by Those who lost for 30 minutes will worry Mauricio Pochettino. Chelsea’s inexplicable lethargy during extra time against Liverpool will tarnish their head coach’s reputation. For Pochettino, who is yet to win a trophy in English football, it will be difficult to shake off the accusation that he misses the big occasions after his side lost 1-0 in the Carabao Cup final.
Fame is made in those moments. Unfortunately for Pochettino, it is difficult to find anyone willing to put much stock in Paris Saint-Germain that could help him through trophies in France. Before facing Liverpool, the focus was more on the semi-finals and finals that the Argentinian produced during his Tottenham days. Fairly or not, the only way to answer the question was whether Pochettino was ruthless enough with a statement win. He had to show the Chelsea fans that he could beat Jürgen Klopp.
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It was going that way at the end of normal time. Pochettino could legitimately claim that he gave Chelsea the tools to beat an injury-ravaged Liverpool inside 90 minutes. All that was missing was a finish, but Chelsea still looked set to win when extra time arrived.
What happened next, however, did not look good for anyone involved. Why did Chelsea surrender control to Liverpool’s teenagers? Did Pochettino’s team speak the problem or were they the team? Is it because nobody at Chelsea can dominate a game? Or was it that Pochettino, who later spoke of a lack of leadership on the pitch and hinted at his inexperienced side expecting penalties, was unable to influence anything from the sidelines?
Whatever the manager’s response is usually the most exposed. The truth is that these are dangerous times for Pochettino. Whispers are already floating out of Stamford Bridge. Pochettino, who cannot afford to lose at home to Leeds United in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday, is already under review despite only arriving last summer. A number of well-placed predictions have been made if Chelsea, who are 11th in the Premier League, miss out on their minimum expectation – European qualification.
But it can be simple to enter the home of the manager. Pochettino has overseen some damaging results and there is no clear pattern for football. But it goes without saying that he is Chelsea’s biggest problem as he has battled injuries all season, overseen some excellent performances against the best teams and, in particular, he is not responsible for the £1bn spend on a strangely shaped squad.
This is not Pochettino’s project. He’s the head coach, the man tasked with building a winning side out of a squad with no natural goalscorers, but he wasn’t the driving force behind buying all those young players. Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, Chelsea’s owners, sent in a recruiting team for that. They brought in joint sporting directors, Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, and joint director of recruitment and talent, Joe Shields. It was not Pochettino’s idea to buy Axel Disasi, the goalkeeper who lost Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool’s winner on Sunday.
Chelsea need to look within. They must investigate why Graham Potter, recruited after impressing at Brighton, floundered during his seven months in charge last season. They have to question why, five years after Spurs dominated the Champions League final, Pochettino looks so uneasy. Has he really lost his magic touch? Was Potter? Did his hard-earned knowledge of coaching disappear after joining Chelsea?
Many people think that the problem lies elsewhere. While the Chelsea hierarchy remain happy with Stewart and Winstanley and want to build the foundations around them, others are less complimentary. There are questions about the quality of his signature. People struggle to see the thinking behind the squad. It is noted that the best players are still mostly academy graduates.
Some acquisitions look promising but others are struggling. Mykhailo Mudryk, the £89m player, has struggled and Chelsea’s feeling of overpaying for Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández must have been deepened by the failure of both The £220m midfielder regained the initiative against Wataru Endo, Bobby Clark and James McConnell at Wembley.
There is no escaping reality. It may not be long before Chelsea have to ask whether this model is working. Christopher Vivell, who lasted less than a year as technical director, is already gone after being pushed to the sidelines. Recent history suggests that no one is ever completely safe at Stamford Bridge.
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Self-preservation may come into play. Shields is popular and is more in the background. Stewart, who is close to Winstanley, is seen as thoughtful and determined for his colleagues. However, Winstanley inspires less heat. Formerly at Brighton, he is the most prominent figure in the recruitment team. It helped to be close to the powerful co-owner, Behdad Eghbali. Winstanley has been involved in several big deals and some sources believe he is going nowhere. Others think he might be vulnerable if Eghbali’s confidence breaks. Someone will have to carry the can for the iffy signatures.
Whether it is Pochettino remains to be seen. Chelsea must tread carefully. Owners who are already on their fifth manager need to take into account that the hiring and firing culture will not rub off on potential hires, especially since it looks like the competitive summer. Many big clubs will have managerial vacancies and Chelsea have to consider where they would sit in that market if they miss out on Europe again. If they want to revamp their squad it will not be so easy for them to sell players who got deals eight years after signing for inflated fees.
Perhaps this is not the time for more upheaval. Liverpool trusted Klopp in difficult times. Arsenal stuck with Mikel Arteta. The obvious choice is to sack the manager. Chelsea won’t progress if they don’t give someone time to build. Pochettino has three months to convince them not to rush.
