If it was a mission statement, it also seemed the sort of assertion that every manager ought to make. “Our goal is to never be outran, to never be outworked but also to never be outfought,” said Jesse Marsch after incessant running and a Stakhanovite work ethic forged the finest result of his reign. Chelsea were run ragged and worked over by Leeds. After the Battle of the Bridge against Tottenham, this was a fight conducted in race after race. Leeds kept winning them.
For some, the most damning statistic was not a 3-0 scoreline but the fact that Leeds ran 11km more than Chelsea. The strollers from the Kings Road lost out to the sprinters from Elland Road. But not, Thomas Tuchel insisted, because of the differences in distance covered. “It is nothing to do with pressing, nothing to do with running less kilometres and nothing to do with the style of Leeds,” he said. Arguing defeat stemmed from individual errors, rather than managerial blueprint or choices, could sound self-serving. “It is more our fault than anybody else’s credit,” he said, rather gracelessly.
