Chelsea announced this morning that they had parted ways with head coach Thomas Tuchel. The Blues lost 1-0 to Dinamo Zagreb yesterday to a 13th-minute Mislav Orsic goal. Chelsea had started this season poorly and were having a lot of issues defensively, but also offensively.
In fact, the Blues were so bad offensively against Zagreb yesterday that Tuchel had to make a halftime substitution. Yesterday’s loss made it the third loss in seven games for Tuchel this season and today his sacking was announced, but was it deserved? Was Todd Boehly right to sack the German head coach? The short answer – no.
The Blues hired Tuchel on January 25, 2021, after sacking Frank Lampard the previous day. The former Paris Saint-Germain manager quickly changed the formation and turned Chelsea’s form around, conceding just one shot on target in about five games and picking up four wins and one draw. CFC would go on to finish fourth that season and win the UEFA Champions League in record-breaking fashion. Owned at the time by Roman Abramovich, the London side extended Tuchel’s contract for another three years as he was just on an 18-month contract before then. Last season the club finished third, though not comfortably.
Tottenham Hotspur finished one point behind the Blues and was on the upward trajectory by the time the season ended compared to Tuchel’s CFC. It’s worth mentioning that the Blues was top of the league after 10 league games last season before injuries to Mateo Kovacic, Reece James and Ben Chilwell saw the team pick up one win in three games and drop down to third place before long.
Chelsea also went through the transition and change of ownership last season, which Tuchel handled with aplomb. There was criticism of Tuchel, but it was generally agreed amongst the fanbase that Tuchel was the right man for the job and he needed time and a few windows.
Criticism included an inability to get the attackers firing. Many fans insisted that Tuchel was solely to blame for the misfiring attack and the problem was his to fix. Some other fans insisted that Tuchel was blameless in the problem Chelsea had upfront because the attackers were not fit for purpose. In reality, Tuchel had as much responsibility in the misfiring attack as the attackers themselves. This is because Tuchel switched his formation to a 3-4-2-1 when he came, which meant that he deployed three centerbacks, two holding midfielders, two wingbacks, and three forwards. This essentially meant that the forwards that played every game had little margin for error as they were held responsible for chance creation and scoring.
They shared the creation load with the wingbacks, but it was largely on them. The formation did not do much to help the forwards, but it did a world of good for the defenders and midfielders. This meant that from day one under Tuchel, the attackers had a more difficult job on their hands.
Another criticism of Tuchel’s reign was his penchant for forcing players into roles that they weren’t comfortable in. This was a valid criticism as well, as Tuchel used many players out of position, especially the forwards. Callum Hudson-Odoi was first used as a right wingback in Tuchel’s second game in charge of Chelsea. The youngster had an OK game and so Hudson-Odoi-at-right-wingback became a thing. He used a number of other players at right wingback as well, including Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The most recent was using Reece James as a centerback this season against Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United in back-to-back games. CFC conceded 5 goals in these games combined. This was done while Trevoh Chalobah was fit and in the squad. His playing players out of position meant the player would not produce to the optimum level he could, and subsequently, the level of the team is reduced to a degree.
Despite all this, Thomas Tuchel showed in a short period of time his tactical acumen and ability to get results. Tuchel spent a little over 18 months as Chelsea’s head coach, and in that time he got to every domestic cup final available to him (3), though he won none. He also got to two European finals, including the UEFA Champions League final and UEFA Super Cup final, as well as the Club World Cup final, all three of which he won.
Last season, Chelsea came under unsolicited scrutiny when Vladimir Putin waged war on Ukraine and Abramovich was forced to sell the club. The sale took months to complete from when the club was put on the market. Tuchel and his players still gave everything and tried to win games, despite the club coming under sanctions, which made them unable to spend on even transport at some point. Tuchel handled that situation impeccably and further endeared himself to the fans as a result.
The west Londoners just spent something north of €275 million in the summer transfer window, making essential CB, wingback, and attacking acquisitions. Of course, the pressure increased on Tuchel. However, while Tuchel was expected to deliver after the heavy spending, he was not expected to immediately turn every bad thing into good within a week. Tuchel did many things right and many things that left many fans frustrated, but he did not deserve to be sacked.
Boehly cannot even use the “I gave you players and you didn’t deliver” excuse because Tuchel wasn’t even allowed to use the players. Wesley Fofana had only played two games under him, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has only played 59 minutes and Denis Zakaria had not even gotten a game yet. Did Tuchel have things he could improve on in his role as head coach? Of course. Did he deserve to be relieved of his duties considering all he did in his time as head coach? Definitely not.