The Tuchel Thread

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[NikkiCFC 8,058]

Such a charismatic and intelligent guy. 

[Strike 7,254]

Really fun interview. His favorite player as a kid was a big sweeper

[Jase 43,479]

Anyone still doubt Tuchel now?

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[NikkiCFC 8,058]

This guy! What a man 💙💙💙💙

[Jase 43,479]

This must also taste very, very sweet for Tuchel after last season's final. 

[R2D2 368]

Chelsea legend now and forever, his name will forever be left in our hearts from this day, absolutely love him.

[NikkiCFC 8,058]

Nothing special, Frank could do it. 

Jermaine Jenas 2 months ago. What he has to say? 

[Thor 2,436]

24 minutes ago, Jas said:

Anyone still doubt Tuchel now?

I'm not sold until he wins two or three CL's.

 

Lets not get ahead of ourselves.

 

 

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[DH1988 1,310]

Enjoy the moment, savour it and let’s hope the board work with him.

[Jase 43,479]

That's quite long! 

[milka 3,356]

Again and again what a moment   💙

 

[OneMoSalah 8,785]

hace 3 minutos, Jas dijo:

That's quite long! 

Lets hope now we get behind him. What he’s done in 6 months is incredible.

Yes we limped some bits, the FA cup final was disappointing and then 2 of the league games were too but honestly he deserves the deal.

A top CF and a few other bits in this side and we will be a proper proper team and probably run City closest out of the others IMO.

[Vesper 29,022]

Thomas Tuchel, the innovator who took Chelsea to Champions League glory

https://theathletic.com/2621058/2021/05/29/thomas-tuchel-the-innovator-who-took-Chelsea-to-champions-league-glory/

There is no doubt about it now: Thomas Tuchel is one of the best coaches in the world.

Taking Chelsea to their second Champions League trophy just four months after being appointed at Stamford Bridge is an extraordinary achievement. Given the different calibre of players with whom he has worked, it is arguably a more phenomenal accomplishment than the club’s first Champions League victory in 2012.

Only someone special can do what the 47-year-old has done.

His qualities came to the fore during the build-up to Saturday night’s contest against Manchester City in Porto, a game which very few experts across Europe expected them to win.

“It was a masterclass in preparation from start to finish,” one source tells The Athletic. “Tuchel played on the fact so many people were talking about Manchester City lifting the trophy. Throughout the week he used it to motivate the players. He knew that the ‘underdog’ tag worked for them.”

 

Havertz celebrates opening the scoring in Porto (Photo: Jose Coelho/Pool/Getty Images)

For the vast majority of the Chelsea squad, it was the biggest game of their lives. Self-belief may have been dented by losing three of their previous four matches, including the FA Cup final against Leicester City, but there was little sign of tension within the camp.

Another insider continues: “He handled the players perfectly. After battling on three fronts from the moment he took over, he knew what the group needed. The atmosphere was kept light throughout.

“Many of them were exhausted after an intense schedule. So what does he do? After the final Premier League game of the season against Aston Villa, he made the Monday a very light recovery session. The players were back home by early in the afternoon and were also given the Tuesday off. It gave people the chance to rest their bodies, catch up on some sleep, just forget about Chelsea for a while.

“For example, one of the senior players just spent the day in his house watching the odd film. It worked wonders. He came back on the Wednesday so refreshed. It was just what he needed.

“Obviously, the intensity was stepped up in training, particularly in the last session on the Thursday before they flew out (to Portugal). But again, once the team got out there, Tuchel just tried to keep it as fun as possible around the hotel and so on.

 

Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell enjoying training in Porto (Photo: Chris Lee/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

“You could see in the final session on the pitch at the Estadio do Dragao how many players were smiling. You wouldn’t know they had such a massive match ahead of them. They were there to enjoy it, not be intimidated by the size of the occasion.”

