3 reasons why Chelsea are off to a good start without Tuchel

The world of football is full of people, players, managers, club owners, press secretaries, sponsors, companies and trainers. Where there is a lot of money and ambition, sometimes ugly things can happen. Every year at some point some kind of drama will be happening in one club or the other. Players are arrested, managers go bankrupt, sponsors break contracts or trainers get sacked. 

This year’s first major causality is of the last kind. As the world of football is all about publicity, these often private disputes and problems occuring within the clubs don’t stay there for long. As soon as a rumor gets out, a press statement has to be released and within a few days the entire world is gossiping and talking shop about what might or might not have happened behind the scenes. 

Many fans seem to develop their own opinions often based on hearsaying or just simple news, often the wildest theories circle in the forums of the World Wide Web. As sport is also always about gambling, people jump up and search for new betting sites, as soon as they hear of such a drama occuring, hoping they could take advantage of it and make some profit. 

Let us get to the point though. This year’s first major casualty of this kind is Chelsea and Tuchel.  For those who are still not familiar with this subject we have to explain. Read on!

What happened?

Probably most of the football enthusiasts have already heard about it. Still we want to lay down the facts for those who have missed it so far. 

The owners of the London football club Chelsea have recently fired Thomas Tuchel, the trainer of the team. The 49-year-old trainer from Germany played just seven competitive games into the 2022–23 season. Being fired that quickly is making Thomas Tuchel one of the season’s first significant managerial casualties, making headlines all over the globe. In his final game in charge of Chelsea, Tuchel oversaw a discouraging 1-0 loss away to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. But this may not be the only reason why the Blues’ managers have sacked the young German trainer. 

In their statement following Tuchel’s dismissal, Chelsea’s owners expressed their belief that it was “the appropriate moment” to part company with the coach. One argument for that unusual move was simply  that the club needed to “move the club forward” during their transition. But this may not be the whole truth. So the question arises whether this move was justified. Many believe that Chelsea will be way better off without Tuchel managing the team. 

Why did Chelsea fire Tuchel? Why is this moment ideal?

First of all it must be said that the Londoner club had obvious reasons to hire Thomas Tuchel in the first place. The trainers and former footballers’ history speaks for itself. 

Thomas Tuchels record is pretty enviable. With more than 60 percent success in his work, achieving more than 60 victories in around 100 games across all kinds of competitive games, the hiring of such a successful trainer is just logical. While many blame Tuchel for the loss against Dinamo Zagreb was actually only the 16th time the trainer has lost a game since joining the club in January 2021. So what are the reasons Chelsea sacked the trainer? Why is the club better off without him leading the team?

1. Declining performance

The record of the German trainer is still flawless and he can look back on many major achievements during his career. His time at Stamford Bridge clearly speaks for itself and motivated the managers of Chelsea in the end to hire him. 

Still it is not to ignore that his work and success has declined over the last years. Chelsea came into the 22/21 season as the undisputed champions of Europe. So no wonder that the  expectations were quite high that the new trainer Thomas Tuchel would ensure a serious Premier League title assault. In fact, the Londoner team was in first place by December 2021. Then though it must be said that things started to fall apart afterwards. The winter was overshadowed by a loss against West Ham, kicking off a series of losses including defeats against the Wolves, Brighton and Everton. Even though things seem to turn around at the start of 2022 with some winnings being achieved, the past mistakes had already led to Chelsea falling behind its major competitors Manchester City and Liverpool.

2. Ongoing defeats

It may have been the already cracking motivation of the team after having played such a terrible season or just the bad performance of the trainer Thomas Tuchel, but defeats kept happening.

In April 2022 things started to get even worse. The team suffered a significant series of losses in their own city. First there was the terrifying loss by four goals against Brentford, followed by a defeat against Arsenal. When the Spanish competitor and star team Real Madrid kicked Chelsea off the field with a 3 – 1 defeat, the dream of defending their European title in the Champions League was already shattered. Looking back, this should have already been reason enough to make some serious changes and maybe let go off the so unlucky trainer. 

3. Bad relationship with the team

The season 22/23 kicked off and the losses kept on coming in. It is obvious that also the trainer himself felt the pressure and got frustrated about his fate. After losing against Dinamo Zagreb, Thomas Tuchel said, it is always the same, stating additionally that the team was clearly not where it had to be. 

This was the point when the relationship between the team, the managers and the trainer started to crack. Several disputes with the teams owner Todd Boehly occured and also some of the players started to express their displeasure with the trainer. 

A team like Chelsea with such high ambitions needs a trainer with belief and a good and faithful relationship and dedication to the team. After such a long story of losses, the moral of both the team and the trainer was broken. It is no question that the team needed to move on and find a replacement for the German trainer in order to reestablish its position as one of the best clubs in Europe.