Was Thomas Tuchel to blame for Chelsea’s misfiring attack?

Chelsea was not performing well when Thomas Tuchel came in, and also wasn’t performing well when he was sacked, but in addition to the defensive problems they had, were also attacking issues.

Chelsea’s attacking underperformance dates back to the week the German was appointed. CFC’s forwards never quite got going, with Tammy Abraham being the first casualty from his hire. Abraham was joint highest scorer in all competitions for the Blues when Tuchel arrived, but after giving him three starts and substituting him at halftime twice, Tuchel never looked Abraham’s way again that season, including in the FA Cup final, a competition in which Abraham was the top scorer. By the end of the season when the Blues won the Champions League, it was obvious that their defensive exploits had played a major role.

Chelsea’s attack never got up and running the following season either, having acquired Romelu Lukaku in what felt like the “needed signing” to finally challenge for the league. It was a criticism of Tuchel initially, that despite how well he’d made CFC look defensively, that he couldn’t get a tune out of the forwards. The longer it went on though, the more fans turned it into a criticism of the forwards. They grew irritated that the forwards had yet to hit any form under the new manager, and a large portion of the fanbase concluded that the players were simply not good enough. 20 months later, and the attack is still nothing to write home about, so is Tuchel really to blame?