Tuchel’s impact won’t come as a surprise to those who have operated under him before, or those who have witnessed what he’s done at Chelsea since replacing Frank Lampard on January 26.

This is a detailed look into a man who has cemented his place in Chelsea’s history for ever.

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Whether you’re speaking to someone who has worked with Tuchel in the past or a member of the victorious Chelsea dressing room now, a common theme emerges: the German knows how to inspire.

This Chelsea squad is a blend of personalities. Some players are more vocal than others and there is always a danger in this scenario for the quieter members to become a bit neglected, especially when there’s a change of coach.

Reece James does his talking on the pitch. Off it, he is quite quiet and reserved. The departure of Lampard and his influential assistant Jody Morris sparked concern among the academy graduates who had been promoted under them into the Chelsea squad. Tuchel’s decision to go with an experienced side in his opening fixture against Wolves — the only homegrown youngster in the starting XI that night was Callum Hudson-Odoi — only added to those fears.

But it’s the only encounter James has sat out under the German, the defender featuring in 29 of his 30 games in charge. James was already a player of some promise, but he’s taken his game onto another level with Tuchel in charge.

It is clear who he wants to credit, too. “The coach wants me to believe in myself more and believe that I can become one of the best in the world,” James explains to The Athletic. “He gives me a lot of coaching advice, on game situations, how and where I can do better. On some occasions I get shown clips, and on others we just have a conversation face-to-face.

“He is definitely a friendly guy but when he is serious, he is obviously very serious. When we are not playing well, he is not afraid or scared to tell us.

 

Tuchel and Reece James messing about during Chelsea’s last training session before the Champions League final (Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

“Does it help knowing he has managed some of the best players in the world at Paris Saint-Germain in Neymar and Kylian Mbappe? Yes, of course. It’s obviously great when a new manager comes in that he has managed the highest clubs and such big players as well — world-class stars. It helps the team (and) the players.”

The team selection for that Wolves game was always going to attract a lot of scrutiny. Newly-appointed Tuchel decided on his line-up on the short flight from Paris to London with his assistants Zsolt Low, Arno Michels and Benjamin Weber the day before the match. There was little time to formulate a plan for facing Nuno Espirito Santo’s men.

It meant that, when meeting the Chelsea players for the first time, several awkward chats were held regarding who was and who was not going to feature against Wolves 24 hours later. Defender Andreas Christensen was another one to miss out although, unlike James, he wasn’t even named on the bench.

“It didn’t start great,” the Dane admits to The Athletic. “I wasn’t in the squad but he came to me straight away and said that he’d just got there and it was hard to change something. He kind of had the team in mind that he was going to play just because of that. But he said, ‘After that, you just have to prove yourself’. I worked hard and he kept true to that word.

“Did I like the fact he pulled me to one side? Yes, especially in that moment, because I had been out of the team for so long. You kind of hope a new manager means a new start, so not being in the first squad is a tough one because you think it’s just going to be the same.

“That talk was very important for me, just so I’d personally not become completely depressed or not work hard in training, being the victim instead of working hard to get back in the team. That was important for me to go forward. For me personally, it’s (playing under Tuchel) been great. I’ve been getting a bit of confidence back.”

There was a bigger story from the first selection, though. Mason Mount, probably the youngster most synonymous with Lampard’s regime and his captain against Luton Town in the FA Cup for the former manager’s final game a few days earlier, was only picked as a substitute.

It is understood Mount didn’t take kindly to the news. As he stood there with a couple of team-mates who were also being omitted, the midfielder spoke up, making it clear to Tuchel that he wasn’t too enamoured with the decision and was determined to prove his worth. There was a bit of an exchange between the pair and it was the talk of the training ground.

However, instead of viewing it as an early challenge to his authority or a lack of respect, Tuchel liked what he saw and was hearing from the 22-year-old. There were no grudges, but an early understanding and bond forged. Mount has been a regular ever since.

