Rio Ferdinand has been impressed with Thomas Tuchel’s start at Chelsea but believes ‘unlocking’ Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech will be a huge task and one which could have an impact of how long he stays in the job.
The former PSG boss remains unbeaten since taking over from Frank Lampard in January, winning six and drawing three of his opening nine games at the club.
Manchester City are the only side with a better goals against column (16) than Chelsea (25) in the Premier League this campaign.
But, Ferdinand warned that there were major improvements to be made in other areas at the club. Ferdinand told the FIVE YouTube channel: ‘The defensive record since he’s come in has really shot up.
‘He changed personnel and gone with experience and you’ve seen an uplift in some of the players there. ‘I still think there’s massive work to do.’
Eyebrows were raised when Mount started on the bench for Tuchel’s first game in charge at home against Wolves. But he has started all but one of Chelsea’s games since.
‘I think Mount under Frank was their best player and he’s still the best player under Tuchel,’ Ferdinand added.
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‘What he’s got to do, the recruitment they had under Frank, he’s got to get a tune out of them. Werner is not playing to the standard that we have seen at Leipzig, Havertz is on the bench, Ziyech played yesterday [against Manchester United]… no real massive impact.
‘These are three players that were tearing up their leagues where they came from so he needs that to be transferred into the Premier League and I think that’s a massive, massive task for him.
‘If he gets that right he’s on the right road and for them, I think it’ll be the same: recruitment. If these guys like [Erling] Haaland and [Kylian] Mbappe come up, Chelsea will be in the mix for them to try and buy them, 100 per cent.
‘That will obviously have a big impact and bearing on how well he does but as a man, he’s one of the most impressive men I’ve met in terms of football and the way he talks about the game. ‘It’s early days but Chelsea fans feel very positive about his start.’
According to Ferdinand, Chelsea’s over-reliance on Olivier Giroud proves they need to spend on attacking reinforcements in the summer window. He also said Tuchel should be playing Werner out wide rather than as a No.9.
Asked whether Chelsea’s options up front were good enough, Ferdinand said: ‘On form? No, not at all. How long are they going to keep relying on Giroud? At his age, where he’s at in his career, he’s an impact player, 100 per cent.
‘For Chelsea to be having Giroud leading the line says really where they’re at in terms of they need to make some more recruitment in that area.
‘Is Timo Werner a No.9? I would say he’s probably better off from a wider position where he was playing at Leipzig. But they’re fully stocked out there, they’ve got [Christian] Pulisic as well.
‘Where does Havertz fit into this team? I think there’s a lot of questions for Tuchel to be answering and that’ll come with games, more time on the training field. ‘He’s going to have to get into these players to really unlock them and give him the best chance of staying and actually producing something there.’
