- Chelsea Stakeholders Have Started Hinting At Giving Mauricio Pochettino Another year At Stamford Bridge
- We Take A Look At 3 Reasons Why Chelsea Should Move On From Pochettino This Summer
Chelsea have moved up the table in recent weeks. With important victories over Manchester United, Everton, West Ham and Spurs, the blues are starting to play really well and look like a good team.
Compared to how they started the season, Chelsea look more comfortable nowadays, and expectedly, this has impressed some fans who are now all for Mauricio Pochettino staying beyond this summer.
At the beginning of the season, Chelsea were a mess. Injuries upon injuries, and just poor performances in matches you’d expect them to win.
Pochettino was under a lot of pressure and the 5-0 loss away at Arsenal almost sealed his fate, but recent upturn in form has fans cheesing again.
This article discusses some reasons why Chelsea should replace Pochettino with a better manager this summer, even though he is being tipped to stay.
Slow Adaptability
Injuries, new squad, new owners, etc are some of the excuses Chelsea fans and Pochettino have made this season. Some excuses are reasonable, while some are just not good enough.
Pochettino came in before Chelsea started their pre-season last summer. He worked with all the players long enough, and although some key stars were unavailable for a large portion of the season, Pochettino was incredibly slow to adapt to different challenges.
Elite managers find ways to adapt and get the best results out of their teams, irrespective of the challenges they face.
Chelsea just recently started inverting Marc Cucurella. This change has allowed them to get more movement and bodies in midfield, and they are also pressing better.
However, this could’ve been an easy fix earlier on this season with Ian Maatsen who excelled in the same “inverted full-back” role for Burnley last season while on loan in the Championship.
Instead, Pochettino played the Dutch left back as a winger and continued playing a center back (Levi Colwill) in the position.
No Visible Style Or Pattern
Up until Chelsea’s last 3 matches in the Premier League, no Chelsea fan could describe the team’s pattern or style. All they saw was just transition based, chaotic football that exposed defenders and midfielders.
Patterns, style of play or of movement in and out of possession were not present before the second half of Chelsea’s match against Aston Villa.
Now that Chelsea have taken their recruitment seriously, they need to establish a pattern, an identity that mirrors at every level of the club. This will simplify the recruitment of new players as scouts will only buy players that fit into the on-pitch image Chelsea are trying to paint – This has to start with the first team coach.
Reaction Instead of Proactiveness
For a manager as experienced as Pochettino, he is not proactive enough. There were matches this season where he was just basically outclassed by managers of lesser teams, because he was not brave enough to make quick tactical decisions and changes.
In the Premier League, you will have to deal with different in-game puzzles. Top managers anticipate these problems, and they always have a go-to plan for it. A good example is Chelsea’s struggle all season against sudden low-blocks by opponents.
Pochettino lost to the same tactics against West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Brentford, Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge, and some other matches like that this season. A top coach should be able to anticipate plans from opponents and have solutions ready.
In conclusion
The new-found form and shape of Chelsea will get challenged tactically in the Premier League soon. Will Pochettino quickly figure out a new way to get Chelsea back on track if teams find a way to nullify their extra man in midfield? Or will he stick to it blindly, like he did with a different approach during the first part of this season? – History suggests the latter.
Chelsea’s recent upturn in form has fans excited, and while It might not be the worst thing in the world to continue with the Argentine next season, with the players that Chelsea have, they can get a manager with a higher tactical ceiling than Mauricio Pochettino.
Well said, he doesn’t deserve another year..