He led Tottenham to the Champions League final and preaches articulate football, but the jury is out on Mauricio Pochettino’s first season as Chelsea manager
Mauricio Pochettino has seen both sides of the fence in English football.
At Tottenham, he built a team with buttons to spend in the transfer market because they had to pay for that impressive mother spaceship of a new stadium – and he made an impressive fist of frugality. And at Chelsea, he took charge of a squad furnished by £1 billion of new signings who have only proved that money can’t buy you happiness.
But when Poch Spice’s latest employers meet his old club at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, they will share a common denominator: No trophies again this year. In fairness, Pochettino did lead Spurs to the 2019 Champions League final, where Harry Kane looked short of a gallop after rushing back from injury and Tottenham barely laid a glove on Liverpool.
And in SW6, he has presided over a young squad where the average age was lower than Liverpool’s Klopp Kids at the Carabao Cup final in February, and Chelsea’s wild fluctuations in performance can be attributed partly to the innocence of youth.
But the jury is out on Pochettino’s first season at Chelsea. And it is far from certain that he will get another chance to exercise the silver polish in 2024-25.
Being a former Tottenham manager in charge of Chelsea has mirrored former Blues messiah Jose Mourinho’s 17-month stint at Spurs from 2019-21. The bigots never gave his appointment their unqualified blessing, and previous allegiances will always be held against him.
Current Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou, a fair dinkum Aussie who is refreshingly balanced and unexcitable in his views, was asked earlier this week if it was “inevitable” that Chelsea would return to the Premier League’s upper slopes, and prominence in Europe, given their colossal outlay on Pochettino’s squad.
He warned: “I don’t think it’s inevitable. There’s definitely an avenue there. You’ve got to remember they’ve put a squad together, it’s Mauricio’s first year, and there’s a hell of a lot of challenges there because they’ve got a young squad. I think there is an avenue there but it (success) is not guaranteed and it certainly isn’t inevitable.
“If you feel like anything is inevitable, there’s a fair chance you won’t get there. Nothing will get you there bar having a strategy and a plan in place when they signed those players, and putting Mauricio in charge. As I’ve said before, it’s about how true you stay to that strategy and plan whether get to that place.”
And that’s the stark reality facing Poch Spice: Chelsea are not famous for their patience, nor for their restraint in waiting for the harvest to bear fruit. Thomas Tuchel was jilted just 15 months after delivering the Champions League holy grail. Graham Potter was hired to unfurl a long-term project – and he was afforded just 31 games, or seven months, before the axe fell.
Pochettino, 52, is a likeable fellow who does not duck questions in media conferences, and at all three English clubs he has served there has been a common denominator – articulate, purposeful football. But his year at Stamford Bridge has begged as many questions as it has delivered answers.
Midfield anchormen Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez cost £220million between them, but they resemble two bell-ringers pulling one rope in the belfry.
One seasoned Brighton watcher who marvelled at the Ecuadorian’s rampaging performances at the Amex last season asked: “What on earth have Chelsea done to Caicedo?” And Enzo, whose campaign has been terminated prematurely by injury, has not always looked like calling the tune on a jukebox, let alone a World Cup winner.
Up front, Cole Palmer’s £42.5million defection from Manchester City has increasingly looked like the heist of the century, and his 20 goals this season have made him a surprise contender for the Golden Boot.
But Pochettino’s other forwards have flattered to deceive. Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke have an abundance of talent, but their schoolyard squabble and attempted gazump of penalty-taking duties from Palmer in the 6-0 demolition of Everton spoke volumes for their priorities – and teamwork was evidently well down the charts.
Meanwhile, Mykhaylo Mudryk (four goals in 42 Premier League appearances) continues to be the light that flickers – and at £88.5 million, the bill for a lightbulb is eye-watering.
Poch Spice inherited many of these conundrums, and did not make them for himself. But Chelsea’s exorbitant transfer spending has only reminded him of Godfather star Marlon Brando’s wise observation: “Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your talent.”
And until he lands his first trophy in English football, Pochettino – affable amigo that he is – will remain the man who lived on both sides of the garden fence but discovered the house of gold was up the road.
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