Thomas Tuchel was fired by the Champions League

The opening match of the Champions League group stage, in which Chelsea lost to Dinamo Zagreb, was the last match in the London club for his mentor Thomas Tuchel. The reason for the resignation of the German coach, who last year performed something like a miracle, taking over the team at the peak of the game crisis and immediately leading it to victory in the main European Cup, is called not only its mediocre results in the new season, but Tuchel’s failed relationship with the new owners, who replaced Roman Abramovich, a consortium led by the American Todd Beli.

London Chelsea announced the dismissal of head coach Thomas Tuchel. In a message from the club dedicated to him, it is said that “the moment has come” for the search for a new coach and that the former is “guaranteed a place in the history” of the team.

Chelsea’s farewell to Thomas Tuchel took place after the jubilee, hundredth official match in which he happened to lead the English giant. It was an away meeting of the Londoners in the starting round of the Champions League with a low-ranking opponent in Group E – Dinamo Zagreb. Chelsea, however, unexpectedly lost to the Croatian club – 0:1. And speaking of a “place in history”, the management of the Londoners, of course, had in mind the events that happened to them and Thomas Tuchel before this game.

This is a very bright and extraordinary case. PSG sacked Thomas Tuchel had a chance lead Chelsea in January 2021. At that time, the club, which was coached by Frank Lampard before Tuchel, was at the peak of an acute gaming crisis, being located in the tail of the top ten of the English championship. It seemed that it was impossible to quickly correct the situation. However, with the advent of Tuchel, Chelsea was instantly transformed. In the national championship, showing a surprisingly stable game, given the recent troubles, the club jumped to fourth place, and crowned a season that threatened to be a complete disaster with the first triumph in the Champions League in nine years, in the final of the drawing, coping with Manchester City.

The next season also brought Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel valuable prizes. In the English championship, the club finished third, but won the Continental Super Cup, the Club World Cup, and also reached the final of both the FA Cup and the English League Cup.

The most obvious reason for the resignation of one of the most effective Chelsea managers of all time lies on the surface.

The Zagreb misfire was quite in line with the unpleasant trend of the next season, which the Londoners started mediocrely.

Having not met with any of the main favorites of the championship of England, they won three victories in six rounds with a minimum score, losing to Leeds and Southampton in three others and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur. In this match, Thomas Tuchel suffered an emotional breakdown, and, having quarreled with rival mentor Antonio Conte, he earned a removal.

Such results did not correlate well with the results of the club’s summer transfer campaign. He spent it after passing under the control of new owners – a consortium led by the American Todd Beley, who was forced to part with Chelsea due to the threat of sanctions by Roman Abramovich. Londoners have spent a record sum for themselves in a single transfer window – more than £ 250 million, and the list of acquisitions included such great players as Raheem Sterling, Vesle Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Coulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Meanwhile, a number of British media resources, commenting on the resignation of Thomas Tuchel, spoke about his “exacerbated” relationship with the club management just because of the selection.

So, according to The Guardian, some football players were actually imposed on Tuchel by analysts hired by Todd Beli. And the fact that the coach is experiencing terrible discomfort, trying to figure out how to use the updated squad, can be evidenced by his constant tactical and personnel throwing. For example, during the same match in Zagreb, he used three different game formations. In one of them, Sterling suddenly appeared in the center of the field, having played in the front line all his life and never possessed the skills of a game organizer.

Trying to guess the replacement for Thomas Tuchel, various English sources agree that the “priority” choice for the Chelsea hosts is Graham Potter, working with Brighton. This club, which is modest in terms of opportunities compared to London ones, had a good run the previous season, and in the current national championship it is ahead of the giant, being in fourth position. However, the list of applicants for a vacant position is not limited to Potter. The BBC includes two currently free heavyweight mentors Mauricio Pochettino and Zinedine Zidane, as well as Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.

Alexey Dospekhov