I was so wrong about Tuchel... what he’s done at Chelsea is remarkable
STAY strong when you’re wrong: it’s a saying I’ve heard recently, based around sticking to your guns if you are losing an argument.
I’ve never understood it, to be honest. Why aren’t people prepared to acknowledge that they have made the incorrect call? I don’t see why some are so determined to stick with their original view in the hope it will eventually come true.
No — I’m a firm believer in holding your hands up. You can’t be taken seriously in this profession if you persist with a flawed opinion and that is why today I must address my column from January 30 about Thomas Tuchel.
‘Chelsea have appointed Tuchel because they want to win the Premier League and the Champions League again,’ I wrote. ‘What have Chelsea seen in Tuchel that convinces them he will outwit Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp? I struggle to see it happening.’
I stressed that I wasn’t writing him off but ‘something about his appointment didn’t feel right’. I wasn’t impressed by how he failed to pick Mason Mount and Reece James for his first game — a 0-0 draw with Wolves — and I wasn’t sure about what he’d achieved with Paris Saint-Germain.
Part of my argument was fuelled by disappointment for Frank Lampard, who I felt had deserved more time. Chelsea have an excellent squad and I thought, with some patience, the situation would change for Frank.
But here we are, almost four months on, and they have a chance to win the Champions League and the FA Cup. Tuchel has victories over Guardiola (FA Cup semifinal) and Klopp (crucial Premier League game) in the bank, too. The transformation he’s overseen has been remarkable.
Look at Chelsea’s defensive record since he came in. There have been 19 clean sheets from 25 matches in all competitions, a record that is just staggering when you think that before the FA Cup semi-final against City, he said he only works ‘ 10 per cent on defending’.
Those numbers would make you think Chelsea are a defensive side. You see it happen when a manager takes charge of a team near the relegation zone. They make alterations to the system and get more men back so they stop conceding so many chances. But the tweaks Tuchel has made have turned Chelsea into the best counter-attacking side in Europe. I was excited by Timo Werner’s signing last summer and have kept faith in him. He might not have scored the number of goals many expected (though his header against Real Madrid on Wednesday was worth his transfer alone) but the runs he makes for his team are ridiculous. Werner (left) has been important in this transformation. So have Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz, the other big-money signings. You cannot forget, also, the resurgence of N’Golo Kante, who looks like he is playing two positions at once — as he did when helping Leicester become champions in 2016.
Then there is Mount, whose goal confirmed Chelsea’s place in Istanbul at the end of the month.
He used to get damned with faint praise when people said he ‘worked hard’. I always felt Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and James Maddison were ahead of him, but this kid is the full package.
Ashley Cole once told me: ‘Meeks, watch him properly — he’s the real deal.’ Ash was right.
Mount has become a player on whom Tuchel relies, in the same way Gareth Southgate looks to him for England. He’s the best Chelsea academy graduate since John Terry and looks destined to have a brilliant career.
Tuchel uses a system that has enabled the team to flourish, but another thing that I like is how quickly he dealt with an issue on Easter Sunday that could easily have festered and led to the campaign fizzling out.
When Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga clashed during a training-ground game, Tuchel sent Rudiger in. The incident happened the day after their freak 5-2 defeat by West Brom and was before the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Porto.
Whatever Tuchel did, the issue was nipped in the bud and there has been no looking back. He laid down the law and let people know he was firmly in charge.
I’m told he demands his squad set the best standards they can every day and time-keeping is as important as what they do on the pitch. He is a man in control of the situation and he could already be viewed as a Chelsea legend in a month’s time if he brings home both trophies.
For obvious reasons, I hope he falls short in Istanbul, but that will not stop me acknowledging what a fantastic job he has done.
Next season will be different for Tuchel, because there will be expectation on his shoulders and that brings new pressure.
It’s one thing reviving a big club and getting them moving forward again; it’s another — particularly at Chelsea — staying at the top of the tree.
What I recognise, however, is that my initial stance on Tuchel has proven to be wrong. Chelsea appointed him to win the Champions League. He might just deliver them the biggest prize of all.