Thomas Tuchel has been asked at almost every press conference since he took over the job from Frank Lampard about Chelsea’s pursuit of the Champions League places.
Lampard was ditched with the Blues in ninth place following a run of five defeats in eight games and were 11 points off top of the table, at the time, Manchester United.
Since Tuchel arrived, he has steered the side to four unbeaten games, three of them victories, which has propelled the team up to fifth place, one point behind Liverpool who sit fourth and occupy the final Champions League spot for next season.
The 47-year-old was appointed with the gambit from Marina Granovskaia to get the Blues into the top four come the end of the season and competing once again at Europe’s top table in 2021/22. Winning the FA Cup would be a welcome bonus but getting in that top four is imperative.
Not least because it can attract players this summer, with the Blues linked with moves for Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland and RB Leipzig centre half Dayot Upamecano. Neither of those players would consider moving to west London to play Europa League football.
Whether Tuchel truly believes the Blues’ impact in the market next summer, which is sure to be another relatively low-spending one like January, is dependent on their Champions League qualification isn’t known but the German head coach continues to bat it away.
Most recently, after the win over Sheffield United, he was asked again about it and he said: “What would it help to talk about it?
“It is clear that we are responsible now for a situation where we are close to where we want to be. We want to try everything to reach the top four and we said this very clear when we started.
“So now the guys put themselves in the situation where we are the hunters for the teams in front of us and we are close.
“It changes nothing because the next game in the league will be a home game and like everybody else we will be under the pressure to continue our run and build on the momentum. We will not allow anybody to focus on the fixture.”
But his players are thinking differently. Speaking after the victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, Mateo Kovacic stated that the Blues’ quest for European football has been re-ignited since Tuchel arrived.
He told the club website : “We have started well under the new coach.
“That’s two wins in a row, plus a draw in his first game, and he’s explained to us exactly what he wants from us.
“We have started well but I think we can do even better.
“We played well against Tottenham and if we continue like that I think we can certainly get back into the top four.”
It’s an interesting parallel being drawn between head coach and players. It appears as though Tuchel is trying to take the heat off his players and perhaps himself in the early stages of his reign in west London, whereas the players are very much putting the pressure on themselves to get the job done.
Tuchel though is under no illusions as he admitted a fortnight ago when he was asked about the targets the club set for him.
“She [Granovskaia] told me very clearly that if you sign for Chelsea, you need to win trophies, definitely compete for trophies.
“We can just admit it – on this level nobody steps into any competition to be second. Nobody.
“There were even managers who won titles and got sacked. One is sitting right now in front of you. It happened to me around Christmas.
“It’s like this in the end. What everyone is looking for is a nice guy, a hard guy, a trophy-winning guy, I don’t know, a good looking guy, a funny guy. That does not exist.
“At some point I hope I am the guy who can be the characteristics for an era and for a certain period in this club.”
A campaign in the Europa League will not be acceptable to Roman Abramovich especially after his £200million outlay in the summer to push Chelsea over the top, something Lampard wasn’t able to manage in his second season in charge.
Whether it is different in public than private who knows, Tuchel and his Chelsea players appear to be on the same page on the pitch but maybe now, they both need to get on it off the pitch in terms of their targets for the campaign as well.
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