Tomas Kalas: I marked Luis Suarez on my Chelsea debut so no Play-Off fears with Fulham for me

Dependable | Tomas Kalas has made over 80 appearances for Fulham and Middlesbrough over two seasons
Getty Images
Simon Johnson12 May 2017

After being asked to mark Luis Suarez on his Premier League debut, the Championship play-offs should not hold any fears for Chelsea and Fulham defender Tomas Kalas.

It has been little over three years since Kalas helped nullify one of the best strikers in the world and put a major dent in Liverpool’s title hopes.

Chelsea’s 2-0 win at Anfield is most remembered for Steven Gerrard’s slip that gifted Demba Ba the opening goal. However, the victory was all the more remarkable because former manager Jose Mourinho made a number of changes, including selecting Kalas to start next to Branislav Ivanovic at centre-half.

Kalas told Standard Sport: “That match is going to stay in my head forever. Every League debut for a player is a special moment, but this was at Anfield, playing against Suarez and Gerrard.

“I remember I was shaking at the start. This was such a huge game. Liverpool were expected to win and go on to win the title. I was just trying to do my best against Suarez, who is such a great forward.

“I didn’t ask to swap shirts afterwards. I kept mine as a memento of the occasion. I have watched a few clips of the match since then. Of course, you always see the Gerrard slip, but I was able to see the things I did right and wrong. I learnt a lot, but I still need to prove I can play at that level. I can’t be judged on just that one game.”

Fulham is the fifth different club Kalas has been loaned to since joining Chelsea from Czech side Sigma Olomouc for £5.2million in 2010.

He has been a key figure at the back for Slavisa Jokanovic’s Fulham side as the club staged a late rally to claim sixth place and the last play-off spot.

Clean sheet: Kalas kept Suarez quiet on his Chelsea debut
Chelsea FC via Getty Images

One would assume coming up against Suarez would have provided the greatest lesson in his career so far, but that is not the case for the Czech Republic international.

“Playing for Fulham, and Middlesbrough last season, has helped me much more,” he explains. “For example, Rotherham may have been relegated this season, but I learnt how to approach a game like that, how professional you have to be on the pitch.

“I do weights after training now because I realised I can’t be a defender weighing 70kg. I realised that when playing against Kenneth Zohore (the Cardiff striker who scored twice in the 2-2 draw against Fulham in February). That was a striker I struggled with physically.”

Beating Reading over two legs won’t be an easy task either, but 23-year-old Kalas believes Fulham have an advantage.

“We have a lot of momentum,” he said. “Losing to Derby in April got us going again and we finished with five wins and one draw. It would be worse if we were going into the play-offs off the back of three defeats. We have already had to play with the pressure of having to win games and that will help us.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in