Thomas Tuchel told talkSPORT he had a ‘s****y’ Christmas, but is now beaming at being Chelsea boss and managing in the Premier League.
Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard at the Stamford Bridge hotseat this week and oversaw his first game on Wednesday night just 48 hours after joining.
The German was only sacked by Paris Saint-Germain in December but wasted no time in taking up a new position at Chelsea.
Speaking to talkSPORT following Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Wolves, Tuchel said: “The league itself [excites me], and the club and this league are amazing.
“Job-wise I had a pretty s****y Christmas, and suddenly it feels like I found the best present and forgot the best present under the Christmas tree and it’s there.
“This is a dream to be in the competition with the best teams and best coaches; this is what you dream about and when it becomes a reality it’s an amazing feeling.
“In general, I had doubts it was going to happen and then suddenly in the last 72 hours it was Chelsea and the Premier League.
“I had the feeling I couldn’t let this possibility pass me by, as I’d regret it for the rest of my coaching life.
“Of course, with all the respect to Frank Lampard’s legacy and work here it was the possibility… and there was in the end no doubts to jump on it because the combination and mixture in the team of personality, experience and intellect that’s amazing to work with.”
When asked if he had any reservations in taking over from club legend Lampard, Tuchel added: “For sure, I have a lot of respect and the club took this decision and has nothing to do with me. I got the chance and this is it.”
Tuchel’s debut was hardly a classic as the game with Wolves at Stamford Bridge ended in a stalemate.
Chelsea enjoyed plenty of possession and passed the ball more than 800 times but couldn’t get that all important breakthrough.
But Tuchel was more than happy with his first impressions of his side.
He continued: “I was very happy and at the same time impressed with the intensity of my team. I was very happy with the energy and the attitude, so I learnt today that the guys are totally reliable.
“They were absolutely focused from yesterday’s training, one hour tactics session and today the two talks, I could see everything out there on the pitch.
“High recoveries in the final third and I learnt that we have a very good mixture in the group, a high quality group who is ready to play as a group and [it was] a totally reliable performance.
“I’m very happy about that and everywhere else in the world on the pitch if you don’t score you can’t win.
“To score is the hardest thing and against a team who defends so well as Wolves do maybe you need a half chance, a little bit or luck, an opener to make things more easy but there’s no room for doubt right now.”
Tuchel also admitted he had to limit the amount of information he gave to his players with such a short time to work with them.
He finished: “You always have to be selective as less is more. The team yesterday in training we talked about certain stuff attacking-wise and defending-wise, which was very open and absolutely ready to fulfil what was needed.
“It was a very good performance and all the time you want to give a lot of information but less is more.
“Structure-wise and the intensity – I was very happy.”
