Thomas Tuchel achieved his task for the season in three weeks. In five league games, Chelsea have gone up five places. Ninth has become fourth, a wretched season a reasonable one.
If Frank Lampard's sacking stemmed from a fear of missing out on the Champions League, Tuchel's immediate impact suggests that Chelsea can assume their usual place among the European elite again next season.
The fixture list may have offered a honeymoon period. Lampard's last five league games were against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City, Fulham and Leicester. Tuchel has faced Wolves, Burnley, a dreadful Tottenham, Sheffield United and Newcastle, plus Barnsley in the FA Cup.
His next six matches – Southampton, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Everton, Leeds and Atletico – promise to be tougher.
And yet his influence is undeniable. His imprint has been on results and selection alike. Lampard departed with three clean sheets in 12 games, one against League Two Morecambe and another versus 10-man Fulham.
Tuchel has five in six; the only man to score against his Chelsea is Antonio Rudiger, with a farcical own goal at Sheffield United. That no opponent has found their net illustrates what an aberration it is.
Tuchel’s reputation as a gegenpresser has been deceptive. His has been a pragmatic start; perhaps he felt introducing a more energetic style midway through a season with the most congested fixture list was risky.
With eight goals in six games, Chelsea have not proved prolific but solidity has been prioritised and secured.
It is notable Tuchel has seen out wins against low-scoring Sheffield United and Newcastle sides with two banks of three: a trio of defensive midfielders ahead of the three centre-backs, with bringing on N’Golo Kante to shore things up already looking a signature substitution.
Tuchel’s initial preference for an Antonio Conte-esque 3-4-2-1 is telling. He has stretched back into Chelsea’s past, reviving the captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s career in the role he filled for Conte, on the right of the back three.
He has rejuvenated Maurizio Sarri’s favourite, Jorginho, even if there is the sense he may be displaced by Kante. He declared he “loved” Mateo Kovacic, arguably Chelsea’s best player last season but more of a fringe figure this year.
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FA Cup player ratings: Barnsley 0 Chelsea 1
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His wing-backs have been instrumental, his choice of them instructive. The reinvention of Callum Hudson-Odoi on the right has made him the first Chelsea manager to truly trust a talent Bayern Munich wanted.
He renaissance of Marcos Alonso on the left has been based in part because he adds height to a short side, but plays to his attacking strengths.
Tuchel’s tactical cleverness was apparent in the way Alonso and Timo Werner exchanged positions on Monday, the wing-back sometimes underlapping and the “left 10”, in the forward’s words, appearing outside him, it came ahead of a base of five more defensive players.
But the losers from the new regime have tended to be Lampard’s players; in some cases, his proteges. Only Mason Mount of those most associated with the former manager seems in Tuchel’s strongest side.
Ben Chilwell, the signing Lampard pushed for most, and Reece James, promoted ahead of Azpilicueta by him, have been benched. Kurt Zouma, in fine form earlier this season, is the last-choice centre-back.
Christian Pulisic, Chelsea’s best player in summer and a player whose Dortmund debut came under Tuchel, and Hakim Ziyech, another Lampard recruit, look back-ups now.
Because the switch to 3-4-2-1 leaves five players competing for two berths as inside forwards. That Kai Havertz is injured means it is unsure where he figures in the pecking order. But Werner, the other expensive German Tuchel was surely hired to revitalise, is not seen as a lone striker.
He has proved a story of Tuchel's reign – winning penalties, missing chances, working hard – until finally his 1,000-minute Premier League drought ended on Monday. The personal importance means it may yet prove the most significant goal under Tuchel.