The more experienced statesmen have been key as well. Take captain Cesar Azpilicueta, who was being increasingly phased out by Lampard at age 31 but has been a mainstay for Tuchel. He was crucial on Saturday night, cutting out Phil Foden’s cross and clearing it over the bar midway through the second half.

“Of course his arrival was important for me,” says Azpilicueta. ”From day one, we had an important bond. He laid out what role he wanted me to play in the team from his very first day and very first team talk. He made it very clear what he wanted, where we could hurt the opponent and where we could improve. Since then, we have improved and that’s been key.

“He shares responsibility. He made it very clear what he wanted from me as a captain. We always had very honest conversations.”

 

Tuchel reacts to a Christian Pulisic miss in the final against City (Photo: David Ramos/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Antonio Rudiger is another veteran who was barely used by Lampard. The Englishman had a change of heart in the final few weeks before he was fired and brought the Germany centre-half back into the fold, but it didn’t bring the upturn in results that was required.

It helped that Tuchel had tried to sign Rudiger for Paris Saint-Germain the summer before. The 28-year-old felt wanted and respected by his new manager and when he joined Chelsea, Tuchel made it clear how important Rudiger was going to be, both on the pitch and as one of his leaders. It is no coincidence he has been in the best form of his Chelsea career over the past few months.

Significantly, when Rudiger was involved in an altercation with goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga at the training ground last month, Tuchel stood by him, in private and publicly. While not happy about the incident — he ended the German’s involvement in the session early — he spoke to Rudiger on a couple of occasions after he had made peace with Kepa. When questions were being asked about it at the next press conference, Tuchel played it down and backed his man. Again, that show of support didn’t go unnoticed.

The likes of Tammy Abraham — who was not even named on the bench for the Champions League final — and Emerson will probably not agree, but insiders suggest that Kepa’s involvement sent out the biggest message of all that anyone could feature. Edouard Mendy has kept his role as the first-choice keeper but Kepa has started seven times for Tuchel, including in the FA Cup final.

A source explains: “In the first weeks, he (Tuchel) was so open, to really give every player a chance. That’s why he has the whole squad behind him, even the goalkeeping situation. It was a surprise for many that he played both of them, but it was great for the whole team’s mentality, the motivation. It meant that in training, even if someone wasn’t involved in the previous match, in their minds they felt there was a possibility they could get in the team again.

“Kepa’s situation was really difficult, especially mentally. An expensive transfer (Chelsea paid Athletic Bilbao £71.6 million, a world record at his position, in 2018) and I don’t think anyone expected he’d get so many games and so many minutes under Tuchel. For a goalkeeper, it is even more special for an outfield player. That showed a lot to everyone — that there is no player who isn’t under consideration. It motivated every player in every single training session.

“Tuchel didn’t just speak to them about football either. He’d really get to know them, talk about their personal lives and their upbringings, to get a flavour of their personalities and what makes them the men they are.”

Mateo Kovacic’s demotion under Lampard was perhaps one of the most startling, given the midfielder had been one of the most influential performers last season. Tuchel quickly got him back involved.

“He came in and, from the first minute, the players felt a great connection with him,” Kovacic said of his new manager in the build-up to the Champions League final. “That’s from the first minute and first game. It was like he was here for two years and everything came quite naturally. We understood his way of play, approached his way of playing and understood each other.

“I think the team changed (in) how we approach the games: we were more confident and solid at the back. We didn’t concede hardly anything in the last months since he came, so we have been quite solid. We were playing with confidence, so I think he changed a lot. I think this team will only get better.”

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Perhaps Tuchel’s ability to communicate with someone as conservative as Reece James isn’t that astounding.

His coaching career began working with youngsters at Stuttgart and then Augsburg. His reputation grew quickly and he was hired by Bundesliga outfit Mainz to run their under-19s in 2008. Such was his impact, he was the club’s senior coach 12 months later, succeeding one Jurgen Norbert Klopp.

