Pat Nevin claims that he’s heard something crazy regarding Mauricio Pochettino and his future at Chelsea.
There’s currently a lot of speculation in the media when it comes to Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino.
The 52-year-old manager has had a turbulent first year at Stamford Bridge, but there’s a good chance his side will qualify for Europe if they finish strongly in their final two games of the season this week.
He only signed a two-year deal when he arrived in the Stamford Bridge dugout last summer, so will he continue into his second year next season?
Pat Nevin thinks Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino stance is ‘madness’
Pat Nevin, the BBC pundit and former Blues player, can’t believe that Chelsea are still yet to decide Pochettino’s position beyond the summer.
The Telegraph reports that Pochettino’s position at Chelsea will be decided in the upcoming end-of-season review.
“The sack race has started, even if it has a different name. One week Ange Postecoglou is for the chop, next it is Erik ten Hag and of course Mauricio Pochettino is never far away from that headline either,” Nevin wrote in his BBC Football Extra newsletter (13 May).
”I thought it would take two seasons to find out if the Chelsea experiment would work. Since losing at home to Liverpool and Wolves in early February the Blues have lost three of their 19 games. These were cup games against Liverpool and Man City then a drubbing at Arsenal. The performances are still up and down, but since that dark February period, they have improved markedly.
”The decision makers from above still haven’t decided if it is a thumbs up or down on Poch, but I think that is madness. Just when he seems to be delivering something interesting at last, the people who cobbled together a squad that had no chance of winning for a couple of seasons and spend the guts of £1billion doing it, they are now considering changing the strategy again.”
Does Mauricio Pochettino deserve another year?
The Chelsea Chronicle is in the camp that Pochettino has done enough to continue next season. In fact, making another managerial change would be taking further backwards steps just as there’s signs of progress.
If you want clear data that the Blues have improved under Pochettino, the Premier League record is the obvious place to look. You can see from below that that there’s been a big improvement from the 2022/23 campaign to this ongoing 2023/24 season.
If Chelsea win their final two matches this season versus Brighton and Bournemouth, they’ll finish off 19 points better than last year. It’s a definite positive sign for a young and inexperienced squad that is learning in the toughest division around.
