Interview: Chelsea’s Goalkeeping Coach Christophe Lollichon

Christophe Lollichon knows Chelsea FC off by heart – so well that he has served under eight managers in eight years. In a recent interview with our friends at Offside.fr (FFW’s mirror image – covering English football in French!) he looked back on his past, his relationship with Petr Cech, that text message received one Saturday at Rennes, Kurt Zouma and the role of the goalkeeper. In a no holds barred interview! (translation by @jeremysmith98)

Offside! : Was it purely ambition that led you to join Chelsea?

Christophe Lollichon: “More than ambition, it was the approach, because we all want to push ourselves further. When you receive a text one Saturday afternoon before training with Rennes, and it asks if you’re interested in becoming a coach at Chelsea, it shakes you up a little. I asked my wife to double-check it and she confirmed that it had come from Petr Cech. English football is unique. It was something I really wanted to be a part of. Even if, psychologically, it was tough to leave Rennes in the middle of the season. I had brought two goalkeepers to Rennes, we were third in the league. But then when you really want something… When you are passionate and you want to go as far as possible, then Chelsea is a great opportunity.

O! : How is it, working with José Mourinho?
“It’s the second season. We’d crossed paths before but I had never worked with him.”

O! : Is it « special » ?
“He’s a coach with an big aura. He is called the Special One. He knows what he wants. He’s a winner. A real winner. He is able to manage egos. He is number one on the list. He is able to protect his players and to criticise them, but in a positive way and when it is necessary. Everyone knows Jose in every club that he’s managed: he wins. Whether or not you like his methods. His method has evolved. The players he has nowadays are not the same as those he had at Madrid or Inter. They’re extremely professional.”

O! : André Villas-Boas said that sacking a manager at Chelsea was just a normal day’s work. Did the lack of stability get to you sometimes?
“There are tough moments. You may or may not be close to the manager in charge at the time. Some of them took a real hiding last summer with their national team. There we didn’t get on so well so there were no regrets {clearly he’s talking about Scolari here}. Then there are others with whom you would have liked to work a little longer. Rightly or wrongly, at Chelsea it’s all about the results. There is no patience with whoever is in charge. So it changes a lot and you have to adapt. It’s not always easy. A guy like Carlo Ancelotti is a fantastic man who likes the people around him to be happy. It’s a great pleasure to work with him. Avram Grant was criticised for his supposed incompetence, but he was far from it. An experience in the Champions League with Di Matteo, they’re memories that will last a lifetime. We did everything in two months – we won the Champions League and the FA Cup (in 2012).”

O! : From a purely professional point of view, do you have to always be ready to adapt your work methods but also to pack your bags?
“The first thing you have to be ready for is what will happen to you. My first year at Chelsea, I received a text from a friend at Rennes. He said “have you heard? You’ve been fired. » It was on the France Football and Equipe websites. I was fired because Scolari was arriving with his own goalkeeping coach. I was just coming back from holiday with my wife and kids when I heard that. I phoned the club and they told me that he was coming with his goalkeeping coach but that he’ll be working on something else. It was hairy moment though. There have been coaches who have come with their full staff, including a goalkeeping coach. Today, I keep doing my job and people trust me.”

O! : To what do you put down your longevity ? You seem a permanent fixture.
“I have a relationship with Petr Cech, who is a special person. We’ve been working together for eight years, eight years of finding a way to make training interesting. Our relationship goes beyond just the sporting side. There is always that moment when a young goalkeeper arrives. But Petr is still there. There are people at the club who appreciate your work. I don’t hold anything back. I work hard, I’m not often at home, because I want to always know what’s going on.”

O! : How is Petr Cech?
“He’s doing well. He’s just won another trophy, his fourteenth in 10 years. Petr is doing well, even though his current situation is not that easy. We’re talking about someone remarkable, with values, who is not going to hide away because he’s lost his number 1 spot. He keeps working as if he is going to play every weekend.”

