HAKIM ZIYECH is hoping his struggles are over after showing Thomas Tuchel that he is ready to play a leading role at Chelsea again.
The Moroccan international has been hampered for months by the shoulder injury suffered during the Super Cup victory at the start of the season.
But now he is ready to relaunch his career after scoring a crucial Champions League winner in Malmo last night.
He said: “I have had some hard times behind me because I didn’t really fully recover from my injury and I’ve never been able to find my rhythm again.
“Chelsea have not seen the best of me yet because I know what I can do and what my highest level is.
“But I have always believed in myself and I have worked really hard every day even when things have not been going as they’re supposed to.
“I am trying to be important for the team with goals and assists and I’m happy I was able to help in what was a pretty difficult match for us.”
Tuchel admitted: “The shoulder injury cost him a lot and he is still not 100 percent right because attacking players love freedom of movement.
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“But it always helps when a player who is stuck gets a goal like this.
“There is still room for Hakim to improve in his decision making and for his connections on the pitch to be more consistent.
“We rely on his work rate because his intensity in the counter pressing is a huge part of his performances.”
Tuchel also refused to take the credit for the half-time tactical switch which led directly to Ziyech’s 56th minute winner.
He said: “My assistant Arlo Michels came up with the idea to switch Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi at half-time and we liked that idea a lot.
“We thought it could save an important tenth of a second if both players did not have to cut back onto their other foot when they got out wide and that is how it worked for our goal.
“We needed and expected this result and we have got the job done.
“We had a lot of shots but we were not clinical enough but we were always in control of the game and I’m happy that we didn’t suffer any situations in our box at all.
“There were a lot of reasons why we could have stumbled because the pitch was not great and we have had a lot of travelling for two away games in four days.
“But we never lost our concentration and we absolutely deserved this win.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
