“Who says he’s a great manager?” Harry Redknapp grumbled to Sky in reaction to Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as Chelsea boss. “Winning titles at PSG in France doesn’t really make you a great manager. What does that prove, really?”
While Redknapp isn’t entirely wrong – domestic silverware in France has been so devalued by PSG’s billions that it feels vaguely miraculous whenever they don’t win the treble – he conveniently overlooked the fact that Tuchel took them to the Champions League final for the first time in their history.
He also omitted to mention that Tuchel spent over a decade coaching in Germany before taking over at PSG which, whatever way you look at it, is more experience than a season managing Derby County.
Then again, given that he’s Frank Lampard’s uncle, it’s no surprise Redknapp isn’t well disposed towards his nephew’s successor. By contrast, Tuchel arrives in the Premier League without friends and relatives in high places.
Where Lampard’s sacking has been met with commiserations from former England and Chelsea teammates, Tuchel is an outsider who has toppled a popular figurehead. He is unlikely to get the same sympathetic treatment from the majority of the commentariat and, as a European tactics whizz replacing a former England mainstay, he’ll have to contend with his fair share of unconscious bias as well.
Likewise, having supplanted a man almost universally loved by Chelsea fans, Tuchel will have his work cut out to win them over. Judging by the defiant protests which have greeted similarly contentious decisions in the past – Jose Mourinho’s departure in 2015, for one – the Chelsea hierarchy are lucky Lampard’s sacking has happened to the backdrop of an empty stadium.
All that should leave the reality of managing Chelsea in even sharper focus for Tuchel: he needs results and he needs them now. If the limit of Roman Abramovich’s patience with a club legend like Lampard runs to 18 months, then his replacement can be sure that, without a relentless winning habit, he is owed less.
He could have asked for a gentler introduction than a match against Wolves, whose 2-1 win at Molineux in December contributed to the slump which led to Lampard’s dismissal. Chelsea had won only two of their last five against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side going into this game, though the visitors arrived at Stamford Bridge winless in six in the Premier League.
Tuchel signalled a clean break with Lampard’s tactical approach with his team selection, switching from a back four to a back three of Antonio Rudiger, Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta, with Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi at left and right wing-back respectively.
Will youngsters still get the same opportunities?
Having started the last 10 games in a row under Lampard, Mason Mount dropped to the bench alongside fellow academy graduates Tammy Abraham and Reece James.
While it’s too early to say whether Tuchel will deprioritise youth development in search of instant gratification, his first starting XI had an average age of just under 28. It’s possible that, rather than a rejection of youth, this was a decisive early test for his senior players.
Chelsea were positionally fluid in the first half, but far from free flowing. Though they completely dominated possession, they made few chances of note and Wolves were happy to sit back and bide their time.
Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech interchanged nicely, but were often forced to drop deep to provide an out ball for Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic. That left Olivier Giroud looking isolated up front, like a beautifully sculpted statue in a neglected corner of a formal garden.
Ziyech had a decent effort from distance early on, while Rudiger got a free header at a corner only to direct the ball straight at Rui Patricio. Teed up by Pedro Neto, Leander Dendoncker belted a header over the bar in Wolves’ only real opportunity before the break.
The second half followed much the same pattern: Chelsea moving the ball around frantically without really going anywhere as Wolves played the waiting game. It nearly came off for the visitors when, with 20 minutes to play, Neto skipped through one-on-one and almost dinked Edouard Mendy.
Tuchel brought on Abraham, Mount and Christian Pulisic late on in an effort to change the game but, despite late efforts from Kovacic and Hudson-Odoi, it ended goalless.
It’s far too early to draw grand conclusions about Tuchel’s vision for the team he’s inherited and, with so little time to explain his ideas, it’s little wonder his players failed to implement them effectively. That said, Lampard’s sacking shows that time is Tuchel’s most precious commodity. If he wants to buy time at Chelsea, wins are the only currency worth anything.
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