O! : There is a transition between two players taking place. Is it all Mourinho dealing with it, or are you involved at all. How does it work?
“The decision to make Thibaut number 1 is the manager’s. Then, if it’s a question of rotation, we might discuss it. But above all, it’s the manager’s call. It helps to know early on as there are factors that need managing. He decides, we discuss it sometimes. Then we manage it during training.  »

O! : You spoke of your special relationship with Cech. You also have to manage Courtois and make him the best. How do you deal with that ? It can’t be easy emotionally, you have to remain professional…
“It’s not easy because you’ve got a keeper like Petr who is at the top of his form. We have two of the best three keepers in the world. It’s an advantage. Whether you start with one or the other, it doesn’t change anything. We saw that against Everton and in the League Cup final. Either way, the opponent has a phenomenal goalkeeper against them. Then you have to discuss. I can’t go into detail. But we speak a lot. We’re talking about clever lads. Petr helps Thibault. He is not going to drop banana skins in front of him. At half time we all talk together. After matches too. You see how it works? If you had someone who sulked because he had lost his place, or this or that. The guys are jostling for position.”

O! : What does Courtois have over the other Premier League keepers?
“His height for a start : he’s practically two metres tall. He has a phenomenal wingspan. He is explosive. He has also added something : at Atletico who stayed deep. I like keepers who are a little bit of a sweeper. He has developed his game tactically.”

O! : What are tactics for a keeper ?
“The way he manages his match. A keeper is like an air traffic controller. He has to coordinate movement. A keeper is someone who must be able to anticipate. When we have the ball, where should I position myself? Knowing where to place yourself when the team loses the ball, that’s managing how deep you stand. When you have a team that plays a high line, you need to be ready to control that and know where the opponent might counter-attack. That is the fruit of pre-match analysis. The modern-day keeper is not just a shot-stopper. He’s a player. The only difference is that he can use his hands.”

O! : What do you do to help a goalkeeper to progress?
“We repeat the same moves. Like playing your scales. You individualise the work. Petr is complete. With Thibault, there are things to watch for with some of his crossing work. There is a lot of video work. We analyse every match. I analyse every match of Petr, Thibault. They’re things that take a lot of time. Analysis of the match, then discussion, that takes four, four and a half hours. We select the clips. For the PSG match, Thibault is shown every clip where he is on the screen (as shown on television) during the first leg. We have a wide angle camera with almost both goals in it. I always look at the position of the keeper. Out of the question to see the keeper standing still ! Do you know how many kilometres a Chelsea keeper does?”

O! : 3, 4, 2 ?
“Between five and six, lots by walking. But sometimes you need to know when to accelerate at the right moment. That’s what we work on. A keeper must also be able to create a passing angle when a player is struggling to bring the ball out. He can open up the game. It’s about being able to anticipate. Of course, you need to be able to use your feet. But 80-85% of a keeper’s match is played with the feet. You have to be ready.”

O! : How would you compare Cech when he arrived and Courtois who is playing his first season this year?
“There’s not much in it. It’s top quality. They’ve supplemented their game tactically. Technically they are complete. Petr, for his first match at Deauville with Rennes, I wanted him to play higher up. During the match, he turned round to see where he was in relation to the goal. At half time I asked the referee if I could use some elastic. I wanted to put it on the pitch. I placed it coming straight out from the two posts, on the 6 yard line, the penalty spot and the eighteen yard line, to allow him to place himself higher up, by still knowing where the goal was. It took him 45 minutes. After that he understood it all.”

O! : Are you going to work with Thierry Omeyer (goalkeeper of France’s handball team current European, World and Olympic champions)?
“You’re not wrong. We’re in contact. I’d really like Thierry to come and see us so that we can have an exchange between goalkeepers. Because I’m increasingly attracted by the game of handball goalkeepers. Petr’s save against Everton was across between handball and ice hockey. I go and watch ice hockey matches with Petr, at Guildford, a very interesting second division team. Omeyer has a very busy schedule but we’ve started discussions. And a meeting with the others could be interesting.”

O! : Zouma, in a few years, he’ll be right at the top won’t he?
“He’s a player on the rise.”

O! : The new Desailly, as Mourinho says?
“Marcel, he’s very good at the self publicity too. You have to be patient, and not compare. Marcel, technique-wise, had more finesse. Kurt is in the process of developing that.”

O! : You get the impression that Marcel was harder on the man…
“There’s the understanding of the game too. Kurt is young. He has just arrived and he had a very good development at Saint-Etienne. He needs to work on his understanding of the game. He is already in the France squad. He is not a first-team regular, either for Chelsea or les Bleus, but he is at the top in terms of his club and his national team. He works hard. He is serious. He is focussed on what he has to do. Above all he is intelligent enough to do what he can do, and not to try to do too much. And that is very good.”

Photo Credit: Marc Puig i Perez & Ronnie McDonald