Tuchel says arrival at Chelsea 'surreal'
LONDON (Reuters) - New Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel admitted the past few days had been surreal as he prepared to take charge of his first match against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.
The 47-year-old former Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain coach was confirmed as sacked Frank Lampard's replacement on Tuesday and was in the dugout 24 hours later hoping to halt the poor form that cost Lampard his job.
"You can't imagine the last 48, 72 hours it has been a bit surreal but we are right here now and playing a match with Chelsea, it's been an amazing few days," he said.
Tuchel made four changes to the starting lineup from the side that lost Lampard's last Premier League game in charge -- a 2-0 defeat by Leicester City.
Tammy Abraham, who scored a hat-trick in the FA Cup win over Luton Town, Lampard's last game, was only named on the bench as were young English duo Mason Mount and Reece James.
Timo Werner was also among the substitutes with Jorginho, Olivier Giroud, Hakim Ziyech and Cesar Azpilicueta all starting.
"We will see if I got any message across in training! I was happy to be on the pitch with them as they feel comfortable, we took the possibility to train," Tuchel said.
"There is nothing to be afraid of and we encouraged the guys to do their best today."
Tuchel said people should not read too much into his first lineup, saying he had gone for more experience.
"We have a good mix of young and experienced players. Today I cannot choose a team after one day in training, it's not fair so this may be the most unfair lineup we ever do," he said.
"We chose a bit more experience today because we step in in the middle of the season, it's not easy."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
