Has Poch made Blues ‘Spursy’?

Chelsea lost the Carabao Cup final, can’t win the league and are not in europe. The face a huge Fa Cup tie at leeds tomorrow night, their last chance of success this season.

We asked our writers who is really to blame for Chelsea’s malaise – the ‘billion-pound bottle jobs’ or Mauricio Pochettino, the manager failing to get a tune out of them?

John Cross

Everyone has to take their fair share of the blame.

The recruitment has been crazy. It’s lopsided, not thought through and they have spent ridiculous sums on players who have not been worth it.

Enzo Fernandez cost £105million. But you would not know it from his performance at Wembley. For that price, you expect a midfield dynamo, who should be bossing the game.

Then you have Moises Caicedo for £115m. When he was at Brighton, I thought he was the best midfielder of his type. So what’s happened? He’s gone to a club with a dressing room and squad which was never going to be easy to settle in.

But surely some of the blame must come back to the manager for not getting the best out of him.

The ownership. What a crazy carry on. Todd

Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have used Chelsea as a plaything. Roman Abramovich built a club, a culture and a winning machine. This lot have torn it down.

Mike Walters

As one social media comedian observed, after Chelsea’s sixth Wembley cup final defeat on the bounce, you can take Mauricio Pochettino out of Tottenham – but you can’t take Spurs out of Poch Spice.

The Blues didn’t just miss the boat, they let a huge cruise liner sail up the Thames past Chelsea Harbour without setting a foot on the gangplank.

If you can’t beat Liverpool when virtually their whole first team is missing, when are you going to beat them? And if

you can’t polish them off in extra-time when they are dropping like flies, what more do you want?

Chelsea’s failure to seize the day was very, er... Spursy. And the fans don’t like that one bit.

Pochettino has had an easy ride for a bloke with a £1billion squad who are 17 points off the top four, in the bottom half of the Premier League and now cling to the FA Cup as their only hope of a trophy.

And at Chelsea, when the lid stays on the silver polish, there’s only one person who carries the can.

neil Mcleman

The fundamental blame lies with Chelsea’s inconsistent recent transfer policy, even pre-dating the supermarket sweep carried out by the new American owners in the last transfer windows.

Todd Boehly and Clearwater Capital have managed to spend £1billion without buying a top-class keeper or centre-forward. But Romelu Lukaku, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner were bought before and did not work either.

Watching Mateo Kovacic, who was sold for £25m last summer, show his understated efficiency in the Manchester City midfield against Bournemouth illustrated how Chelsea have got their transfer policy wrong in the blend between youth and experience.

The team which won the 2021 Champions League final has gone – Ben Chilwell was the only remaining starter on Sunday – and proven winners need to be added to the undoubted potential in the squad to win again.