee to blame in this decision. He was not called to the monitor, so we have to by all the passion and emotions and by all the consequences it had for us, need to admit that it was not the referee to take this decision.
"It was the VAR who got it totally wrong in this case. Apologising or admitting, at least, I think it could be more transparent to make it easier. Maybe they could explain the decisions on the field to everybody why they take this decision.
"Maybe, to make it more transparent and clear what’s going on. Why a goal is not allowed, why it’s disallowed, why he is overruling his own decision. It is not the end of the process yet, it’s still necessary to have regular goals and irregular decisions overruled. There’s obviously still work to do.”
In terms of a number nine, can Armando Broja be that for you this season? Or does he need to go out again before that?
“Yes and no. We know enough about him but it’s one thing to perform on a loan and another to perform within a club like Chelsea. This is the next step. While he is doing the next steps, he was injured in pre-season and is injured again.
"This does not help his own ambitions and does not help us, of course, in having a clear view on what he can give us but given the size of the squad at the moment it is a huge chance for Armando to have an impact at Chelsea.
"I understand this is his clear ambition, his clear goal to make his step here. It’s on him. He gets full support, he has our trust and full support. Here we go. Unfortunately, now he is injured again in such a short period of time and held back for this reason.”
Do you feel your performance against Tottenham sent a message to those who doubted your team this season?
“For this match, surely. It sends even a message to me, I was impressed with how we played. Not surprised. Impressed. We talked about it many times, it’s a bit hard t o have a clear view on where we are in this period of time, with sanctions and delays in transfer period.
"I was also not sure, I felt Tottenham is well prepared, got things done early. Was impressive to see us perform like his over 95 minutes. In the data, the review of the match it was also important for me to see we can reach this level that early. Now we set the bar high. It is one thing to perform in one match, in a derby and very emotional match.
"Now to repeat it on a high level and these are the next steps with the guys who played and did not play, to keep the level as high as possible. The process is not finished. Let’s see where we are now and on Sunday. Not everything is finished because we had this kind of performance but it was very good to see. It gave all of us, me included, a lot of confidence on what we do and who we are. It made it much clearer to us.”
How much are you having a full week of training to prepare for matches?
“We are enjoying it a lot. We are trying new exercises, preparing matches over three or four days which is very unusual for us. The team is very responsive, players are very responsive. It is a pure joy to have this and when the games come it’s a pure joy to have the matches. It’s nice we have extensive preparation and time in Chelsea. Coming from where we come from it is very important.”
Chelsea have never won back-to-back matches at Elland Road, is that something you're hoping to achieve and what do you expect from Leeds?
“I expect a high-intensity game, a high-pressing team from Leeds and a very emotional stadium. We had a fantastic game last season at Elland Road and scored very early, very dominant and very focused and effective in front of goal.
"Of course, there was an early red card that played into our hands. Still, was a very good performance. This is what we expect. Repetitive intensity, high pressing and a team that loves the chaos, a team of Leeds that has a high acceptance for mistakes. They don’t get frustrated by mistakes, they accept mistakes as chances to do counter-pressing and so on.
"We have to be well aware and also to manage our expectations, our level of acceptance for mistakes because mistakes against these high intensive teams like Liverpool, Leeds, Southampton, who have a certain style of pressing – you make mistakes. You cannot play without mistakes against these teams. You accept it before the match and make the best out of it, find the spaces.
"There is not a lot of time for decision making and this is what we prepare for now in training and hope to be on our top level and to find the level we had last week to be able to prove the statistics wrong! I did not know about it (record at Elland Road). So thanks for telling me.”
Do you feel Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell are competing for the same spot?
“I would say if we play a back four they are competing for the same place. If we play a back five, not 100%. Ben is a clear wing-back and Marc is both. He can play in the back three and as a wing-back.”
You've signed Cesare Casadei from inter Milan and he's earned comparisons to Frank Lampard...
“Oh really? I’m not so sure if we do him a big favour if we join in this discussion [about Lampard]. I met him yesterday here in the building.
"We will give him time now to learn the language, to learn what Chelsea is all about, to understand the culture, how we live here and train here on a daily basis.
"Once he is settled in we will give him an opportunity to train with us and show his qualities. Then we will assess him and I have a clearer picture of him. Then, we will see.”
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