Thomas Tuchel sacked by Chelsea after defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League

Chelsea have sacked manager Thomas Tuchel following their 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.

Tuchel led Chelsea to the Champions League title in 2021 and the Club World Cup crown in 2022, but has paid the price for an indifferent start to the new campaign.

The Blues sit sixth in the Premier League table and bottom of their Champions League group after a performance in Zagreb when Tuchel admitted “everything is missing”.

New owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have been bold this summer, spending more than £200m in the transfer window as Chelsea try to keep pace with the elite following Roman Abramovich’s sale of the club, but this is the biggest and perhaps most controversial call yet in their short tenure.

Chelsea insisted they had made the change at the “right time” and promised to move “swiftly” in finding a replacement.

“Chelsea have today parted company with head coach Thomas Tuchel,” the club said on Wednesday morning.

“On behalf of everyone at Chelsea, the club would like to place on record their gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the club.

More from Football

Celtic showed they 'can beat most teams in the Champions League' after making Real 'suffer'07 September, 2022How Everton's 'tough core', faith in Lampard and a financial 'reset' have galvanised the club07 September, 2022Celtic's dreamers defeated in Paradise on a Champions League night where anything felt possible06 September, 2022

“Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea’s history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup and Club World Cup in his time here.

“As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition.

“Chelsea’s coaching staff will take charge of the team for training and the preparation of our upcoming matches as the club moves swiftly to appoint a new head coach.

“There will be no further comment until a new head coach appointment is made.”

Tuchel’s departure comes just six days after Chelsea broke the Premier League’s spending record in the transfer window and a night after shock defeat in the Croatian capital.

With £171m worth of new signings in the starting XI at the Stadion Maksimir, Tuchel could reasonably have expected an indicator of the dominance English clubs are expected to enjoy in Europe this season.

The transfer window ended with Premier League sides having blown the rest of the continent out of the water, but asked what his side is still lacking, the Chelsea boss could only respond: “At the moment everything is missing.”

“If we did underestimate them we have a problem,” he said. “Me personally, I didn’t.

“We lack determination, we lacked the smell of blood. We conceded a goal with two players, in a counter attack. I don’t understand why it happened today.

“It is my job to analyse it. We need to be much better. We are not finished.”

Except it is no longer Tuchel’s job to analyse it – and he is finished.

Additional reporting by Press Association

from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/sUJOnmK