{"id":489942,"date":"2025-10-11T03:05:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489942\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T03:05:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:05:20","slug":"the-bizarre-match-that-spelt-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-thomas-tuchel-at-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/489942\/","title":{"rendered":"The bizarre match that spelt the beginning of the end for Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Thomas Tuchel\u2019s reign at Chelsea ended suddenly, but the match that started the decline was odd for a couple of reasons. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-1242638155-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Thomas Tuchel the manager \/ head coach of Chelsea reacts during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Chelsea FC at Elland Road\" class=\"wp-image-95914\" \/>Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt \u2013 AMA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Not long into his second full season at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/club\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chelsea<\/a>, the new ownership decided it was time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/news\/not-surprised-how-chelsea-players-reacted-to-boehlys-decision-to-sack-thomas-tuchel-journalist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to relieve Thomas Tuchel of his duties<\/a> after an underwhelming start. <\/p>\n<p>This is the same manager that won Chelsea the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/champions-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Champions League<\/a> just 15 months prior. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-1320722574-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Manchester City v Chelsea FC - UEFA Champions League Final\" class=\"wp-image-249809\" \/>Photo by Alexander Hassenstein \u2013 UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>It was a decision that came as a surprise. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechelseachronicle.com\/tag\/todd-boehly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Todd Boehly<\/a> and his Clearlake Capital co-owners didn\u2019t see Tuchel as the right man to lead the change Chelsea was about to undergo. It\u2019s possible a bad loss three weeks before was the first domino to fall. <\/p>\n<p>Chelsea\u2019s loss to Leeds <\/p>\n<p>Coming into the game on four points after two games, Chelsea and Tuchel would have been confident in getting a result. <\/p>\n<p>That wouldn\u2019t happen for them. After Edouard Mendy\u2019s error cost Chelsea the opener, Leeds kept on pushing, scoring two more and getting one of their most famous wins since returning to the top flight. <\/p>\n<p>Kalidou Koulibaly\u2019s needless second yellow in the dying embers added insult to injury, and when the full-time whistle blew, it was clear things weren\u2019t all cheery at Chelsea. <\/p>\n<p>But this game is not bizarre because of the scoreline, although that certainly was a shock. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s due to the fact that the two sides played out the exact opposite match just three months prior. <\/p>\n<p>Chelsea\u2019s win against Leeds <\/p>\n<p>The May just gone saw a wholly different \u2014 yet eerily similar \u2014 encounter at Elland Road. <\/p>\n<p>This time it would be Chelsea to come away 3-0 victors. <\/p>\n<p>Mason Mount struck within five minutes to give the Blues the lead. This time it was Leeds who went down to ten men after Daniel James\u2019 reckless tackle on Mateo Kovacic. <\/p>\n<p>Second-half goals from Christian Pulisic and Romelu Lukaku would settle the issue, and despite a post-game scuffle, spirits were high at Chelsea. They would hold on to third place, improving on Tuchel\u2019s first season and setting a clear target for the following campaign. <\/p>\n<p>What a difference three months can make. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Tuchel\u2019s reign at Chelsea ended suddenly, but the match that started the decline was odd for a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,6573,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-489942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-thomas-tuchel","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115353323610058329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}