On August 5 when Chelsea head to Everton, Thomas Tuchel will accept no excuses from his players.
Nothing about sanctions, the departure of Roman Abramovich and no bleating about having to play catch-up in the transfer market.
With Liverpool and Manchester City still formidable, Tottenham resurgent under Antonio Conte and Arsenal building steadily under Mikel Arteta, Tuchel knows his Blues stars will have to hit the ground running this season. So he has served notice now that defeat is not an option at Goodison Park.
“I want to be ready when we play Everton,” he said. “I want to win and I will demand it from myself, my team and all my players.
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“The team will be strong. I am not ready to use it as an excuse even though it is maybe true that we are in transition. We can - I can - focus. The team can focus on what makes us strong, take it step by step and work out how to win games.
“If you look at the transfer period of Tottenham with Antonio Conte, it’s maybe the strongest team they ever built. Manchester United will not give in, Arsenal will not give in, they’ve made two big signings already. So we are aware of the situation and we’ll try to do our best to be competitive.”
Tuchel, whose men face club America in Nevada on Saturday, exhaled as he summed up the size of the task facing his new-look Chelsea team this season.
He has opted for experience with Raheem Sterling at his peak set to be joined by 31-year-old Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli with talks ongoing for 27-year-old Nathan Ake from City and PSG’s Presnel Kimpembe, 26.
Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Chelsea were uncharacteristically easy to play against in the final third of last season, winning just three of their final nine games and conceding in six of them. This time around, however, Thiago Silva remains along with rising stars Malang Sarr and Trevoh Chalobah to give Tuchel strength in depth at the back.
Now he is ready to defy those who doubt he is able to put the right combination together in time.
“It's possible. We can, we have to,” he went on. “We have a structure we can rely on and, for example, if we play against Everton, Thiago can play, Trevoh can hopefully play, and Azpi is at the moment here.
“If there are guys still to be signed or not fully aware of the principles, I don't want to use it as an excuse. It is still possible. When I came in I had one day to start with the back three and I still think it will be a fit.
“You always need to find the balance between protecting the path for the guys from the academy and being able to win.
“It also doesn’t help a young player just to rely on him if he can’t deliver in the first weeks the level that we expect from him and the fans expect. That would help nobody.
“But the first ten, eleven days with the group have been outstanding. The mentality, work ethic and quality in training has been absolutely impressive and this makes me very happy.”
