Looking for Soccer News?
'He was not happy' - Tuchel half-time anger inspired Chelsea to beat Spurs, says Azpilicueta
The Spanish defender admitted the Blues squad faced the wrath of their manager at the interval in the London derby
Thomas Tuchel's half-time anger inspired Chelsea to beat Tottenham, says Cesar Azpilicueta.
Chelsea stormed to the top of the Premier League table with a 3-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, thanks to goals from Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger.
The European champions were good value for the three points in the end but were well below their best in the first 45 minutes, and Azpilicueta says the squad felt Tuchel's wrath in the dressing room at the half-time interval.
What's been said?
"He [Tuchel] was not happy, we were not happy with our performance," the Chelsea captain told Sky Sports after the game. "Even though we were able to arrive around the box we did not shoot on target, they created a few chances where we could have conceded.
"Even in duels we were not as good as we usually are. We were sometimes too open and it was something that we had to address. Playing like this, we couldn’t expect to win the game. The best thing we could do was to arrive at half-time at 0-0.
"The reaction was good, everyone is humble enough to accept this and go again and give a strong second half."
Chelsea victorious
Spurs' came out the blocks quickly against their London rivals, but the Blues slowly turned the tide and after a strong finish to the first half, they took the lead when Silva headed home from a corner in the 51st minute.
Kante then produced a superb long-range effort to double their advantage before Rudiger rounded off the scoring in stoppage time with an instinctive finish to condemn Tottenham to back-to-back defeats.
Chelsea will now look ahead to a third-round EFL Cup tie against Aston Villa in midweek, which comes three days before a huge clash with reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.