Many of the traits on view while taking the Under-19s to their league’s championship in the 2008-09 season, which convinced the Mainz board to give him Klopp’s job after he left for Borussia Dortmund, are qualities he exudes to this day.

Midfielder Konstantin Fring, a member of that Tuchel-led youth side, will never forget what a leader and character he was. “No Mainz team had ever won the U19s Bundesliga before, nobody expected us to,” he says. “When Tuchel arrived, we were all curious what sort of coach he is. He was interested in getting to know every player, and he was very good at ‘dissecting’ each player: he understood their strengths and weakness as a player as well as a human being.

 

Tuchel at Mainz in January 2012 (Photo: Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images)

“He could read the opposition and their game. He’d say, ‘This is where they’re vulnerable’. And he was always right. He gave us specific instructions and also the means to put them into practice, by doing certain things in training, like playing on a banana-shaped pitch, cutting off the corners. At first, you think, ‘What’s that about?’ But after a while, you see there’s a plan behind it because it forced you to do specific things that were helpful in the game.

“He’s a great motivator. During pre-season, we did a bike tour up a mountain, and then we walked the last few metres to the summit. Thomas buried a metal pin badge of Mainz in the ground and said, ‘If we get to the final of the German championship, I will ride my bike up this mountain again and dig it up’.

“I had kind of forgotten about that by the time we did reach the final 10 months later.

“A few minutes before kick-off, the light goes off in the changing room and this video comes on. It’s him and (head of the academy) Volker Kersting riding up that mountain and digging up that pin. He held it up in his hand and slammed it down on a table, shouting, ‘And now you go and play!’ We all had goosebumps. We would have killed someone for him at that moment. We wanted to win so much. And we did (Mainz beat favourites Borussia Dortmund, 2-1).”

Pep Guardiola, the man Tuchel has just deprived of the third Champions League crown of his coaching career, was the manager he looked up to from a very early stage, once pausing a documentary on the Spaniard for two hours while sitting on the Mainz team bus to study a graph showing Barcelona’s passing patterns.

Obviously, he had his own ideas too, but the desire to emulate his mentor was obvious. Defender Jan Kirchhoff got to play for both of them, having been in Mainz’s under-19s and then first team under Tuchel and then having a season with Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

“Tuchel’s ideal was Guardiola’s Barcelona football,” Kirchhoff confirms. “He wanted to play in a similar way but he was, of course, realistic about Mainz’s abilities. He’s excellent at understanding a team’s strengths and weaknesses. Most of the time, we were inferior to our opponents in the Bundesliga as individuals. Therefore, it was about finding solutions to narrow that gap.

“We were a pretty good footballing side, on our terms; we wanted to have the ball and build from the back. We honed our game by practising many rondos (drills where one group of players has the ball with overload advantage — so three versus one or four against two, for example — over another group of players) and doing positional exercises but he also taught us how to funnel the opposition into the right spaces when we didn’t have the ball. We’d leave specific areas open and set traps for them. Against some of the best teams, he didn’t mind playing strictly counter-attack football.

“We talked at length about what we needed to do to beat a specific side and very often, things we had practised or prepared for in video analysis played out exactly like that on the pitch.

“He is very emotional on the touchline, because he expects so much of you. I never found that a burden. Extraordinarily good coaches like him or Guardiola are very intense, that’s part of the deal. They live and breathe football, and that attitude transmits to the team. They want to do everything well, and that creates a strong feel for the collective — everybody wants to give their all, every day, every game. That’s why teams immediately get better once he starts working with them.”

 

Tuchel celebrates Havertz’s goal against Manchester City with gusto (Photo: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Tuchel was at the Mainz helm for five years, taking the relative minnows to as high as fifth in 2010-11. Despite the lack of budget, their lowest finish was 13th in the 18-team Bundesliga on two occasions.

