Thomas Tuchel Career Records: Clubs, playing style and trophies won – Thomas Tuchel is a German professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich.
In March 2023, Bayern decided to fire Julian Nagelsmann and choose Thomas Tuchel as his replacement right away.
Because they were worried about their capacity to defend their league title and participate in the Champions League knockout rounds, the defending Bundesliga champions made the audacious decision to fire Nagelsmann from his position.
Nagelsmann’s allusions to dressing room uprisings and arguments with the board over transfer budgets also pushed him toward the Allianz Arena exit door, despite the club’s insistence that the decision was taken due to worries over form.
The managerial void at Bayern lasted only a few days, and Tuchel’s abrupt appointment will be decisive in their final stretch, with much attention paid to their risky bet.
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The changing of the guard at Germany’s biggest club sent shockwaves across Europe with the perception of Nagelsmann doing an impressive job illustrated by another league title win in 2022.
Despite a league trophy almost being par for a Bayern head coach, winning it by eight points was viewed as a strong start to life in Bavaria for Nagelsmann, and they only trailed Borussia Dortmund by a point in the 2022/23 title race ahead of meeting on April 1.
However, Nagelsmann’s lack of support within the squad played a crucial role in persuading the board to sack him, with reports of a ‘mole’ in the camp appearing to be more than just a rumour.
Thomas Tuchel Career Records: Former clubs and trophy record
Tuchel’s first taste of coaching came in Ralf Rangnick’s youth team at VfB Stuttgart, before returning to former side FC Augsburg as a talent co-ordinator.
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In a bizarre twist of irony, he first crossed paths with Nagelsmann back at Augsburg, after taking charge of the reserve team in 2007/08.
Tuchel advised Nagelsmann to follow his coaching path, following their joint experience of career-ending injuries, with the latter taking up a scouting position at the club, before Tuchel moved to Mainz in 2009.
His arrival at Mainz triggered an immediate upswing, with back-to-back top-half finishes as he built an exciting young team featuring future World Cup winner Andre Schurrle.
However, the second half of his tenure saw the club forced to sell star names as they slipped into the bottom half and Tuchel departed in 2014.
Despite a year out of the game, ahead of the 2015/16 campaign, Tuchel’s stock remained high, and Dortmund turned to him as the man to replace the outgoing Jurgen Klopp.
After finishing seventh in Klopp’s final campaign, Tuchel’s arrival refreshed a squad in danger of drifting, dragging them to second behind Pep Guardiola’s Bayern in his first season and losing in the UEFA Europa League quarterfinals to Klopp’s new Liverpool side.
Dortmund continued on a positive trajectory, winning the DFB Pokal Cup in 2017, but the Bayern were unstoppable in the Bundesliga and Tuchel was sacked at the end of the campaign.
Again, Tuchel opted for a 12-month hiatus before his next move — after reportedly rejecting an offer from Bayern — before replacing Unai Emery at PSG.
His switch to Paris was motivated by the Ligue 1 giants burning desire to add Champions League success to domestic glory, and Tuchel brought them closer than any manager has done.
Two Ligue 1 titles were unfairly balanced against 90 minutes in the 2020 Champions League final, as his all-star cast lost to Bayern at a Covid-19 enforced empty Estadio da Luz, and his positive strides were almost immediately undone.
A Champions League title was, and remains, the primary goal at PSG, and defeat in the final saw Tuchel’s relationship with the hierarchy nosedive, with a public fallout with sporting director Leonardo the final act, as Tuchel was dismissed at Christmas.
The year break continued before taking over from Frank Lampard at Chelsea in January 2021, but Tuchel was on a mission from day one at Stamford Bridge.
He dragged the Blues to an FA Cup final, and despite losing to Leicester City, his charges showed steel to outfox Guardiola’s City and win the Champions League inside his first six months at the helm.
European glory was even sweeter for Tuchel, following his PSG debacle, and he led Chelsea to third in the Premier League in 2021/22.
Despite spending a Premier League transfer window record of £250m ($308m) ahead of 2022/23, it quickly unravelled again for Tuchel amid frustration over board-level interference, and he was dismissed by Todd Boehly in September.
Bayern is another ‘new’ challenge, but old habits are hard to shift, and despite his reputation for immediate success, Tuchel is unlikely to be in for the long haul in Bavaria.
Tuchel has had a mixed start at Bayern: an initial 4-2 home win over Dortmund made for an impressive start but was spoiled by a 2-1 defeat when Freiburg visited in the quarterfinals of the DFB-Pokal.
Bayern gained revenge by winning 1-0 at Freiburg in the Bundesliga four days later. They were heading for a reasonable result by restricting Manchester City to a 1-0 lead at the Etihad Stadium in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, only to concede twice without reply during the final 20 minutes to give themselves an onerous task to turn the tie around in Munich.
| Club | Dates | League Positions | Win Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| FC Augsburg | July 2007 – June 2008 | 4th | 58.8% |
| Mainz | August 2009 – May 2014 | 9th, 5th, 13th, 13th | 39.1% |
| Borussia Dortmund | June 2015 – May 2017 | 2nd, 3rd | 62.6% |
| PSG | May 2018 – Dec. 2020 | 1st, 1st, N/A | 74.8% |
| Chelsea | Jan. 2021 – Sep. 2022 | 4th, 3rd, N/A | 60% |
Thomas Tuchel trophies won
- DFB Pokal Cup – 2016/17
- Ligue 1 – 2018/19, 2019/20
- Coup de France – 2019/20
- Trophee de Champions – 2018, 2019
- UEFA Champions League – 2020/21
- UEFA Super Cup – 2021
- FIFA Club World Cup – 2021
Thomas Tuchel’s tactical style
Despite the situation ultimately ending in frustration for Tuchel, his Chelsea team was arguably the best demonstration of his tactical strategy, building on the strongest aspects of his structures at Mainz and Dortmund.
Chelsea evolved into a team playing primarily with a three-man defence under Tuchel, with focus on the midfield unit pressing aggressively to win possession and quickly transition into goal-scoring opportunities.
The use of wing-backs, deployed high up the pitch allowed attacking players to remain central, with a direct route to goal, as the need to move out wide was already covered.
Timo Werner and Kai Havertz were both perfect examples of this with the Blues, as neither player is a natural No.9, but their combined instincts created a fluid attack.
Playing with a front two, or an attacker just behind a lone forward, reduced the need for too many players breaking from midfield, allowing Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic to concentrate on their roles as progressive ball winners.
Source: www.xtratsports.com
