Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino is failing horribly in making the most of the resources at his disposal, but the club’s naive owners are equally accountable.
In Sunday’s disastrous 4-2 loss to Wolves, Chelsea was jeered off both at halftime and once more as full time blew at Stamford Bridge. Later, Mauricio Pochettino expressed his understanding of the fans’ dissatisfaction.
The Argentine said to reporters, “We want to apologize and we feel sorry.”
“We are disappointed like them, but we need to keep fighting together until the end. We must stick together, cooperate during the game, and endeavor to achieve the desired outcome if we hope to see positive outcomes in the future. If the performance is subpar, they will have every right to criticize or become upset after the game.”
Still, Sunday’s performance was far worse than that. As some supporters sang, it was “f*cking sh*t”. The midtable match saw Chelsea soundly defeated by a squad that hadn’t triumphed at Stamford Bridge since 1979. The setback also destroyed the widely circulated claim that Pochettino’s Blues are becoming better.
If Chelsea’s humiliation at the hands of Liverpool on Wednesday demonstrated how far they have to go before they can contend for the championship once more, Wolves’ thrashing of them demonstrated that even making it to the Europa Conference League is probably too much to ask of the biggest underachievers in world football.
Having spent over £1 billion ($1.25 billion) on their team, this team is currently ranked 11th in the Premier League standings. They have lost 10 times in just 23 games and let up more goals than they have scored (39).
Pochettino’s situation is completely untenable because there is no worse example in today’s game of a team being less than the sum of its parts. That is, if it weren’t for the fact that firing the Argentine would have a terrible effect on his employers.
Todd Boehly & Co. made a complete joke out of themselves by firing Chelsea’s Champions League-winning coach Thomas Tuchel, paying a little fortune to bring in Graham Potter, and then giving up on their new “project” in less than seven months.
It is therefore really fortunate for Pochettino that his bosses are in a difficult situation. If there had been any other situation, they would have fired him by now. After all, returning to the Champions League was thought to be the absolute minimum this season; winning the Carabao Cup was not the goal.
In the event that Chelsea’s owners decide to fire Pochettino, they will face not only yet another enormous payout but also fresh charges that they are utterly incompetent. And with the present climate threatening to turn poisonous, that’s the last thing they need.
