Pochettino and Chelsea... a match made in HELL BLUE MURDER
AT the end of last season’s winter transfer window, some people believed Todd Boehly had proved himself some sort of recruitment revolutionary.
Boehly and his Chelsea co-owners sanctioned spending in excess of £300million on relatively young players, who were then given contracts of unprecedented length.
And there were analysts out there who believed Boehly and Clearlake Capital had found a way to cleverly play the profit and sustainability rules.
Well, on the anniversary of the closure of the 2023 January transfer window, Chelsea were absolutely crushed by Liverpool and amongst the players who stunk out Anfield were five signed in that month.
In no particular order – Benoit Badiashile (contract expires 2030), Mykhailo Mudryk (contract expires 2031), Noni Madueke (contract expires 2031), Enzo Fernandez (contract expires 2031) and Malo Gusto (contract expires 2030).
Chelsea’s dealings, particularly at the start of last year, have not been shrewd, they have been bonkers. Simple as that.
In three windows since the takeover in May 2022, they have spent over a billion pounds. After 22 Premier League games last season, Chelsea had 31 points and a goal difference of one.
After 22 Premier League games this season, Chelsea have got 31 points and a goal difference of one.
A billion quid and a boxoffice manager does not get you far nowadays, it seems.
To be fair, considering the direction of travel taken by the ownership, you would have to be some sort of genius to have this current Chelsea challenging at the top of the Premier League table.
But Wednesday’s capitulation at Anfield was the most luminous sign yet that Pochettino is the wrong man for the job… and the Chelsea job is the wrong one for Pochettino.
Somehow, this disparate squad – with years and years of personal, financial, security ahead of most of them – needs motivation, needs revving up, needs convincing to put their bodies on the line.
The shocking element of the humiliation on Merseyside was that – in comparison to Jurgen Klopp’s side – Chelsea barely pressed, barely tackled, barely sprinted.
That has to be largely on the manager’s toes.
It’s not as though he could not have guessed Liverpool would be in a febrile mood, on and off the pitch.
The team he sent out had all the urgency of punters on an Anfield stadium tour. That has to be largely down to him.
But with such a randomly assembled squad (Axel Disasi, above), Pochettino will find it impossible to get a nucleus of players he trusts.
And that is what he likes to do. In 60 matches as Southampton manager, Pochettino used 33 players. In
You would have to be a genius to have this Chelsea challenging at top
30 matches as Chelsea boss, he has already used 34. He took charge of Spurs for 293 matches and used 67 players – for those five years at Tottenham, they were mainly a close-knit bunch. Whatever this Chelsea set-up is, it isn’t close-knit.
Before and after his team’s win, Klopp was very complimentary towards his Chelsea rival and, on the basis of Pochettino’s overall career, justifiably so. But sometimes, a big-name manager and a big-name club just do not gel.
And no matter what the mitigating circumstances, it is already clear this version of Chelsea and this version of Pochettino is not a good fit.
At Anfield, Blues barely pressed, barely tackled, barely sprinted