Mauricio Pochettino makes quick Nicolas Jackson U-turn after difficult Chelsea start
Thomas Tuchel claimed he had been left ‘in the wrong movie’ by Chelsea as he fought for his job in the days before Todd Boehly swung his axe. German head coach Tuchel became the first boss to be sacked by the big-spending Boehly despite having held talks to extend his contract just three weeks prior.
It is a year since Tuchel broke a four-day silence on his dismissal. He admitted to being ‘devastated’ and said he had hoped to stay for ‘many years’. The now-Bayern Munich tactician had led the Blues to Champions League and Club World Cup triumphs.
A £278million summer spend had placed pressure on Tuchel and Chelsea, but has now been dwarfed by Boehly’s spending ever since. Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marc Cucurella were four of 10 new arrivals at Stamford Bridge.
There were signs of unhappiness during a pre-season tour of the US, though. Tuchel slammed his players after a 4-0 thrashing by Arsenal. Wide-ranging reports suggested the Blues manager had clashed with Boehly over the potential signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, for which Tuchel’s vetoing has since been vindicated.
Tuchel oversaw a challenging start to the season which included a 3-0 defeat by Leeds. And the pressure ultimately proved too much to ignore for Boehly after a lacklustre Chelsea team were beaten 1-0 by Dinamo Zagreb.
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After that game, Tuchel claimed he had been ‘in the wrong movie’ for not anticipating such a bad performance. He slammed his players for a lack of determination, hunger and intensity.
“I didn’t see it coming, obviously I was in the wrong movie,” Tuchel ominously reflected. “I thought that the last game helped us. I thought the team was prepared, I thought we know what this is all about.
“I don’t really know where this performance today comes from. A lack of determination, a lack of hunger and a lack of intensity to actually do the things that we need at the highest level. We are clearly not where we want to be.
“I’m angry about our performance. It’s not precise enough, it’s not clinical enough, it’s not aggressive enough on the ball, it’s not determined enough. It’s not good enough individually, it’s not good enough as a team.”
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Tuchel was dismissed on September 7 in a brutal video call. The announcement of his replacement, Graham Potter, was postponed by two days due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II 24 hours later.
But Tuchel’s struggles in the aftermath of such huge spending have since been placed in a far different context. Potter – the most expensive manager in history – was sacked just six months later. Frank Lampard floundered while Mauricio Pochettino has won only one of four top-flight matches.
A Premier League table for games played only in 2023 would have Chelsea in 16th, with a measly 24 points from 27 matches. That is despite the spending of the Boehly-led consortium being multiplied.
Potter was given a £300m spend in January, including a then-world record £108m deal for Enzo Fernandez. Another £420m was handed to Pochettino in the summer, including breaking their own transfer record by signing £115m midfielder Moises Caicedo.
And so it seems Boehly and his fellow Chelsea owners have not yet learned their lesson from the first few months of their tenure. While Tuchel ended the 2022-23 season lifting the Bundesliga in dramatic style, his former side finished 12th. It will never be known if the he might have turned round Chelsea’s campaign.
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