Sack is not final curtain
TUCHEL GIVES NUNO HOPE
MALMO V CHELSEA 5.45PM, BT SPORT
THOMAS TUCHEL went from getting fired to being a Champions League winner in 156 days.
And on the day a fellow head coach was handed his cards across town, Tuchel gave thanks for his happy landing at Chelsea.
Five weeks after he was sent packing by Paris Saint-Germain on Christmas Eve, the German ringmaster answered the distress flare from Stamford Bridge.
Now Tuchel is three points clear at the Premier League summit and when he leads the champions of Europe into this evening’s return with Malmo, the Blues will be the biggest noise in Sweden since Abba announced their comeback album.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s dismissal by Tottenham was no cause for celebration and Tuchel said: “I got the news one of my colleagues was sacked, which is never nice to hear.”
But the Chelsea manager is living proof that a P45 is merely an intermission, not the final curtain.
Tuchel said: need a bit of luck.
“You cannot win the Champions League by pure planning and quality of playing.
“I am very grateful and I am here in this place right now because of my experiences with other clubs before.
“It seems a perfect fit from day one and I am super-happy to be part of this club. Maybe this is the last per cent – if you feel happy and fully appreciated then everything falls into place very genuinely.
“I was not happy to be sacked because my mission at PSG was not fulfilled – that was a huge interruption.
“The desire to step into this adventure was much higher than the concern about the 18-month contract. In football you need to take on the adventure, you have to be brave and courageous.”
Following their 3-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday, 12 of Chelsea’s 26 goals this season have been scored by defenders.
Tuchel is keen to share the burden around the team, saying: “Any manager tries not to rely on only one or two strikers.
“But the statistic will look a bit different if you interpret the wingbacks more as midfielders.
“Defenders need to be dangerous on setpieces. There’s a focus on them but still we hope we can put our strikers top of the list at the end of season.”
Tuchel will again be without the injured Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner and Mateo Kovacic against Malmo, while Mason Mount has still not recovered from illness.