Chelsea FC: Pochetti-No More

[Batman]

Clown club.

They probably lining up De Zerbi or Nagelsman

Or perhaps Tommy T?

Boehly isn't George Steinbrenner. He's not rehiring the first guy he sacked.

 

[Heavy Duty Rom]

They'll go for De Zerbi or Sporting Lisbon coach.

"Sebastian Hoeness, Michel, Kieran McKenna and Enzo Maresca” - These are the names they are reported to be targeting.

 

[Riou]

@A_G

Dad is fuming about this...good stuff Todd

 

[Rasmi]

Word is Toad asked Palmer his view on Poch and he said I don’t know. Toad acted on that

 

[North_Bank_Gooner]

Strange one this, Chelsea had a pretty good run in. If poch goes to bayern then he's an idiot but the again he managed spuds for so many years.

Chavs announcing de zebri is Graham potter mk2 literally not learning from last time.

Maybe mourinho third time?

 

[Thrice]

"Sebastian Hoeness, Michel, Kieran McKenna and Enzo Maresca” - These are the names they are reported to be targeting.

If I'm McKenna I stay as far away from Chelsea as possible. He's just starting to build a reputation as a talented manager. He just needs to look at Potter to see how quickly that can be ruined.

 

[Dokaka]

Clown club.

They probably lining up De Zerbi or Nagelsman

Or perhaps Tommy T?

Path is once again clear for Moyes

 

[albakos]

Clown club.

They probably lining up De Zerbi or Nagelsman

Or perhaps Tommy T?

Think it’s Tuchel.

Potch had shown improvements over the final third of the season. They would have to go one better than that to replace him.

The guy they sacked? Please, God

Not unimaginable because of their circus management.

You know they brought Mourinho, Lampard and Hiddink after sacking/releasing them

 

[carter777]

Devastated

 

[A_G]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1792988294289961358

 

[Synical]

I think it's De Zerbi
They love poaching from Brighton. Might explain why the De Zerbi departure is so cloak and dagger

 

[Dokaka]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1792988294289961358

Edit: Nevermind, this would be better :

 

[SA Gunner]

I think it's De Zerbi
They love poaching from Brighton. Might explain why the De Zerbi departure is so cloak and dagger

Yes this makes sense.

Closest manager profile to what they been saying these past weeks. Young, on the up and with a clear style of play.

They have seen Arsenal and want that. Don’t be surprised if they go for Mikel next time

 

[Sanchez11]

You know i think he worked it out in the end, got them a strong finish bar us thumping them. I fancied them to be 3rd next year, now i dont know. Todd is thick as fvck tbh!

 

[A_G]

At around 11.30am on Tuesday morning, Mauricio Pochettino shook hands on his Chelsea departure and left the lawyers to finalise a divorce that had not required a relationship expert to predict.

Pochettino is the third permanent manager to leave the club under the Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly ownership, but this time it was mutual. There was no sacking and no arguments or rancour, just handshakes and an agreement to move on respectfully.

A dinner with co-controlling owner Boehly last Friday night proved to be a last supper for Pochettino, but underlined the goodwill that remained underneath any disagreements or dissatisfaction.

With one year remaining on his two-year contract that was signed last summer, Pochettino will receive a handsome pay-off and can be proud of what he achieved at Chelsea having clinched European qualification in a five-game end-of-season winning run.

While Thomas Tuchel’s sacking was a shock, resulting in recriminations, and the dismissal of Graham Potter felt premature and harsh, Pochettino’s mutual departure appeared inevitable for some time and would no doubt be regarded as the best thing for both sides.

Pochettino was called into Chelsea’s Cobham training ground at around midday on Monday as part of the club’s end-of-season review to meet with sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart. He also spoke with co-owner Behdad Eghbali.

There were no disagreements over who should be in charge of transfers or which players should or should not be sold. The differences are explained as being more philosophical and relate to the dynamics of working within a club structure.

With a long season only just finished, nobody wanted to make a rash decision that could later be regretted so all parties agreed to sleep on day one of the meeting and reconvene on Tuesday morning. But nothing had changed by day two and by about 11.30am Pochettino’s departure was verbally agreed.

Boehly had returned to America after dining with Pochettino last Friday night and visiting him again at Cobham the next day, ahead of the final-day victory over Bournemouth. The billionaire kept in contact by telephone during Monday and Tuesday’s discussions.

No bad blood between Pochettino and club​

Ultimately, Chelsea and Pochettino decided it was better to part now, after completing a relatively amicable 12 months together, rather than trying to push through the final year of his contract and risk a messy end to his reign.

