Without Thomas Tuchel, things went downhill

Four months ago, Chelsea broke up with Thomas Tuchel. Its end must come with a turning point. But things turned out differently.

Zagreb was the last point. In the Croatian capital, Thomas Tuchel was on the sidelines for Chelsea for the last time. At the beginning of September, the “Blues” lost 1-0 to the Croatian series champions. On the way back, Tuchel was said to have been informed that he was no longer the Chelsea manager.

The new club management around Todd Bohle were impatient and wanted to set their own accents. Tuchel was not their coach, but the coach of their predecessors. And although the 49-year-old has been hugely successful in London, that hasn’t stopped Bohle and his followers from pulling the rope early after a mixed start to the season.

Tokhel gave Chelsea sixth place with ten points after six Premier League matches. Four months later, the ‘Blues’ were in 10th place – and ahead of their Sunday duel against Crystal Palace (from 3pm on t-online live tape) under great pressure.

After Tuchel was relieved of his duties, Chelsea appointed Englishman Graham Potter as their new manager. He was brought from Brighton for more than 17 million euros. Potter was to become the face of the “new Chelsea FC”. Young, versatile, modern in all aspects of the business.

His start went according to plan, and Potter did not lose any of his first nine competitive bouts. Chelsea shone particularly in the Champions League. The new coach and his team scored two victories over AC Milan and four points over Salzburg. In the English Premier League, the London team finished fifth and within striking distance of fourth place in the Champions League. Well at Stamford Bridge.

But the weeks and months that followed cause the smile to disappear from Graham Potter’s face. Meanwhile, fans in the stadium are loudly demanding the return of Thomas Tuchel and the end of Potters, who is becoming more and more vocal in his press conferences: “It’s really frustrating and incredibly challenging. It’s a tough moment, I feel fans. We’re disappointed we lost. I think we can Doing a little better in the basics,” he said after Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by Fulham.

Defeats are now a common sight for Chelsea. Since the start of the aforementioned series, Potter has won only two out of ten competitive matches: against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and against newly promoted Bournemouth in the Premier League.

There is also a draw (against promoted Nottingham) and seven defeats. Including the end of the League Cup and the FA Cup. In the Premier League, Chelsea is only mediocre and is far behind Jurgen Klopp’s “Reds”, who are also in trouble. Only 15 points have been added in the 12 games since Tuchel’s exit.

Fans who criticized the dismissal of the German as premature and hasty consider themselves to be right. Tuchel led Chelsea to win the Champions League in 2021 and finished third behind the Liverpool/Manchester City super duo in the English Premier League the following season. And this despite the turmoil surrounding the club’s then-owner, Roman Abramovich.

Sanctions against the oligarch ensured that Chelsea could not act for weeks in the spring of 2022. Regular players like Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger could not be extended, they changed. The entire Chelsea transfer window was a turbulent one. Three of the new arrivals – Denis Zakaria, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Wesley Fofana – only arrived in the final days of the transfer window in late August. After a week, Tuchel had to leave.