TUCH OF CLASS
GARY NEVILLE is in awe of the way Thomas Tuchel coaches Chelsea.
The German has turned the Blues into a defensive powerhouse since he replaced Frank Lampard in January and Neville is loving it.
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The Blues have been fantastic since the former Paris Saint-Germain boss took over from inexperienced Lampard.
They have reached the Champions League and FA Cup finals and all but cemented themselves a top-four place.
And the main improvement has been how hard they are to score against.
Chelsea have gone from conceding an average of 0.93 goals-per-game under Lampard in all competitions this season to just 0.44 under Tuchel.
Tuchel's men have also kept 18 clean sheets from his 25 games in charge.
And Neville heaped praise on the German for his instant impact on the West Londoners.
The former Manchester United right-back said on Sky: "We started to see this a few years ago, this transition of teams pushing up high.
"I even witnessed it in Spain with Valencia. Whereby I was trying to put a zonal system in play where you shuffle across all together and some of the players wanted to jump out and I didn’t know how to coach it.
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"I marvel at some of the defenders nowadays in terms of the pressure they put on themselves and the way they get up the pitch.
"I mentioned a few months ago at Manchester United, you look at Chelsea, Liverpool and City, this season, they’re pushing right up the pitch.
"I think Manchester United have done it better, they just drop a little bit too deep - that five yards I was talking about. These teams are absolutely brilliant.
"I don’t know how Tuchel coaches it, he’s been here four or five months, he has games every Wednesday and Saturday, there’s no time on the training pitch, you’re talking about recoveries most of the time.
"How has he coached that instantly into a team straight away?
"It’s an outstanding coaching performance and well done to the players for taking it on board as well.
"If you said to me that [Antonio] Rudiger, [Andreas] Christensen and [Cesar] Azpilicueta in a back three - and Thiago Silva, who’s a brilliant player but an ageing player - would have 11 clean sheets, I’d say not a chance.
"It’s got to be down to the manager and the coaching.”
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