It’s been a tricky few weeks for my blue boys.
Having watched recent games I knew it was going to be a difficult one in the Champions League against Dinamo Zagreb. Teams like this who aren’t at the same level of achievement as you yet, play like it’s a cup final, and that can be some of the toughest games, especially when confidence has been knocked.
The game ended 1-0 and it looked like time for Tuchel to make some changes to the system, with the season not going how the club had hoped thought, as I had always said. But this morning the news was announced that Tuchel had parted ways with Chelsea, and his spell as manager was over.
This came as a bit of a surprise to me after the transfer window and seeing the investment in players that Tuchel had made, and the time he would need to get those players working well in his system, especially at the back because we see how important and difficult it is to fill the gap left by Rudiger’s departure.
Tuchel started to show more of his dislike and emotions about the team than I am used to seeing, and he was clearly very emotional after the Spurs game with the handshake incident with Conte. He seemed upset in recent interviews and we know he is the type of person to not back down.
I think he had the intelligence as a manager to steady the ship like he did when he first arrived, and it would’ve been interesting to see how he handled things but the decision has been made and Chelsea look forward to a new chapter.
I’ll be watching closely to see who is appointed as the next manager as some names have already been mentioned in the press, but big decisions need to be made both by Chelsea and the next potential manager.
They are talking to Graham Potter and it would be a big step up for him. I’m not saying that he can’t do it – his team has been doing well and he has been creative without some of the financial support of what the so called bigger clubs have.
His first job would be to get the team believing in his plans. If that isn’t the case they have to work on getting some one that can turn things around quickly, like Tuchel did when he first came. If you look at the situation Chelsea is creating, it looks like they are making sure they are moving away from the previous owner and his decision makers.
The thing I feel about the early departure is that Tuchel has done a great job in taking care of a team when they got hit from every angle possible and he still managed to keep the team together. If they went after Pochettino it would have been the second manager to leave PSG and arrive in London knowing he was at the rivals and got fired after taking them to the UCL final.
Tuchel must have been instrumental in bringing Aubamayang so now this will be a big surprise for him too, as well as the rest of the players the owners have invested in over the summer. The owners negotiated the deals themselves so they must have been thinking about this longer than only this morning.
But like always there are some big surprises and this shows how quickly things can change in football. #mmlove