TUCHEL, CLEAR UPGRADE ON LAMPARD

Eyebrows were raised in English football when club legend Frank Lampard was sacked as the Chelsea manager and replaced by Thomas Tuchel at the start of the year. A lot of football stakeholders questioned the decision and whether it was the right one or not.

The events of the three months that followed the decision have gone a long way to silence the doubters who had issues with the appointment of Tuchel in the place of the sacked Frank Lampard. This is mainly due to the performance of German tactician Tuchel since he took the job in January.

Chelsea had made some significant investments on players at the start of the season and the returns on those players were not encouraging while Lampard was at the club. Since his arrival, Tuchel has been able to galvanize those players to produce results consistently.

Frank Lampard paid the ultimate price for a run of three wins in the last league games. By the time of his sack, Chelsea were in ninth position. Tuchel has been able to take the team into the top four and the Bluesare on course to return to Champions League football next season.

Under Tuchel, Chelsea have done well in the cup competitions namely the FA Cup and the Champions League. They are through to the FA Cup final to be played at the Wembley Stadium later this month after the impressive win over Manchester City at the same venue last month. Moroccan international Hakim Ziyech scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over the Citizens. The Blues will face Leicester City in the final of the competition in two weeks time.

Chelsea are also in the Champions League semis and they have to overcome Spanish champions Real Madrid to qualify for the final. They played 1-1 in the first leg away from home earlier this week. The second leg is at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.