What may have contributed to his behavior as a coach at times could be the fact that he never reached his peak as a player.
In fact, Tuchel had to retire at the age of 24.
He then embarked on a course of business administration and was working as a waiter in a bar to make a bit of extra money.
He started doing his coaching badges and was offered a chance, crucially, by Ralf Rangnick to coach at youth level for Stuttgart.
He later helped current Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann, who played under Tuchel at Augsburg’s reserve team and was also forced to retire at a young age, by encouraging him to become a coach.
“Thomas was an outstanding, passionate player on the pitch, who gave his all, but sometimes he had few friends among his team-mates because he was so exacting and demanding, which didn’t go down well with some of the players,” Heiner Schuhmann, former Augsburg youth coach, told BBC Sport.
‘Yes…but’, are words that might well describe Tuchel best.
He has had success and enjoyed spells during which he received praise as being one of the best tacticians in Europe, even being compared to one of his former idols, Pep Guardiola.
But, at the same time, Tuchel tends to fall out with players and higher-ups or verbalises his demands from higher-ups in a less than diplomatic way.
“Tuchel can be incredibly charming and diplomatic, and can be entertaining and humorous,” Raphael Honigstein told BBC 5 Live. “At the same time, he can be a little bit harsh about his players and that doesn’t always go down well.”
Perhaps the less hectic world of international football, where Tuchel does not have to interact with the media on a daily basis and where he is not in constant contact with players and can instead thrive in analyzing players and tactical approaches, might actually fit his personality quite well.
If the FA hires him, it must be accepted. Tuchel may have his demands and even some quirks and more or less accept him the way he is.
