– From your fifteen years at Chelsea, your very close bond that you forged with goalkeeper Petr Cech often emerges. Does it bother you that you are attached to him?
“No, because it was an exceptional experience. I consider it a professional love story. I spent one year with him at Rennes and eight or nine years at Chelsea. I’ll tell you something, few people know it: I tried something crazy. I sent a message to Petr Cech (41 years old at that time), I suggested that we come to Dunkirk, because he is crazy too, he plays ice hockey now. I told him that I was working in Dunkirk with Demba and I offered him a six-month freelance contract, so that we could experience something incredible. It would have created an incredible buzz but, beyond that, it was the possibility of working together again. He replied with a smiley and then nothing. It’s rare. That meant he was starting to think. The next morning he called me: “Christophe, with my tendons I’m not going to be able to.” He didn’t say yes, but he thought! »
– How were your interactions with him?
“The first time I met him was in the stadium parking lot in Rennes. He comes out of a match, we chat quickly, he asks me what I thought of his match. I told him that he didn’t take up enough space compared to his height (1.96 m), that he could play much higher. I saw that he was starting to question himself (…) Petr was curious, he helped me advance tremendously in my skills as a goalkeeper coach, because he was strong, he liked the methodology. He was constantly searching.
I had to do 502 matches on the bench at Chelsea, there are at least 400 with Petr et 95% of these matches were analyzed together. I can tell you that we didn’t spend ten minutes there! Sometimes it was he who said to me: “Christophe, I’m not sure, we need to rethink this action.” Sometimes it was about positioning a few centimeters, fascinating discussions. With Petr Cech, we worked on vision, peripheral awareness, etc. We did things that were not possible together, work that brought a level of performance – even if there was also the boy’s talent at the base.
The visual work that we did together was noticed by the McLaren (F1) team. The other goalkeepers who arrived at Chelsea were surprised to see everything we did. It was harder with some like with Thibaut Courtois. It was more difficult to work with him and, in hindsight, perhaps I did not explain to him well that everything we implemented was dedicated to performance. Perhaps he was not convinced by the method put in place, it led to a conflicting situation and led to my departure from the Chelsea pro team. »
Christophe Lollichon during his first years at Chelsea. The latest regarding the goalkeeping coach.”/>Thibaut Courtois, now Real Madrid goalkeeper, worked alongside Christophe Lollichon during his first years at Chelsea. The latest regarding the goalkeeping coach. – AFP PHOTO
– José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, Guus Hiddink, André Villas-Boas… at Chelsea, you worked with many prestigious coaches. How did each of them impact you?
“Some mark you positively, others negatively. Carlo Ancelottiit was a real pleasure. I can’t say the opposite of all the good things everyone says about him. He was perhaps even too nice at Chelsea, which meant that the experience only lasted two years, because at one point the English started to take advantage of it, in the staff, but perhaps also the players.
The pleasure was also with Villas-Boasbut he was 33, 34 years old… He was crazy, maybe he wasn’t ready yet. But he made decisions. He and I had heated discussions. With André, Carlo but also Roberto Di Matteowho was him in the research even if in the game it was not clear, I had the chance to have incredible discussions.
Christophe Lollichon in 2011, on the Chelsea bench alongside a young André Villas-Boas, just 34 years old, then coach of the Blues. – AFP PHOTO
Guus Hiddink is someone who knows people so much that he is able to perceive a locker room atmosphere very quickly. In two days, he had understood everything and he is able to shape his approach based on what he saw. Very strong. As for Benitez he has a great football culture, but he is too political and sometimes makes choices based on that. »
– And Mourinho?
“You don’t win as many titles as he won without having qualities, that’s obvious. He has long been one step ahead of many coaches, particularly in approaching matches, supervising opponents, etc. I’m thinking in particular of his first period at Chelsea (2004-2007). We have long compared and contrasted Mourinho et Pep Guardiola : both methods worked, but the difference in the long term is that the first will consume players while the second develops them. The two years spent with Mourinho were particularly difficult. »
