There’s something football-obsessive about Mauricio Pochettino. One of his habits after a game is to go home and sit down with a glass of red wine and watch more football. European football. Argentine football. Game after game. He says he finds it relaxing.
So Pochettino will not be ignorant of the challenge he faces at Chelsea next season. He’s also self-aware enough to know that he won’t solve Chelsea’s problems just by walking through the door. Of all the things wrong with the London club this season, the first-team manager’s identity isn’t necessarily at the top of the list.
Chelsea can count themselves lucky with Pochettino. Whether they will or not is doubtful. Supporters of the London club have set the bar high as to who they consider suitable for their football club. As Graham Potter discovered, those expectations extend to how a Chelsea manager should behave and talk. Foreign.
But they should feel happy with Pochettino and, more generally speaking, English football too. The Argentinian is an elite coach, an astute player developer and a smart manager. Whether that’s enough to get Chelsea out of trouble, only heaven knows.
This is the beginning of the new Chelsea, episode two. Episode One didn’t have half an enticing trailer. Hire a bright young manager with a reputation for team building and player development and allow him to build a squad in his own image over time. It was going really well until the results turned bad and then chairman Todd Boehly tore up his own script and kicked him out.
Chelsea are lucky to have a manager of the elite caliber of Mauricio Pochettino
Frank Lampard has struggled in his short tenure at the club and has given the former Tottenham boss an awkward turnaround.
And so, via Frank Lampard’s vaguely embarrassing short tenure, we’ve arrived at episode two. At least this time none of us are under any illusions. New Chelsea is pretty much the same as old Chelsea, just dressed in a different outfit.
If Pochettino doesn’t turn this great club around and put him back in the Champions League next season, then he will undoubtedly be on his way too. But at least we know that now.
The good news is that Pochettino will have some very good footballers waiting for him at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham. The bad news is that there are too many of them and not all of them play in the really important positions, such as striker.
Of all the mind-boggling things that have happened since Boehly’s Blue Partners Limited took Chelsea out of Roman Abramovich’s hands in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the way the club has stored high-priced footballers seemingly without strategy is perhaps the most mind-boggling. There have been some good ones, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the right ones.
Chelsea will soon find out that Pochettino wants to go all out for this. The former Tottenham Hotspur manager has a way he likes his football teams to play and a way he wants his players to be. Both physically and emotionally.
The Spurs team that brought Leicester close to the finish line in those magnificent 2016 Premier League title clashes was athletic, powerful and extremely committed.
Those who deviated from the creed did not last. Peak Pochettino football is played with an intensity and a selflessness. It’s no surprise that players like Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen flourished under him. Likewise, it was to no one’s surprise when he failed to deliver his message during his most recent posting at Paris Saint-Germain.
This feels like a good job for the South American. Manchester United would have felt the same way. He got close to that one before Erik ten Hag pepped him up. A return to Tottenham Hotspur would not have felt right because there is too much history there. Real Madrid? Maybe for the short term.
Chelsea drew 2-2 on Saturday at Nottingham Forest, which was threatened with relegation
Todd Boehly’s supply of expensive players has made Pochettino a difficult team to manage
So Chelsea has the right man, but it now depends on what kind of Chelsea they want to be.
Of all the mind-boggling moments spanning the club’s recent history, none remain more vexing than the decision to sign a striker like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on September 2 last year and appoint a manager like Potter six days later.
This is exactly the kind of broken thinking that should be attributed to Chelsea’s past. Unless they find a way to function cohesively and intelligently outside of the training fields, it never matters who the man is standing in the middle of them with the whistle in his mouth.
Pochettino’s inbox will be bursting at the seams. He does not have a working striker and no, the returning Romelu Lukaku does not count.
One of the smartest and most likeable managers is back in the game and we should be thankful for that. But for Chelsea, Pochettino should not be mistaken for solving their problems on his own.
The return of Romelu Lukaku, or else, will be one of the most important issues to deal with