Thomas Tuchel hailed Kalidou Koulibaly as a "strong personality, a strong player" after Chelsea's 3-1 pre-season victory over Udinese – and the Blues head coach also laid out how he will prepare his players for the Premier League opener against Everton at Goodison Park.
In a week's time, Chelsea begin their 2022/23 top-flight campaign. There is still much work to be done by Tuchel and his players but the free-flowing performance and victory over Udinese at the Dacia Arena last night went a long way to lifting the mood after the disappointing end to the club's tour of the USA.
Tuchel picked a strong starting XI against the Serie A side; it may have even the side that will line up at Goodison Park. There was huge experience in the backline with Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Koulibaly deployed. Combined, the trio have played 1,887 official club games.
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The start was Koulibaly's first since his arrival from Napoli this summer and the 31-year-old instantly looked at home on the left of the Chelsea back three. The Senegal international was composed on the ball, helped Chelsea progress possession, and made one very important interception in the first half to stop a Udinese counter.
Koulibaly received plenty of praise after the game and Tuchel stated that it was very much deserved. The German continued: "He is a very, very good signing. A strong personality, a strong player. I am happy that he could play 70 minutes now. He’s getting fitter and fitter which is very important for us for the start of the season."
Fellow summer signing Raheem Sterling also started for the Blues and got on the scoresheet in the opening period. "He had chances, very heavily involved in other chances, it was a good performance," was Tuchel's brief assessment of the England international's display.
Only 16 players were used in the friendly against Udinese on Friday night. That was by design with another friendly being played behind closed doors against the Italian side this morning (Saturday). The Chelsea squad have two days off following their return from Italy, but the focus is then firmly on their Premier League opener.
"We prepare nothing else but Everton from Tuesday because they are right in front of the door and we need to improve, we are not ready yet. We don’t have to be ready yet, we have another week. Then it’s the time to be on the best level – there’s still some way to go."
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