Thomas Tuchel’s coaching playbook: Tennis balls, training ‘problems’ – and lots of conflict

This article is a new version of a piece originally published by The Athletic in January 2021 from Raphael Honigstein. Unlike Klopp, who had succeeded with a clearly defined pressing game that harnessed the energy of the Mainz crowd, Tuchel had taken inspiration from Bruce Lee’s “my style is no style” mantra: his Mainz side would be so adaptable in their approach, changing each game to pre-emptively negate the particular strengths of their opponents’ formations “without the need to think,” Tuchel told a group of maverick economists in a mesmerising talk titled ‘Rule Breaker’ years later. “Tuchel had been so demanding of the players that quite a few couldn’t take it anymore,” a source close to the dressing room, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect their relationships, remembers. My philosophy is an aesthetic one: aesthetic means control the ball, the rhythm, to attack in every minute and to try to score as many goals as possible.” Asked by Lyttleton whether he would ever take a job at one of those win-at-all-costs club, Tuchel replied that he wanted to win, of course, but added he might harbour doubts over such an engagement if his employers’ uncompromising demands stood in conflict with his footballing convictions. Tuchel’s Chelsea reign ended after a defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in September 2022 New owners Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly inherited a Chelsea squad that included a significant number of players who wanted to leave in part to get away from their head coach — a head coach who swiftly sank in their own estimations during a tense pre-season tour of the United States in the summer of 2022.