There was also the threat that a bad start to next season or a bad run during the campaign would put pressure on the owners to make a mid-season change, which they have been keen to avoid since sacking Tuchel and Potter.

Chelsea are due to compete in next summer’s Club World Cup, which starts on June 15, 2025 and Pochettino’s deal was due to run until the end of that month. There were concerns that keeping him another year for the sake of continuity would have created a difficult situation around that tournament.

Five successive home victories at the end of the season proved to be enough to clinch European qualification and Pochettino can leave with his reputation intact after also reaching a Carabao Cup final and the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Over a 38-game Premier League season, however, Chelsea fell short of the owners’ target to qualify for the Champions League and there were moments when they came under pressure from supporters to make a change before the end of the season.

The plan was always to review the club’s performance, including that of Pochettino once the season had finished, but clues over the direction of travel have been there for some time.

It was a few days after the January transfer window shut that Pochettino was asked a relatively innocuous question about the merit of set-piece coaches, which subsequently provided a window into how two worlds were colliding.

It also came in the build-up to the 4-2 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers that left Pochettino fearing for his job.

Argentine was at odds with club’s structure​

Pochettino was dismissive of set-piece specialists, insisting “we are a coaching staff in charge of everything” before later adding: “Football belongs to the players. Not to the specialists.”

That was at odds with the structure being built by Chelsea’s owners and sporting directors, who have made it abundantly clear they believe football belongs to the players and the specialists.

Some of those around Pochettino claimed that Chelsea’s difficulties at defending from set-pieces could be easily explained by a relative lack of height within the squad, which would point the finger at those who assembled it.

Not only did Chelsea lose to Wolves in the next game at Stamford Bridge, following Pochettino’s dismissal of set-piece gurus, they also lost to Liverpool to a headed Virgil van Dijk goal from a corner in extra-time of the Carabao Cup final three weeks later.

Chelsea had wilted badly in extra-time against Liverpool’s kids and the nature of Van Dijk’s winner just rubbed salt into the wounds of the club’s sporting directors and owners.

Pochettino revealed that he met with Eghbali to “share opinions” after the Carabao Cup final. It later became clear, as exclusively reported by Telegraph Sport, that Chelsea were in the process of not only appointing a new set-piece specialist, but were setting up an entire department dedicated to corners and free-kicks.

Bernardo Cueva will start work heading up Chelsea’s set-piece department this summer and Pochettino no longer needs to worry whether or not he will need to make space on the touchline for another body, which he had warned he and he alone would decide.

Those close to Pochettino insist he had come to accept the arrival of Cueva and yet Chelsea’s desire to build a club structure that the head coach is part of has caused what proved to be irreconcilable differences in approach. It will not have gone unnoticed inside Stamford Bridge that Liverpool have advertised for a set-piece specialist since the departure of Jurgen Klopp.

Injury issues plagued club’s season​

Chelsea’s crippling injury list was a problem for Pochettino on and off the pitch. Pre-season plans went up in smoke when Christopher Nkunku was forced out of the friendly against Borussia Dortmund with a knee problem that kept him out until December.

Nkunku managed only two starts over the entire season and Pochettino regularly had to contend with an injury list that ran into double figures. Rather than trying to apportion blame, the 52-year-old would often lament Chelsea’s bad luck. Behind the scenes, however, the situation raised serious questions and has put pressure on all departments of the club.

Pochettino’s influence in Cole Palmer’s amazing debutseason for the club cannot be dismissed, while he also helped guide Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke through difficult starts to the season and an unnecessary penalty row in the thrashing of Everton.

Those who have criticised Pochettino’s tactics and substitutions have had to eat some humble pie after the decision to invert Marc Cucurella paid dividends and a number of players made an impact from the bench once the injuries cleared enough to give Chelsea options.

But, even throughout the winning five-game run at the end of the campaign, there remained a sense that all was not entirely well. Pochettino claimed it “would not be the end of the world” during a warning that he could effectively choose to quit Chelsea. And he did not hang around on the Stamford Bridge pitch after the final game of the season to applaud and clap the home fans who had stayed behind.

Pochettino had left the supporters to show their appreciation to the players, the people he feels football belongs to. But it meant the only men who got a personal goodbye were Winstanley, Stewart and Eghbali.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Poch is such a fraud. Things were starting to get better for them and he decides to walk

Only one man can save Chelsea now…

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

I'm glad they won't go for Mourinho Conte and Tuchel because If they did I'd seriously question Todd mentally

 

[SA Gunner]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1792990441358410177

 

[A_G]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1792983664415948847

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Think Pochy was on right track in the end. Happy our club is not this ****show that Chelsea is.