Former Chelsea player Pat Nevin joined The Football Show on Monday to discuss Hakim Ziyech and Thomas Tuchel.
Chelsea breezed past Tottenham on Sunday.
It was a game that highlighted the gulf in class between the two teams. Tottenham held out at 0-0 until halftime before Hakim Ziyech opened the scoring early in the second half. Thiago Silva followed up with a headed goal from a corner. That Ziyech goal was special though.
Nicknamed the Magician while at Ajax, Ziyech perfectly flighted the ball into the top corner from outside the box. It carried a high trajectory before dropping late to go in off the point where the crossbar meets the post. Hugo Loris had no chance.
Pat Nevin was surprised by Ziyech's performance and has been over recent times after the winger showed little quality early in his Chelsea career.
"Everyone saw what Ziyech done. On the day he was stunning," Nevin said.
"I've not seen anything like it. When you're at the game seeing all the stuff off the ball as well, his movement, his tackling, his work rate, his fitness, his confidence. All that sort of stuff. I'm thinking 'Who are you? What have you done with Hakim Ziyech who has been there for a period of time.
"He's a totally different player so it's stunning."
The change in form for Ziyech doesn't have a singular answer, but there is definitely one factor that is larger than any other. Thomas Tuchel gave his winger confidence by playing him in more games and trusting him win games. Tuchel knew Ziyech's quality, so he trusted that sticking with him would pay off.
Tuchel's faith in Ziyech was needed because he's missed so many games in his Chelsea career.
"It could be a number of things. You can make excuses for players.
"He had a few injuries. He doesn't get a run of games. You look at all the players in that position, Mount plays in that position, Pullisic plays in that position. Werner can play in that position, Havertz can play there. He's not got a run of games. Also, I've watched him play well within himself.
"Not taking chances. Make one mistake and he disappears."
Moving from Ajax to Chelsea was a big change for Ziyech. Nevin believes that his confidence dropped because of the change in status at his new club, so now he's benefiting from being embraced once again. Tuchel has empowered him to make mistakes, so Ziyech is more likely to attempt that audacious shot that led to his spectacular goal.
"If you spend your whole career in a job where everybody thinks you're fabulous and you're wonderful and you can do no wrong. To some degree you can't do any wrong. You can make mistakes and people just shrug their shoulders. Have another go. But when you come into a new organization, a new job and suddenly you make one or two mistakes, that confidence in certain individuals just disappears.
"It absolutely disappeared with him.
"He gets a boost of confidence...if I had to guess and I had to put it down to one basic thing...
..it's Tuchel."
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