The training methods to which Kirchhoff refers, particularly the use of rondos, are still part of his repertoire at Chelsea a decade later. Christensen has found his exercises a refreshing change.

“The days before the game are a bit more difficult than normal (under other managers),” he tells The Athletic. “There is a bit more focus on possession rather than tactics, that’s probably the biggest change. Instead of doing all the things on tactics the days before, it’s harder. It’s possession games, three v two, that kind of thing. It’s different in that way.

“For me, it’s been good. It’s taken me back a little to the Germany days (when he was on loan at Borussia Monchengladbach between 2015-17), which I enjoyed a lot.

“In what way? Obviously the language and the way he shouts on the pitch. You guys (media) can see he is very passionate on the sidelines. Also, just the things we are trying to do are more ‘German’. It’s hard to explain but it’s the feeling you get, and it is good for me personally.”

Another practice Tuchel is still using that Kirchhoff experienced is training with smaller footballs. The Chelsea players were first pictured working with them ahead of Burnley’s visit in January.

 

Mount gets to grips with training with a smaller ball (Photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

“Probably one of the strangest things he’s done, that none of us are used to, is playing with the small footballs,” James reveals. “That kind of confused us at first but we have done it quite a bit (since then).

“They were already out on the pitch before training started. There was a whole bag of them. The point of the exercise didn’t get explained, we just got told to play a game of football, but now it was with a small ball. We looked at each other for a few seconds and then just got on with it.

“Do things like this keep us on our toes? Yes, of course. Sometimes when you have the same routine and just keep doing the same things, it can be a bit boring. A change every so often does you good and keeps you thinking.”

“It’s all to do with the idea of implied learning,” Kirchhoff explains. “We didn’t learn by being told what to do but by doing it: by playing in very small spaces, for example. You got better at finding space and close control without realising it at first. Thomas always pushed things a bit further.”

At Mainz, Tuchel had the team try different sports as well, such as archery or kick-boxing. Once, they spent three or four weeks training with a handball team. “That kind of variety was good for the mind,” Kirchhoff says.

Tuchel wanted his players to focus on their own development. “Sometimes, he’d put up extracts from a newspaper article or a book in the dressing room, things he found interesting,” says Kirchhoff. “He often said it wasn’t about the result but the process. By getting better every single day and going to the very limit of your ability to perform, you could affect your chances of getting a result.”

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It shouldn’t be forgotten that Tuchel has had a point to prove.

He won four major trophies at PSG between 2018-20 and led them to their first Champions League final last August, which they narrowly lost 1-0 to Bayern. One day shy of four months later, he was fired.

People close to Tuchel say his two and a half years working in Paris was key for his development as a coach. Part of the reason why things had gone awry at previous club Borussia Dortmund was his insistence on almost total control over the professional life of his players, including a ban on eating refined carbohydrates. The players’ favourite Italian foods were ditched from the menu and replaced by wholemeal pasta with lighter sauces.

In France, however, he took a much more relaxed approach. There was no point telling Neymar he could only eat wholemeal pasta. Tuchel understood quickly that some battles were not worth fighting and concentrated on team building instead.

Appointing assistant Zsolt Low was key in that regard: the 42-year-old Hungarian, who had played under Tuchel at Mainz, is the kind of good-natured, easy-going guy who builds up a genuine rapport with everyone in the dressing room.

 

Low’s personable style helps Tuchel to manage the characters in the Chelsea dressing room (Photo: Matthew Ashton/AMA/Getty Images)

Tuchel had analysed his own shortcomings when it came to forming deep emotional connections with players and concluded that he needed somebody to foster that bond for him. Low’s personable style helped Tuchel handle what can be a difficult dressing room.

Former Bayern technical director Michael Reschke tells The Athletic: “Thomas has learned a lot from his experience in Paris, when he worked with players who couldn’t be fully integrated into a system. You can’t tell Neymar or Mbappe precisely how they should play. Thomas had to adjust and become a bit less dogmatic.

