Chelsea have moved on, football has moved on…

Contribution article by Billy Young

This article is a contribution by SPTC community member, Billy Young.

Firstly, I’d just like to start by saying I think the sporting directors and owners got the decision on Mauricio Pochettino correct. He 100% was not the long term answer in my opinion and I think the sporting directors knew that when they hired him. Did they maybe sack him a year too early in this squads development? Maybe. But I think they (like me) believe this squad is more than capable of playing Champions League football and I think they (like me) didn’t have enough confidence that Pochettino will be able to deliver that next season. I didn’t see enough improvement in the performances and that was more important than results to me this season. I wanted to see clear and dramatic improvement in the way we play giving us optimism for the future.

Pochettino does deserve some praise though; I think the sporting directors saw him as the perfect manager to create a good atmosphere around the club. You can tell these players loved the manager and his staff but more importantly, you can tell that these players are together. They seem like a team willing to fight and run for each other. It’s no secret that this group of players are a brand new team, they needed this time to gel, bond and understand each other. Pochettino appears to have done this brilliantly and now this squad is ready for a top COACH to come in and coach them into the desired style of play which we are led to believe is controlled, possession based, attacking football.

Chelsea have not been close to a league title since we last won it in 2017, that’s seven seasons now spanning over both ownerships. The last time we won the league was Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge, we’re miles away now. Splashing big money and hiring the hottest managers in the world does not automatically win or have you challenging for the league now as it did 20 years ago. The league has moved on massively since the arrival of Pep, Jurgen Klopp and even Mikel Arteta now.

The owner’s and sporting directors understood this and knew they had to make drastic changes to get us competing consistently again. When they took over they had a squad assembled from about 4/5 managers all playing different styles of play. Yes these players had quality, but was that squad ever going to win a league title spanning over a 38 game season? No chance. We were a cup team and these owners don’t just want cups.

Look at the underperforming players in this squad or the players the ownership/sporting reportedly directors want out:

Raheem Sterling – Thomas Tuchel pick, signed before the sporting directors came in – highest earner at the club.

Ben Chilwell – There before the new ownership come in, Frank Lampard pick – much better suited to a back 5 which we are led to believe the hierarchy don’t want to play.

Marc Cucurella – Tuchel pick, signed before the sporting directors came in – has improved in recent weeks but is he good enough to win league titles?

Conor Gallagher – I love him but is he suited to the possession based football the hierarchy desire? He was the player that benefitted the most from the chaotic style (or lack of style) of play under Poch.

I can’t think of any players in the squad bar Reece James (world class when fit) and Levi Colwill (was sent on loan to play in a Potter/De Zerbi system) who were there before the sporting directors came in. Wesley Fofana hasn’t played all season so his value is very low, the owners will not sell him. Also if (and it’s a big if) Fofana can stay fit and recover to his pre injury form, he still has the making of a top centre back. Sadly, I don’t have the confidence.

You could argue that some of the players signed aren’t good enough but can you judge them when they haven’t been setup or coached into the specific style they were bought for? How can you judge Enzo Fernandez for example when Poch had him playing higher up the pitch? Or Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashille when they have been playing in a team which played chaotic, transitional football with little to no protection of the back four?

The fans need to understand the days of a Jose Mourinho running everything at Chelsea are gone and I think the way we’re operating now is a much smarter model. If the next manager doesn’t work, he get’s sacked and you still have the same group of players, picked by the same recruitment model, to play the same style of football. This eliminates the issues of the past where we have a squad of players built for and by different managers playing different styles. We had Antonio Conte’s and Mourinho’s players trying to play Maurizio Sarri’s style of play not long ago!! Of course the manager needs to be involved, but his priority is working with the squad, improving and working with the players he is given.

The Chelsea squad assembled are all young players where there doesn’t appear to be any big egos, this is a reason why I’m not fussed about a big name manager coming in and why I wasn’t too shocked or surprised when Si said we were looking at assistant managers to take over as our head coach.

It’s very clear that Chelsea will no longer employ MANAGERS, they will employ HEAD COACHES. Their priority will be coaching and improving the players individually and as a team, on the training pitch day-in-day-out implementing their and the clubs desired style of play. Everything else at the club is taken care of, this is why they’re looking at elite COACHES.

This is why I think Chelsea looked at the likes of Kieran McKenna and are about to hire Enzo Maresca. Enzo in particular fascinates me, he worked under Pep, won the PL2 at City with the likes of Cole Palmer and Romeo Lavia, and also worked closely with Joe Shields. There’s also just something about Italian managers at Chelsea (Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Di Matteo, Antonio Conte). He also seems like a big character, more of a character than McKenna.

Xavi would have appealed too, he is another Pep apprentice, plays wonderful football and not afraid to trust and play the youth. His career as a player would also command massive respect from the dressing room.

One thing for sure is the Chelsea hierarchy want a coach that plays their way. They want a clear style of play and a coach that gets the best out of the players. I said last season I felt we were the worst coached side in the league, we had no identity or real style of play. The media likes to portray the owners and sporting directors as if they haven’t got a clue what they’re doing when these are actually very clever people. Poch wasn’t sacked midway through a season via a kneejerk reaction, this was planned. They haven’t parted ways then started to look at candidates, have interviews etc, I imagine this was done well in advance. Chelsea have their man in Enzo Maresca!

Billy Young