Why Thomas Tuchel still battles to win Chelsea hearts and minds

Chelsea went unbeaten in Thomas Tuchel’s first 14 games and conceded only two goals. Recent form — including FA Cup final defeat, and limping into the top four - has left some fans still to be convinced by the German. Picture: Ian Walton/ Pool/Getty Images

A simple question for Chelsea fans — has Thomas Tuchel been a success or failure? Has he taken them on from Frank Lampard’s team, or achieved pretty much the same?

The fact that many would reserve judgement until after tomorrow’s Champions League final in Porto says a lot about how supporters measure success.

Often they are swayed by a feelgood factor rather than facts, with their team’s most recent run of results often determines whether it — and by default its manager — is considered a success or failure.

Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard 16 weeks ago, and after a superb start to life in London SW6, some familiar failings have begun to resurface at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea went unbeaten in his first 14 games and conceded only two goals, a remarkable transformation from what was seen as a ‘leaky’ Lampard team which had shipped 12 goals in his final ten games, losing five of them.

Yet closer scrutiny shows that Lampard’s record in the opening 19 games of the season was considerably better, with only one defeat and 13 goals conceded.

Compare that with Tuchel’s recent record of 14 goals conceded in the past 15 games, five of them ending in defeat.

Three of those losses have come in the past four games over a two week period, including the FA Cup final, so another defeat tomorrow evening would not only leave Chelsea without a trophy again, but would leave Tuchel’s record looking only marginally better than his predecessor’s this season, and Chelsea’s position almost identical to last season under Lampard — finishing fourth, with one more point, and losing FA Cup finallists.

That would all change, of course, if Cesar Azpilicueta is able to lift the Champions League trophy above his head and Chelsea are European champions again.

Anything else is unlikely to be seen as big step forward, especially after Roman Abramovich once more opened the cheque-book last summer in some of the most wanted players in Europe — Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, and Ben Chilwell, as well as goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva on a free transfer.

After all, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proclaimed Manchester United’s season unsuccessful immediately after it ended in defeat to Villareal in the Europa League final on Wednesday. United improved on last season, with eight points more than last term taking them up one place to finish runners-up behind City. But with nothing added to the trophy cabinet for a third successive season, and a 12-point deficit behind their noisy neighbours, it is hard to call this campaign a success.

The same can be said of Liverpool, who dropped from first to third in a year, with 30 points fewer and no trophies.

Like Tottenham, Liverpool fell apart after leading the table in December, although the Reds recovered to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Chelsea did that in Lampard’s first season and again this year, with a marginal improvement after the biggest outlay by any team in the world last summer. Winning the biggest prize in club football would change perceptions, however, suggesting a club on the rise and Tuchel as a tactical genius.

He has outwitted Pep Guardiola twice already, with a 1-0 FA Cup semi-final victory in April followed by a 2-1 win at the Etihad three weeks ago.

But on both occasions City were below full strength, with a largely second-string used in domestic cup competitions, and some of their bigger names rested for the game in May, so it will be a stiffer test in Porto this weekend.

The big concern for supporters is whether Chelsea can reproduce the form that saw off Porto and Real Madrid in earlier rounds, or revert to the errors that surfaced in their defeats to West Bromwich Albion, Arsenal, and Aston Villa recently.

They failed to turn it on in the FA Cup final against Leicester, with the failings that have dogged their season, mostly in attack. Lampard was criticised for failing to get his expensive signings firing, and one of the reasons Tuchel was hired was in order to bring out the best in fellow Germans Havertz and Werner.

Recently the former has shown glimpses of the pedigree that prompted Chelsea to pay Bayern Leverkusen €75m, but Werner is struggling badly in front of goal, often running offside, or missing the target.

Werner has hit the net only three times since Tuchel took over, while six of his nine goals came under Lampard. The former boss relied more on Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud for goals, with the latter scoring freely in the group stages of the Champions League. Yet Giroud has since become a marginal figure under Tuchel, with only two goals in a handful of starts since the German took charge.

Even more baffling is Tuchel’s treatment of Abraham, the club’s top scorer last season and still top this season, despite hardly appearing since Lampard left.

Eleven of his 12 goals came in the first half of the season, when Lampard alternated him and Giroud as central strikers. Tuchel has instead played Werner more centrally, or occasionally used midfielder Havertz as a false nine.

Both managers have struggled with a lack of creativity from midfield. Chelsea have a superb holding midfielder in Ngolo Kante, but alongside him neither Jorgniho nor Mateo Kovacic have the ability to thread a defence-splitting pass for their forward players, the way Kevin De Bruyne or Bruno Fernandes can do.

While a goalscoring number nine is clearly a priority in this summer’s transfer window, a creative midfielder such as Christian Eriksen should be high on the list too.

Lampard was widely criticised for failing to keep clean sheets, but initially his side defended well enough, especially after Mendy was signed in September. But a disastrous run of 10 games either side of Christmas, when Chelsea lost five games and also conceded 10 goals, meant Lampard’s time was up.

Tuchel tightened things initially, with 12 clean sheets in his first 14 games. But then came a 5-2 defeat at home to West Brom, who ended up relegated.

That was when questions first began to be asked, and they have resurfaced after the recent run of poor form.

The main one is this: has Tuchel taken Chelsea forward or done pretty much the same as his predecessor?

We should find an answer in Porto on Saturday night.