It’s often done purely for cynical reasons, but it’s very common for a new manager to come in and drop a favourite of the old boss just to show everyone that things had changed and remind the players who’s in charge.
It did look like there was an element of that with Mason Mount as he was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s first game with Chelsea, but he’s worked his way back into the team and he looks like an important player again.
Mount also took a lot of stick because it felt like he could do no wrong in the eyes of Lampard and Southgate as he would always start, but if multiple managers show a lot of faith in him then it does suggest he’s actually just a very good player.
Tuchel talked about that initial decision in his press conference today, and it’s clear it was just a tactical decision in that game against Wolves and you can see that he rates Mount highly:
Clearly Tuchel admires Mount but he doesn’t want to give him any special treatment pic.twitter.com/flhDuqdTY1
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) February 5, 2021
He does a very good job of sitting on the fence and making sure everyone knows that they will need to earn their place and he won’t show any favouritism, but it still looks like Mount will be a regular starter under the German coach.