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The German defender has been impressed by the impact a fellow countryman has had since replacing the Blues legend at Stamford Bridge
Antonio Rudiger has expressed his satisfaction at being reintegrated into the Chelsea starting XI following the arrival of Thomas Tuchel and believes the new Blues boss has made a solid start to life at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel inherited the managerial reins in January following the sacking of Frank Lampard and has made a positive impact early on after the Blues’ inconsistent start to the season.
Chelsea are unbeaten in their first four matches under the German, with 10 points claimed from a possible 12, leaving Rudiger in no doubt that he is the right man to take the club forward.
What has been said?
The Blues defender told Sky Germany of Tuchel’s impact: “The most important impression he’s made is that he knows what he wants.
“He has his way of playing football, which is positive for many players.
“This is also reflected in the latest results This has been a good, positive start for him.”
Lampard only used Rudiger sparingly in the first half of the campaign – much to the frustration of the defender – but he has been ever-present in Tuchel’s starting XI so far, with his latest outing coming in a 2-1 win away at Sheffield United.
The 27-year-old is glad to be back in the team after so long on the fringes of the action, as he added: “At the end of the day you want to be on the pitch as a footballer.
“As a footballer, you can’t be satisfied and you want more, you want to play so that’s been a real positive for me. He (Tuchel) wanted to bring me to PSG in the summer but otherwise we had not spoken.
“I’ve only ever played against him so we didn’t know each other before.”
The bigger picture
Having been frozen out somewhat under Lampard, Rudiger is now back in contention at Chelsea and has played the full 90 minutes in all four of the Blues’ games since Tuchel arrived.
Indeed, there were reports that the Germany international centre-back had been trying to get club legend Lampard sacked – something that Rudiger himself was forced to strenuously deny.
Lampard did, however, lose his job towards the end of January amid fears that Chelsea were on course to miss out on a top-four finish. The mood of doom surrounding the club since then has given way to a fresh feeling of optimism, with Tuchel now at the helm.
The Blues moved up to fifth in the Premier League standings after beating Sheffield United – one point behind fourth-placed Liverpool – and still have the FA Cup and Champions League knockout stages to look forward to.
Chelsea’s outlook is suddenly looking bright again, and Rudiger is looking to capitalise by rediscovering the form he showed during his second year with the club under Maurizio Sarri.
“You can take something from every coach,” he said. “I hope he (Tuchel) brings me back to the level I was at under Maurizio Sarri.”
What’s next for Chelsea?
Tuchel is currently preparing his side for an FA Cup fifth-round clash against Barnsley on Thursday, which comes four days before they play host to Newcastle in the Premier League.
Chelsea will then look ahead to a round-of-16 Champions League encounter against Atletico Madrid, with the first leg of that tie set to take place in Bucharest on February 23.
Further reading
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