If Callum Hudson-Odoi was unhappy at having his collar felt by the gaffer, he might console himself with the thought that Thomas Tuchel is subject to the same power dynamic should he displease his master.
Tuchel is no less protected at Chelsea than he was at Paris Saint-Germain from unfavourable results in the Champions League. Tuchel was not flicked by the Qatari royals for failing to dominate Ligue 1. It is in the Europe realm that success is ultimately measured by the emirs and the oligarchs and why Frank Lampard was ruthlessly deposed for Tuchel. The monied ownerships of sporting baubles are not interested in projects and building stuff. They are buying off-the-shelf success as well as prestige and respectability.
The Premier League had already dropped embarrassingly from Chelsea’s radar. The Roman empire could not risk carrying the same negative momentum into the last 16 encounter with Atletico Madrid. There is too much at stake. Besides, it is a cup competition, which on occasion allows for the anomalous expansion of unlikely candidates. Witness the rise of Lyon last year and Spurs in 2019. Why not Chelsea in 2021?
Tuchel has made an efficient start, making the most of the new authority vested in him to produce some radical selections, and bold interventions, typified by the early exclusions of Frank favourites Ben Chilwell, Kurt Zouma and Mason Mount, and the summary withdrawal of Hudson-Odoi at Southampton, himself a half-time substitute for Tammy Abraham.
While Mount was quickly re-instated, and Zouma too until Thiago Silva is fit, Chilwell remains in exile. Tuchel’s promotion of Marcos Alonso and treatment of Hudson-Odoi are gambles that demonstrate a willingness to act and to lead. For now the power resides with him. But any missteps will quickly exhaust the patience of the ultimate authority at the club.
Initially Hudson-Odoi was one of the beneficiaries of change. Tuchel thought him low on energy and disengaged at St Mary’s. He took the utilitarian view without regard to feelings. While some might see leadership in that, others pointed out how Tuchel did not exercise the same ruthlessness with Neymar, who would act on impulse at PSG irrespective of the team’s needs.
Again we are back to power relations. Coaches are in the service not of the club but of the ownership. Neymar is part of the spectacle at PSG just as Messi and Ronaldo are at Barcelona and Juventus, big-ticket items who carry more power than the team itself. No coach can resist that no matter how much astral heft he thinks he brings to the piece, eh Jose?
Though Atletico have taken just five points from 12, including a defeat at home to Levante on Saturday, they lead La Liga by three points with a game in hand and are an obvious obstacle to the Tuchel revival even without centre-back Jose Gimenez, influential midfielder Hector Herrera and wide man Yannick Carrasco. For the relocated first leg in Bucharest, Diego Simeone can still call upon the monumental Jab Oblak in goal, Koke and Saul in midfield and Joao Felix and Luis Suarez, who Tuchel tried to sign at PSG, in attack.
Runners-up twice in the past decade and three times in all, this season represents as good a chance as any for Atletico to take advantage of the structural weaknesses across the city and in Barcelona, and to make up for past disappointments in this competition. And in Simeone they have a coach who makes whatever insensitivities Tuchel might display appear avuncular in light of his pitiless ambition.
Tuchel is entitled to take every match as it comes and therefore prioritise the next 90 minutes. However, the prerogative of the coach and the owner are not the same thing, no matter how much he convinces himself otherwise. “There are no preferences for me,” he said. “It is very nice and exciting to play Champions League games at the knockout stage. It is a big test against a very experienced group and a tough coach. But when we wear the Chelsea shirt we play to win and give 100 per cent in effort and intensity in every game. That is what I expect of my players.”
Tuchel maintains his relationship with Hudson-Odoi is positive after a post-match debrief in front of the whole team. “I had my reasons to do it. Was it the right decision? I don’t know. It was the decision in that moment,” Tuchel said before leaving for Bucharest. “I wanted to talk in front of the group to not make it bigger than it is. I did it. I said this was the decision for today, the lesson to learn from today. For him and me also. We go on and it’s forgotten. Between us two and the team it is business as usual.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3qVZTXm
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