Thomas Tuchel will be running through every possible scenario and situation as he prepares his Chelsea side to take on Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. The Blues go head-to-head with the Reds at Wembley at the weekend as Tuchel looks to get the better of Jurgen Klopp as the two German coaches prepare for battle once again.
In their 17 meetings in opposite dugouts, Tuchel has won just three against Klopp, while the latter has been victorious on nine occasions, with five draws along the way. Tuchel, though, will be boosted by what he saw from his Chelsea side against Liverpool when the two teams fought each other in March 2021.
The Blues were 1-0 victors at Anfield thanks to a first-half Mason Mount strike in front of the Kop, but the visitors could have left Merseyside with plenty more goals under their belt. Admittedly, Liverpool were going through a rough patch of form, but Tuchel's side dominated the - at the time - champions of England in their back yard.
Klopp's Gegenpressing style, that has become famous in the Premier League since he was appointed as Reds boss in 2015, sees his teams play with a remarkably high defensive line and Chelsea more than exploited that.
Timo Werner had a host of opportunities for the
Blues in the first-half at Anfield. His disallowed
goal on 24 minutes highlights exactly how Chelsea
can hurt Liverpool on Sunday.
Jorginho picked the ball up deep into his own half and had both Werner and Hakim Ziyech to aim for with a lofted through ball and picked out the former, who rounded Alisson Becker and scored, only for it to be ruled out for offside. Offside or not, the point remains the same.
Liverpool's back four will be there to exploit on Sunday - which is perhaps a reason why Tuchel should consider starting the likes of Werner and Christian Pulisic , who are Chelsea's speediest attacking options. For Mount's goal just before half-time in that match nearly 12 months ago, it was a similar situation.
This time, N'Golo Kante had the ball in Chelsea's half and Mount found some space on the left-hand side, with no Liverpool player in sight, and the former found the latter with a lofted ball. Mount, brilliantly, cut the ball inside on his right foot and beat Alisson to find the bottom corner.
The speed and directness of both Pulisic and Werner can cause Liverpool all sorts of issues at Wembley - and Klopp knows all about the two, who both arrived at Chelsea after spells in Germany.
Klopp has worked with Pulisic before, when the two were at Borussia Dortmund together and the German coach has made no secret of his admiration of the American attacker. When Liverpool were being linked with a move for Pulisic prior to the USA international joining Chelsea for £58million, Klopp said this:
"If Christian would at one point join us, I don’t know. "But I like him and it's not like that could not be the problem. We respect contracts still and there is no market that I know about in the moment."
As well as this, prior to Werner joining Chelsea for a reported £45m, Liverpool were interested in the German forward, but eventually lost out in the race. Klopp was said to be a huge fan of Werner after watching him in the Bundesliga for RB Leizpig and will know all too well about the threat his countryman could pose on Sunday.
However, the aforementioned match at Anfield from almost a year ago proves no matter how much Klopp knows about Werner, he might not be able to deal with him if Tuchel gets his gameplan right at Wembley.
Jorginho picked the ball up deep into his own half and had both Werner and Hakim Ziyech to aim for with a lofted through ball and picked out the former, who rounded Alisson Becker and scored, only for it to be ruled out for offside. Offside or not, the point remains the same.
Liverpool's back four will be there to exploit on Sunday - which is perhaps a reason why Tuchel should consider starting the likes of Werner and Christian Pulisic , who are Chelsea's speediest attacking options. For Mount's goal just before half-time in that match nearly 12 months ago, it was a similar situation.
This time, N'Golo Kante had the ball in Chelsea's half and Mount found some space on the left-hand side, with no Liverpool player in sight, and the former found the latter with a lofted ball. Mount, brilliantly, cut the ball inside on his right foot and beat Alisson to find the bottom corner.
The speed and directness of both Pulisic and Werner can cause Liverpool all sorts of issues at Wembley - and Klopp knows all about the two, who both arrived at Chelsea after spells in Germany.
Klopp has worked with Pulisic before, when the two were at Borussia Dortmund together and the German coach has made no secret of his admiration of the American attacker. When Liverpool were being linked with a move for Pulisic prior to the USA international joining Chelsea for £58million, Klopp said this:
"If Christian would at one point join us, I don’t know. "But I like him and it's not like that could not be the problem. We respect contracts still and there is no market that I know about in the moment."
As well as this, prior to Werner joining Chelsea for a reported £45m, Liverpool were interested in the German forward, but eventually lost out in the race. Klopp was said to be a huge fan of Werner after watching him in the Bundesliga for RB Leizpig and will know all too well about the threat his countryman could pose on Sunday.
However, the aforementioned match at Anfield from almost a year ago proves no matter how much Klopp knows about Werner, he might not be able to deal with him if Tuchel gets his gameplan right at Wembley.
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