Tinkering Tuchel justifies Chelsea’s managerial chopping block.
Tom Ball
Thomas Tuchel marked his tenth game in charge on Chelsea with 1-0 win away at Anfield on Sunday. Now, if we had displayed that headline before Christmas the reaction would be much different to what it is. Jurgen Klopp’s men have now lost their last five league games on merseyside after going unbeaten in the 68 league games before that. Perhaps putting an asterisk onto the blues’ performance meaning the league’s freshest face may not receive the praise a win at Liverpool would have warranted just weeks ago.
Let’s not kid ourselves. Tuchel received his praise for his team’s performance at the weekend. It was thoroughly deserved. Despite this, the reds’ free fall has been top of the debate agenda and there is good reason for that. It’s remarkable. On the other hand, this result comes in a two week period where Chelsea went unbeaten against Liverpool, Manchester United and La Liga’s high flyers; Atletico Madrid. Many would argue this wouldn’t of happened before the turn of the new year when Frank Lampard was in charge. Chelsea lacked belief and a robust tactical structure towards the back end of the club legend’s reign.
Lampard’s dismissal came as a sad day for not Chelsea fans’ but many football fans’ in general. Seeing another very promising and bright young English manager get dispatched is never welcomed. This league is still yet to produce a winning manager from it’s own country. Much of the reaction to Frank’s sacking was understandably suggesting that more time was needed for him to gain some stability after the massive financial injection the squad received last summer. We can call naivety or impatience and lambast ‘The Chelsea Way’. But that anger is misdirected. The mistake came in hiring Frank in the first place. Not because of an overestimated evaluation into his ability as a coach. The benefit of hindsight allows us to recognise that Chelsea’s board were never going to waiver from their high standards. Many wouldn’t contest that they had to. But they didn’t, not even for the club’s greatest ever player. Did they expect Frank to challenge heavily for the title? It’s unrealistic to look at the whole different universe Liverpool and Manchester City had created for themselves and expect that sort of improvement. Furthermore, the rejuvenation Manchester United had received the second half of last season with the arrival of Bruno Fernandes meant the League was improving with them. If Lampard’s dismissal was purely due to on the pitch issues. Then the mistake came in the summer of 2019 when they chose him as the man to lead an essentially impossible up tick in success.
Now, the Chelsea board will be happy with the decision they made. Tuchel has made Chelsea into one of the most confident and well drilled outfits in Europe. I was personally not convinced by the German. His spells at Mainz and Dortmund received success but never eclipsed his compatriot Klopp’s famous Lewandowski-lead Dortmund. A team that battered Mourinho’s Real Madrid on their way to a Champions League final. Yes, Tuchel got to the final himself in August but PSG struggled to break teams down at times in the competition. Which seems quite impossible when you have Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at your disposal. Nonetheless, PSG had a difference. Mbappe and Neymar are so big you almost have to let them play how they want to. At Chelsea, Tuchel has England’s second deepest squad and multiple top players in each position.
He used this depth to his advantage over these three games. In all three games, Chelsea were missing centre-back Thiago Silva. This problem was easily fixed by Andreas Christensen who was drafted in and was man of the match at Anfield. Tuchel deployed Timo Werner through the middle of a front three. Despite Olivier Giroud’s recent form being so good. This paid off as Werner, nicknamed Turbo by his teammates, exploited Liverpool’s famed high line. Changes all over the pitch saw Ben Chilwell’s defensive ability and speed going forward meant an understandable swap for Marcos Alonso. Reece James came in for a resurgent Callum Hudson-Odoi to provide more power and defensive solidity against Andy Robertson. Finally, Jorginho came in to turn play from defensive to attack quickly by exploiting the spaces Liverpool leave because of their intense pressing. All these changes paid off as Chelsea well and truly played Liverpool off their own park.
This win came as a personal victory for Tuchel, who followed Klopp’s career path as an overachiever at Mainz to an expert nurturer of young players in Dortmund and now over to the Premier League. They both have a reputation of being endearingly likeable individuals who’s infectious enthusiasm rubs off on the players they coach. There is something about this league and its attraction to big managers. It’s without a doubt it’s most undervalued commodity. Pep Guardiola recently spoke in an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport. He touched on his affection for England and how he always thought about working here when he was at Barcelona and at Bayern Munich. It’s important the league maintains this special quality. The football is better for it.
What does this mean for Tuchel’s Chelsea now? Well they have Everton on Monday. Another test against a three-time champions league winner in Carlo Ancelotti. After coming up against managerial giants like Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone in recent weeks. However, their doesn’t seem to be a challenge the blues shouldn’t relish right now.
Time will only tell how Tuchel’s tenure at Chelsea will play out. It started the best it possibly could for Antonio Conte, remember? But just a season after becoming Champions of England, Chelsea had enough of his antics. Tuchel is certainly not known for being a boards dream. You could say that it was financially smart for Abramovich to hand him just an 18 month contract. Chelsea’s way is lamented by many but some Chelsea fans will argue; it works. They are the second most successful side of the Premier League era, behind the uncatchable Manchester United, because of it. Maybe their decision to turn to a bit of German charm after a history of Italian stubbornness might just be the turning point.