Anyone who still questions the credentials and quality of Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel as a manager at this point is in denial. Tuchel walked into a Chelsea team expected to put some sort of challenge at least for the title, at the beginning of the season, lingering in 10th place, with the prospect of another lifeless and trophyless season.
Chelsea is now sitting in fourth with a three-point gap over their closest competitor West Ham and a five-point gap over the next closest side Liverpool. As well as that Chelsea are in an FA Cup Final again and are also facing Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final.
Tuchel deserves massive credit for coming into the side, utilizing his squad to its fullest capacity, laying down his tactics in the clearest way possible and creating a harmonious vibe around the Blues which has culminated in comprehensive if not spectacular results. As a fan you can only be as confident as the manager makes you and Tuchel does this in leaps and bounds.
Tuchel has maneuvered his team past tough assignments away at Tottenham and Atletico Madrid, coupled with convincing wins over Crystal Palace and Everton as well a coming-of-age performance against Manchester City at Wembley in semi-final of the FA Cup.
Despite all the positives, there is one hurdle left for this Chelsea team to combat and that is how it can react to going a goal down.
For all the clean sheets since the arrival of Tuchel, the Blues have only managed to score over two goals once. This was a recent 4-1 win away win at Crystal Palace. This is an indication that the Blues are not a free scoring team. That can be highlighted by the fact that in all competitions Chelsea’s top is Tammy Abraham with 12 goals. To put that into perspective, Tammy Abraham would be the top goalscorer for only one of the top ten teams in the Premier League.
One can argue that Chelsea’s efficiency is one of their biggest strengths as bar the 5-2 defeat at home to West Brom, when Chelsea have scored first under Tuchel they have won all their matches. However, that same efficiency could potentially be their undoing as the one thing as fans we are yet to see is how this group of players can react to the situation of going a goal down.
In reference to an earlier piece on Chelsea, the psychology of this team has been in question long before Tuchel’s arrival when the circumstances get tough. We saw a glimpse of this as despite being 1-0 up when Thiago Silva got sent off against West Brom in the first half, Chelsea capitulated after that.
This begs the question of what is this team capable of doing if a Real Madrid, Leicester City or Manchester City who the West London club face in the Champions League, FA Cup final and Premier League respectively score the first goal in their encounters. How will this team react to that?
Who are Chelsea’s reliable players when the going gets tough, this is yet to be seen and with a number of huge games still remaining in Chelsea’s schedule, the answer to this question will most probably be answered.
Having said that, if Tuchel’s side do manage to hurdle this challenge, then Roman Abramovich might have found his long-term manager to restoring Chelsea to the success they are so used to.