“Zsolt Low also plays a key role. He’s a guy able to connect to everyone at an emotional level. It’s a sign of strength to trust those around you and pick strong people to work alongside you.”

In a strange way, the pandemic has made things easier for Tuchel and his staff. They’re all in London, living in the same hotel near both Stamford Bridge and the club’s training ground in Surrey, talking football all the time. There have been no distractions because their families still reside in Paris and there is no time lost doing anything else. There was also nowhere to go, until things opened up again last month.

One member of Tuchel’s staff joked that he went to bed in his club tracksuit each night to save himself a few minutes the next morning. But that total focus on the job enabled the Chelsea head coach and his team to hit the ground running in London and get a lot done very quickly.

But when it came to the final itself, it was a family affair for Tuchel. He was joined in the team hotel by his wife and two children. There is a suspicion that it was the first time he had seen his kids since January. To make the occasion complete, his parents made the journey to see their son’s greatest moment.

Having 29 fixtures in 113 days is still not straightforward though, especially with the pressure of every single one feeling like a must-win match. While showing tension at times on the sidelines, behind the scenes Tuchel has largely kept his cool.

There was a lot of criticism in the team meeting following a shock 5-2 home loss to relegation-bound West Bromwich Albion on April 3 and he was furious in the post-match press conference following the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Bridge two weeks ago. However, as one source puts it: “He wasn’t going to kill everyone or deflate them. He knows how to lose it now and then, but he doesn’t walk into the dressing room smashing doors and throwing teacups.

“He stayed very positive, even when Chelsea lost games towards the end of the season. When Chelsea lost against Aston Villa on the final day (last Sunday), he knew the players’ minds were on the Champions League final. He stayed upbeat about everything. He pulls players aside telling them, ‘We have big games coming up, you’re special, I’m relying on you. I need this, I need that’.”

Over the run-in, the modus operandi has been not to dwell on a game if it’s gone wrong and not be distracted by the prospect of a Champions League final either.

“To be honest, (until the week beforehand) it was like we hadn’t reached the Champions League final yet,“ Christensen adds. “For him, it was very important to get top four in the Premier League and qualify for next season’s competition. Obviously, he would have hoped that we’d done it earlier (rather than on the final day, despite that defeat at Villa) so we could start mentally preparing for it. But for us it’s been so important, especially after losing the FA Cup final, to get in that top four, so it wasn’t really something we were thinking about before the Champions League final.

“There was a point where we had two cup games in a row (Porto in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, then an FA Cup semi against Manchester City) and he wanted to split that from the Premier League. He said, ‘The Premier League is done now. We have two games in other competitions. Let’s do that, then that, and after that we get back to the Premier League’.”

In front of the cameras, Tuchel has maintained his composure, for the most part. His Champions League final pre-match press conference was the epitome of calm and he reacted to every question with respect and provided a considered response.

Deep inside, though, burned a great hunger.

Losing to Bayern in the final last year with PSG hurt. When Chelsea defeated Real Madrid earlier this month to book their place in this season’s final, Tuchel waited until he thought everyone had left Stamford Bridge before showing his heartfelt emotion, walking out into the middle of the pitch and letting out a huge roar.

He definitely saved the best till last. Every decision was spot on, none more so than starting the goal-scoring hero Kai Havertz. But as Chelsea hung on to their one-goal advantage, they were driven on by the man on the touchline. Tuchel also took every opportunity to rally the Chelsea fans inside the stadium to get behind the team. It was extraordinary to behold.

He won’t dwell on this triumph for long, either. The aim is to now supersede City in the Premier League as well. An extension to the one year left on his contract is surely an inevitability given he has already delivered what even Chelsea greats such as Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti did not by securing the Champions League.

“He believes in us,” James concludes, “that we can win many trophies and titles together. As time goes on and we get stronger as a team, we can definitely achieve that.”

What a frightening thought for everybody else.