My thoughts on the appointment of Thomas Tuchel (THREAD):

Chelsea have now signed one of the best managers in Europe and a manager that I had as my first choice as well. A new era has began.

Let’s start with Tuchel’s board “issues” and what I think of it. For me it sounds exaggerated. With Dortmund for example things took a turn when Tuchel sent a angry text to the sporting director that was meant for his agent. Obviously not great.

Events happened after that made their relationship worse and he was planning to leave at the end of the season. Results didn’t get worse though. He actually ended the season with a trophy and he left. Dortmund are known for being hard on players and managers and being dodgy.

Past players and manager have had the same issue. Tuchel hasn’t spoke on the issue but Dortmund CEO described him as a “fantastic coach but difficult person”. At PSG he was fantastic even though PSG couldn’t buy profiles he wanted with FFP on them.

That’s why he had to buy budget players at times. He always found the best solution even with FFP on PSG’s back. Also the reasons many youth players were sold. To build up funds. In his final season it all exploded. Tuchel wasn’t backed at all in the window.

He faced injuries to an extent I haven’t seen and he had Leonardo trying to influence his team selections and training. It was a mess from top to bottom and Tuchel got sacked because of Leonardo’s failings. Yet again another story that was out of context to make Tuchel bad.

Now let’s talk about what kind of manager I think he is. For me he is one of the best in the world. He has so much knowledge of the game it’s unbelievable. His man management is top tier. Something Lampard was lacking. He does share characteristics of both Klopp and Pep.

Expect him to be a pressing manager. His style is more pressing than possession. He also tends to rotate a lot. Usually in the fullback areas where he expect his fullbacks to go up and down the pitch and provide width from those areas.

They didn’t play hopeful balls into the box a lot though. It was more to do with progression and width with the fullbacks. For me I think he will play good football with a sense of pragmatism about him that is needed in all top managers.

He’s extremely flexible as well. At Dortmund he changed between a 4231 and a 4141 with other very different formations as well. At PSG it was between the 433 and 442. This all varies with the team he has. He used the 442 to get the best out of both Mbappe and Neymar.

Also there is a lot of false narratives about Tuchel being carried by Neymar and Mbappe. For me this isn’t the case. The amount of times they actually played together in Tuchel’s time at PSG was below 50%. It just wasn’t the case of them two “carrying” imo.

In conclusion to what I think about Tuchel, I rate him with the very best. You’d be foolish to think he isn’t a world class manager. At Dortmund he proved he is capable of improving any young star he works with and he allowed free flowing football.

He proved he can work with big names at PSG. He proved he is super versatile in his CL run with masterclasses vs Dortmund, Atlanta, Leipzig and even Bayern in a game he would have won on another day. In fact have a read of this, it goes into ridiculous detail of his PSG career. https://twitter.com/jkfootbali/status/1344287876658429952

Now let’s talk about Chelsea and what he can change here. Tuchel will change the atmosphere of the dressing room no doubt. Everywhere he’s been there is always talk of how he creates such a togetherness with even players that don’t play often. Something that we definitely NEED.

He can also pick up from what Lampard did last season. With his pressing and etc. With Lampard it wasn’t a calculated press that was organised and cut passing lanes constantly. With Tuchel he will have players that can run but he adds a sense of organisation.

He created a fantastic press at Dortmund and also introduced 7 seconds of high intensity pressing right after the ball is lost because that’s when teams are disorganised. He is a top top footballing mind.

He also makes this team much more balanced I reckon. With Lampard there was a lack of pragmatism about him. He attacked with the 8s and fullbacks way too much which made defending transition much harder. He improved on it a bit but still was a problem.

With Tuchel he will manage that a lot better as he will create a balance where we can stop counter attacks and also have enough player up the pitch to play good football whilst winning games.

Let’s talk formations now and key players. For me I see a couple players start quite a bit. Odoi, Jorginho, Reece James, Chilwell are pretty much on lock. Players who get more gametime if politics doesn’t come into play are Tammy, Emerson (Tuchel rotates a lot, FB especially).

The rest, I’m not 100% sure. Jorginho will play a similar role to Weigl at Dortmund. Not as good imo and will get replaced in the summer still I reckon but he is the closest fit to the profile. I have 3 formations I see him playing, 442, 4231 and a 433.

I expect a 442 most games this season due to them not being his signings imo. Werner in that Mbappe role at LS and next to Tammy possibly or Havertz due to politics.

In conclusion I think Tuchel if the board back him with HIS profiles he wants unlike what PSG did, he will succeed. The board seriously need to back this manager though because he’s tactically too good not to back. I trust him to get rid of some of the deadwood also.

I’m very optimistic about him as I do really rate Tuchel as one of the best in the world. I hope this was insightful and I’d appreciate any thoughts and questions as I can’t fit everything on here.

End of thread.