'Unique' N'Golo Kante gives you everything you need, says Thomas Tuchel

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for midfielder N’Golo Kante after the French footballer delivered a fantastic performance in the team’s 3-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur. Kante scored the second goal to help the Blues take a strong lead in a crucial encounter. Tuchel hailed the footballer’s performance, terming him as a ‘top’ player who has something that everybody is looking for.

“If you have N’Golo, you have something that everybody is looking for”

“He’s a top player. If you have N’Golo, you have something that everybody is looking for. You have everything that you need in midfield – work-rate, intensity, ball wins, skikful play, off the ball and with the ball, and even a goal today! I see this every day in training and it’s hard to believe how good he is. He’s a unique player. We were strong in midfield together with Jorginho and Kovacic in the second half but N’Golo is N’Golo. He’s fantastic,” said Tuchel as quoted by Chelsea’s official website.

Kante came on as a sub and turned things around when it mattered the most.

“With N’Golo on the bench, when you want to step up then he’s the best player to bring on because he’s unique and he can change any momentum. We wanted to improve our compactness and ball wins to put the match in the opponent’s half. That was the idea behind it and I’m happy with it.”

Tuchel admitted that he was not happy with Chelsea’s performance in the first half.

‘I was absolutely not happy with the first 45 minutes. There were individual performances that were already great like from Kepa and Thiago Silva, and even more players were good, but in general we lacked energy and being more relentless in duels. I had the feeling that we wanted to impress by pure skills but in a game like this in the Premier League, a derby away at Tottenham, it’s not only about skilful play. It’s also about aggression, winning duels and performing better as a team,” said the Chelsea manager.

“We lacked energy and we spoke clearly about it at half-time but the second half was a very good performance and a well-deserved win. It was a very good reaction so I’m absolutely happy with our performance in second half,” he added.

“It wasn’t my most beautiful goal”

Kante was typically understated in his description about the shot which deflected in off Tottenham defender Eric Dier and the woodwork.

“It wasn’t my most beautiful goal, but it was an important goal and it helped my team. Mateo [Kovacic] gave me the ball, I saw that I had time to shoot so I shot, it was a deflection, but I am happy that it touched the post and went in. I am happy that I helped the team. Am feeling better. I think we managed the injury very well. Took time to come onto the pitch and I am happy to be back and I felt very good,” said the French footballer.

“Last year gave us a lot of confidence but we know nothing is going to be easy and we need to work hard and work together. It is important that we started well this season but there are many important games and we need to carry on,” he added.