Thomas Tuchel proved he is a top-level coach with devilish timing… Man Utd chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe should get in touch

TOMMY TUCHEL could not have done it better had he submitted his CV to LinkedIn or Indeed.

Somehow mustering some gumption from the worst Bayern Munich team in more than a decade to stop a rampant Arsenal dead in their tracks is a spectacular job advert for a manager soon to be looking for work.

If Man United chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe wasn’t watching from his Old Trafford office or from the cinema room in one of his tax havens, he should have been.

They may have even sat up and taken notice in Newcastle or in the owners’ Riyadh hub as Tuchel reminded everyone of his credentials as a top-level coach with devilish timing.

If change is coming then Tuchel is playing a trump card.

By rights Bayern should have had a penalty against Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday.

And with Harry Kane taking it, they would almost certainly be enjoying a 3-2 lead heading into Wednesday’s return leg.

What is fact is that Tuchel’s side turned up and cowed the team that, as far as the current Premier League goes, is the best in England.

It may only add to the questions around Tuchel that after tossing away the only league easier to win than Scotland’s or Spain’s, Munich have sprung to life in Europe.

After 11 years unopposed as German champions, Chelsea’s former manager has chucked it in at home in a remarkable act of ineptitude.

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But freak years can happen.

Leicester have been relegated since beating odds of 5,000-1 to win the 2015-16 Premier league.

Blackburn must surely be an even longer price to ever repeat their title win of 21 years earlier?

Tuchel is an enigma. But that is part of the appeal as much as winning the Champions League with Chelsea just three months after taking the job.

On his first visit back to London since getting the boot from Stamford Bridge in September 2022, the spindly German did not disappoint.

He showed the b******s to drop Bayern legend Thomas Muller from a match which would have had the iconic star’s name all over it only 12 months ago.

That is a call as big as any tactical shift on the pitch. At 34, Muller will have fresher legs next week in the hope of knocking out Arsenal.

Gareth Southgate and Graham Potter are ahead of Tuchel in the bookies’ reckoning to be the next head coach at Manchester United.

Southgate has long been criticised for letting loyalty blind him with England.

Potter succeeded Tuchel at Chelsea and was seen as a ‘yes’ man to eccentric Americans Todd Boehly and Behdad  Eghbali, who appointed him  — to the cost of the team.

Take a straw poll outside Stamford Bridge and see how many Chelsea fans would like Tuchel back.

With no new signings, he took a team that had lost five of the previous ten games and led it from mid-table to fourth in 2021.

At the same time they journeyed to the Champions League final, beating Premier League winners Manchester City in Porto. Nine months later they were club champions of the world.

With Ratcliffe considering swingeing budget cuts at Old Trafford, a coach who can perform wonders on peanuts would be music to his ears.

But apart from the fact Tuchel is a proven winner, unafraid to make big decisions and who does things on the cheap, there is one other ingredient to his methods that makes him irresistible.

After Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal, during which Kane craftily changed his approach when taking a penalty in a major switch in style, Tuchel admitted they came up with the idea in a lift at the team hotel.

How refreshing to know that even the best sometimes make it up as they go along, like the rest of us.

Gift of the Gab

MARTIN ODEGAARD and Declan Rice will rightly be in the shake down for the Footballer of the Year award.

But their Arsenal team-mate Gabriel also deserves recognition should the Gunners go on to win the Premier League title.

The Brazilian has been a monster at the back alongside William Saliba.

They are the heart of the meanest defence — conceding just 24 goals in the league this season.

He has also scored four, the joint-highest for a defender in the  top flight along with Spurs’ Cristian Romero.

If boss Mikel Arteta ends Arsenal’s 20-year wait for the title then Gabriel will have been as important a cog in the machine as anyone at the Emirates.

Considering he was struggling for game time and appeared a lost soul last summer, it’s some turnaround.

DION’S CALL IS WELL OFF

DION DUBLIN and Gary Lineker found it laughable that Wolves had a goal ruled out for offside against West Ham.

Everyone could see on Match of the Day that Tawanda Chirewa was standing right in front of Hammers keeper Lukas Fabianksi when Max Kilman headed in.

The BBC displayed Ifab’s Law 11 for offside, which states: “The attacking player is penalised for preventing an opponent being able to play the ball, clearly obstructing the goalkeeper’s line of vision.”

Undeterred, former striker Dublin declared: “As a keeper, if you can’t see the ball, put yourself in a position where you can” — thereby admitting Chirewa was blocking Fabianski’s line of vision.

Please see Law 11 for offside.

FLYING DUTCHMAN

MICKY VAN DE VEN was clocked at a Prem record 23.23mph this  season — fast enough to break the speed limit on most London roads.

Maybe it comes from being the son of a Dutch copper who had to chase all those drug dealers.

The Tottenham centre-back is comfortably inside the top 200 this year for the 100 metres… in full kit! Isn’t he in the wrong job?

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk