2 March, 2021 - 08:40

Thomas Tuchel’s Man Management Is Helping Turn Things Around At Chelsea

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Photo via @ChelseaFC/Twitter

New Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has wasted very little time turning things around at the London club. The German appears to have brought belief back, with spirits now high on the back of a tumultuous period that saw Frank Lampard replaced last month.

Tuchel looked like he might be ushering in the beginning of the end when he hooked second-half substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi off after just 20 minutes of action against Southampton on the weekend. This is the one thing managers are not to do as being subbed off as a substitute is the most embarrassing thing a player can be subjected to by his manager.

However, Hudson-Odoi was among the starters against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, helping the Blues to a 1-0 win over the Spanish supremos, who are certainly one of the strongest sides in Europe this season. Tuchel added insult to injury by criticizing the attacker after the 1-1 draw vs. Southampton but it seems to be all forgotten after a team meeting in which Hudson-Odoi’s attitude was discussed. It also helped that Tuchel express a bit of regret.

It would also seem that, if the manager was trying to send a message, it was heard loud and clear. According to a story in The Athletic, Tuchel is in constant communication with his players, even the ones who aren’t getting as many minutes as their peers. This is understood to have been an area in which Lampard fell short as the players on the fringes were mostly left in the dark, with no idea as to what to do to get back into the team.

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Photo via @ChelseaFC/Twitter

“The ones that aren’t playing, he is always talking to them,” a source told the publication. “That’s the big difference Tuchel has made.

“It means something. If the manager chats to you when out of the side, you have a better feeling. You feel part of the group, still included, still part of it. He tells them what to do better, that kind of thing. He focuses on the whole team, the whole squad. He is very personable.”

Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Newcastle United in mid-February is reported to have put something a bit extraordinary on show during the break. The Blues went into halftime with the lead but were probably flattered by the scoreline as their play did not have the makings of a team capable of holding onto the lead.

Tuchel, though, promised to reward his players should they leave the pitch as winners.

“He was giving the team talk and then suddenly said, ‘If you win this game, I will give you two days off,’” an insider was quoted as saying. “Everyone looked at each other thinking, ‘What the…?!’ This was the first they’d heard of it. They’d never had something like this before. It was his way of motivating them.”

Things are looking pretty good for Chelsea at the moment. The Londoners are one win away from qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals but have to face the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Everton domestically before heading back into the second leg of their tie on March 17.

Atletico ran into Chelsea at a pretty bad time. The Spanish outfit was made to go up against a disciplined Chelsea side in the midst of a resurgence, while they themselves were in pretty bad form. They were treated to a 2-0 loss at the hands of Levante before facing the Blues, with Levante having also held them to a 1-1 draw in a prior meeting. They’re now hoping to return to winning ways when they go up against Villarreal on Sunday and bettors keen on the results would do well to take a look at the La Liga odds by SBR.

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Photo via: @ChelseaFC/Twitter

Tuchel, meanwhile, will hope to keep his unbeaten streak up with Chelsea heading into quite what could be a troublesome period. What’s more impressive about his record so far is the fact that the ink on his contract hadn’t dried up by the time he put his new players through training as they were to play Wolverhampton Wanderers the very next day.

Tuchel told BT Sport he and his assistants decided how to approach training while flying to England.

“On the flight over (from Paris), we decided what to do in training and how to play against Wolves,” he explained.

“We’d watched (some of Chelsea’s) Champions League games, we had a clear impression. It was not too deep. It was not like we had prepared for weeks and weeks that this might come. Perhaps it was a good thing, as I didn’t overthink it. (Joining Chelsea) was a gut decision rather than from the brain.”

We have yet to see what Tuchel is like after a loss. Who knows how things might pan out whenever the Blues lose their first game under the German? But the team appears to be in a good place now. Fans will hope the winning continues.

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Author: Den

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