New Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel insists he will show he has learned from his political problems at Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel arrives in England with a reputation for tactical creativity and effervescent, attacking football coupled with a pressing system that forces mistakes from opponents. It was enough to win silverware with both of his previous two clubs and he came closer than any manager yet to delivering PSG their holy grail, losing in the Champions League final to Bayern Munich.
Within six months he was out of a job, sacked on Christmas Eve after falling out with sporting director Leonardo and questioning the transfer strategy at the Parc des Princes.
The 47-year-old had a similarly combustible relationship with key figures at Dortmund including chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, chief scout Sven Mislintat and veteran players such as Roman Weidenfeller and Neven Subtoic. All of that makes him a curious addition to the corridors of power at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea widely considered one of the most political clubs in England.
Tuchel acknowledged that there was more to him than the charm that was on display as he addressed the media for over an hour. "It's passion, it's pure passion and some principles that word is a word, that I trust the word of a man and that I rely on words," he said. "Once I lose the trust, once a relationship is getting difficult there's always two sides. I'm not here to blame.
"What I like now is that I am absolutely self-aware that this is a thing to improve, to be more relaxed and maybe not be too stubborn in my beliefs. The other thing is that the structure I find here is a very clear and easy structure to understand. There are not many people who make the decisions and I can absolutely live with that.
"It is on me as the head coach now to on one hand adapt and one the other to make my opinion clear and to give the analysis of what I see and feel and where I think we can still improve. I hope this comes along in the right way."
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In his formal unveiling as Chelsea's new manager Tuchel belied some of his reputation for intensity with sharp one-liners -- "I had a pretty rubbish Christmas job-wise but suddenly four weeks later I found the best present under the tree" -- but is equally not afraid to talk in conceptual terms.
Already he has celebrated Chelsea's ball recoveries in the final third and described N'Golo Kante's best position as at the "double six," i.e. as one of two deeper-lying midfielders. He is certainly not reluctant to show a more unvarnished side to himself, brushing off an opportunity to explain why he was not a "geek."
"You want me to tell you how cool I am? How uncool would that be? How nerdy would that be?
"I'm here as a football manager so it is about football, football, football."
That may be a good match for a club that defines itself by results, results, results. Tuchel acknowledged after his first game -- a 0-0 draw at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers -- that his side would not be able to make up an 11 point gap to Manchester City, who have played one game fewer, this season but he knows that come the 2021-22 season he will not be able to plead for time.
After all, it will be the final year of the contract he signed on Tuesday.
"We have to be ready when the season starts at the latest," Tuchel said, when asked how soon his side would be ready to compete for trophies. "We have to be ready to compete. Chelsea is the club where you compete for trophies. There is no time to waste.
"We compete now for the FA Cup. We will get ready to absolutely compete at the highest level in the Champions League. We want to create a team that is absolutely no fun to play against. We want to create a team that's confident enough to beat anybody in two games, which is possible, and from the latest at the start of next season we want to be ready to close the gap to Manchester City, Liverpool and others.
"We compete now, of course we do everything to jump into the first four places, that is absolutely clear. If you do this job in the highest level, if Chelsea calls you and you decide to jump in, you know what you're in for. For me it's better to speak it out loud, there's nothing to be afraid of.
"If we have reasons in the end that we didn't make it I will tell you the reasons. If you think this is excuses, if the board is not happy and thinks 'he's not telling the truth,' that's it. If the reasons are reasonable we try again. I prefer to know what we're fighting for and see what we do."
