May 29th stands as an iconic date in the illustrious history of Chelsea Football Club, with its significance evoking memories of either Porto or Kai Havertz. Since then, the fans have seen three new managers walk through the door, as well as one of the biggest squad turnovers ever seen in Premier League, in recent years.
Around a billion spent under the new regime, has there been progress? What is the measure of success at Chelsea now? I give my thoughts on Mauricio Pochettino’s time at Chelsea so far..
Embed from Getty ImagesJury still out on Pochettino
235 days have now passed since the arrival of Pochettino. A manager whose known to develop young players as well as building a team that can properly compete. We saw it at Tottenham where he definitely got a tune out of a squad that lacked sustained investment. The question, however, has always been whether he is that guy to take clubs back to the top in doing what’s most important. Competing but actually winning trophies.
I’ve always held doubts over his stint at Spurs where I think they should’ve won either the FA/Carabao Cup with the team they had. He was there from 2014-2019. The fact he didn’t win a single trophy, especially from 2016 onwards is quite underwhelming.
At PSG, he didn’t do amazingly well and was disliked by majority of the fans. Although, is it fair to really judge him at a club where the squad planning at the time was horrendous? Especially considering Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe probably had more control than the manager anyway.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe’s not an elite winner. He’s not someone who I look at and see guiding us to a Premier League title in three/four years time. I think he’s a top four manager at best, I could name around 10 other managers in the league who sit above or on his level tactically. But, football is of course more than just tactics, which we discuss later in the piece.
Tactics? What tactics?
My big concern of the Argentinian has always been how he tactically sets teams up. We’ve seen this season plenty of times where we’ve been out-thought and outclassed by teams below us in the league. The most embarrassing coming at Old Trafford where everyone expected our £200m pivot in Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez to absolutely boss it against an awful Manchester United side yet we saw the opposite. They didn’t know what to do on the ball.
His mis-profiling of Enzo and Caicedo, in particular has been the talk of Chelsea Twitter for quite some time now. I see Enzo this season leading the press at times, getting on the ball higher up than Conor Gallagher in instances. Caicedo often left on his own in midfield and he essentially has to do two roles in one.
But tactically you’re meant to see a structure in the way a team plays. How it attacks. The phrase ‘patterns of play’ comes to mind when you watch teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Brighton where each player knows where to be, what runs to make and how they sustain attacks as well as quick combinations and switches of play. You don’t really see any of that under Pochettino. Some will mention the huge squad turnover and long list of injuries but amidst all that we’re still able to put out teams that should be winning most games. Especially considering we play without European football. The bare minimum I’d want from any supposedly good manager is a team that is at least well-drilled and organised defensively yet we only seem to be getting worse in that regard.
Thiago Silva starting most games in a back four as well as the midfield pivot in Enzo & Caicedo will always struggle when facing transitions. It’s a backbone that isn’t quick enough. We don’t have a midfielder that can eat up ground and act as a ‘bully’ defensively like a Joao Palhinha/Rodri. It’s no surprise we’re so easy to run through every game. Whether Romeo Lavia can be that guy to be the backbone of the midfield remains to be seen.
Yes we’ve had games where silly decision-making, especially on the ball has cost us. Wolves away, Arsenal at home two games that we absolutely should’ve won and if we had we’d probably be sat fifth on 35 points now. But I look beyond that and I look at performances. Do you feel like you know what you’re going to get from a forever-changing Chelsea side each week? I certainly don’t. Other than Gallagher and Cole Palmer, has anyone else really improved so far?
Unfair on Pochettino considering circumstances?
However in defence of Pochettino, there are factors that are simply out of his control. Injuries, team lacking a natural finisher as well as fundamentals such as top, proven experience and leadership. A top tactician would certainly have us playing better but I do think the team would still be lacking consistency in results. It’s a brand new squad of players that’s always changing due to injuries hence I don’t necessarily blame him for playing Levi Colwill at left-back.
I think any manager would struggle with the state of the squad. I’m sure pretty much every manager out there would sympathise with Pochettino in relation to the team lacking a capable finisher and experienced top class players to act as the spine week in, week out.
What he needs is a group of players that he knows he can trust. A spine that consists of technical, physical and mental brilliance. That’ll take time to produce. But, he definitely needs to get the balance of the midfield right. Enzo is a player that has the quality to be producing every week. As with Caicedo too so Pochettino has to get the team playing to their strengths otherwise it won’t be long before he’s gone.
What is success this season under Pochettino?
This is a question that’ll certainly divide opinion. Sections from this fanbase will say top four minimum. I think he needs to get top six. We should be finishing above sides like Manchester United, Brighton and West Ham. It’d be a miracle if we do manage to get top four this season, however.
We absolutely need to beat Middlesbrough in the second leg of the Carabao Cup otherwise that might be it for Pochettino at Chelsea. Tactically he’s not impressed me much at all despite what the squad still clearly lacks. Beginning to think where we’d be had we stuck with Graham Potter…
Written by Vikram Jajuha (@CFCVik)
Edited by Harrison Burridge (@hburridge2)
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