Thomas Tuchel ; a fan's perspective so far on the German's time in charge at Chelsea.

(Credits: Wilson Oluoch. The big gun from the Bridge.) 

“Under current circumstances we believe it is best to change managers.” – Roman Abramovich

For the first time as a Chelsea fan, I heard Roman’s voice, well ... read his newsletter which is the only sacking of a manager he has delivered words for the statement for.

Yes, we were on a bad run at the time having lost 5 PL games of the last 8 (the 3-1 loss to Arsenal, the 3-1 loss to Mancity, the comeback that Wolves managed to hit us and the 2-0 away loss to Leicester perhaps the most painful to watch during that run of bad games)

Yes, I personally called for a change in management demanding for a manager with a philosophy and identity of play, demanding for anyone with more pedigree, demanding for a proven quality manager. But until every follower of the beautiful game was talking about the sack, until I confirmed it on social media powerhouses (Fabrizio Romano), it was a change I was not ready for and was probably never going to be.

We loved Frank. He was Chelsea. We wanted him to come good. The fairytale of club legend comes back and does well as coach was too good not to buy into. And he had convinced us all ... that 4th PL finish and a runners up place in the FA cup in his first season as Chelsea manager, and btw just his 3rd spell in football management, had us all believing in him and backing him and defending him. How could we not ?

But, we had to move on ... Thank you, Frank !

It was Thomas Tuchel who was going to take charge just hours before we played Wolves.

Why the club had to wait till just before a game, a somewhat important game, I still do not understand but I was just as confused, just as angry with the club for this seemingly unending pattern and just as hopeful that Tuchel would come good.

Ooh he did !!! I sat for that game against wolves with so much distancing with the club. I didn’t know what was happening or what would happen and I did not want to either but that was one of the best performances I had seen the boys put up. There was something different. Even if we had lost that match, it still would have shown me what I wanted to see, we were back to giving it all on the pitch.

There was the back 3 I had not seen coming, Odoi played at RWB and he was sharp and lively, Rudiger started after being sidelined by the former manager over disagreements, Havertz looked like the generational talent we celebrated signing some months ago, Mount didn’t start (the Lampard’s son comment came and unsurprisingly more so from Chelsea fans) but came on for Ziyech with 8 mins to go and still put on a show.

We played Burnley next and there was nothing but stellar performances ... Rudiger was playing and playing well, he was reborn under Tuchel, Odoi at RWB and did well again and managed an assist, Mount got his first start and has since been Tuchel’s reliable warrior (he is that good !! ... my future captain !), Tuchel’s first goal coming from club captain Azpi (poetic) and the second from the most unlikely of heroes, Marcos Alonso who at the time hadn’t made a Chelsea squad for over 3 months.

At the time of writing, Chelsea have played 18 games under Tuchel, winning 12 of them (10 being clean sheet wins) drawing 4 and losing 2 (we celebrated losing to Porto didn’t we ?) This run saw us not concede a goal against Tottenham, both legs against Atletico, Manchester United, Leeds and Liverpool. Defensively we have been good.

I have since joined in most of Tuchel’s pre and post game interviews and perhaps the one statement I will not be forgetting in a long while ..” We will build a team nobody wants to play against” and he has shown that with the organization the team plays with, the courage both defensively and offensively.

Quite frankly, he has done more than enough to show that it was a good decision that was made. Hard truths ; It is possible that we miss out on the top 4, possible that we don’t make the FA cup finals with the game against Mancity a difficult one given their quality, also possible that we exit our impressive Champions League campaign at the hands of Real Madrid citing factors such as experience but I will not be worried about those. I will go into the remaining games of the season with full excitement and full positivity knowing I can trust my manager and I can trust the boys on the pitch to bring the fight to any opposition... they’ve proven it already. Bring it on !

I’ll stay excited because if this is the backbone Tuchel has set for next season, I am all in.

Tuchel looks to have built a team nobody wants to play against.