Thomas Tuchel has admitted he had doubts over the way his Chelsea players would respond to Roman Abramovich being sanctioned as the club was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday.
The German coach had to prepare his players for a crucial Premier League clash away at Norwich City after the news of Abramovich's sanctioning by the UK government broke on the eve of the game.
Chelsea have been severely affected by the decision, with restrictions now in place on player transfers and ticket sales while shirt sponsors Three have suspended their £40m-a-season deal.
The future of the club is very much hanging in the balance, and Tuchel's own position has been the subject of speculation.
It was far from the ideal build-up to a fixture, but Tuchel cited the "trust" between him and his squad which helped get the result over the line, as Chelsea ran out 3-1 winners at Carrow Road.
"It would be a lie if I said I had no doubts but I also had a lot of trust," Tuchel told Radio 5 Live after the game. "In difficult circumstances we produced a lot of results and good performances so we can trust in our mentality and the culture in the club. We allowed ourselves to focus on the football."
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Travelling Chelsea fans had sung Abramovich's name prior to kick-off, despite his sanctioning coming amid alleged links with Russia president Vladimir Putin, who ordered the controversial invasion of Ukraine.
Off-field matters were quickly swept to one side on the pitch however, as Trevoh Chalobah gave the Blues an early third-minute lead.
Mason Mount quickly doubled their advantage 11 minutes later, though it proved to be a close affair once Teemu Pukki had pulled one back for Norwich from the penalty spot.
Chelsea managed to keep the relegation strugglers at bay, though, with Kai Havertz then sealing the result with a goal in the 90th minute.
Despite the win, talk after the game was soon back to the main issue at hand, as Tuchel was pressed on the current situation inside the club.
"It is big news. It is huge and has a huge impact of course so it is the subject of the talks," he said. "Maybe on a day like this you would talk about the Champions League games last night but nobody talks about this.
"So it's nice to enter a schedule before a match as it helps to focus as we're used to it."
He continued: "We cannot influence it so we allowed ourselves to enjoy it. We have the privilege to play and sometimes it's good to sweat it out. We tried to work hard to get the focus out.
"I would love to talk about sport but of course I understand you have a lot of questions. We are also an entertainment so that's why it is like this."
Chelsea are now being forced to operate under a new licence after the government sanctioned Abramovich until at least May 31.
Abramovich is still hopeful of selling the club as quickly as possible, with numerous bidders already involved in negotiations.
American billionaire Todd Boehly and Swiss businessman Hansjorg Wyss are leading a consortium who have already lodged a bid to buy the club, while other interested parties are expected to submit rival offers before next week's March 15 deadline.
Tuchel added: "Let's see if it stays like this. If it does, I don't know. We take it day by day. I didn't see that coming yesterday and I don't know what is coming tomorrow.
"Everybody can be very sure that we focus on us, to keep the attitude and the mentality right on the training ground and within the team.
"So far we can trust each other and this will not change. As long as we have enough shirts and a bus to drive to the games we will be there and will compete hard."
