Asked about the shortcomings of his Chelsea squad following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Everton, a dejected Mauricio Pochettino lamented: “That’s it. “
Another defeat left the Blues in 12th place in the table (they would be 13th without the deduction for Everton’s problems), and then Pochettino uncharacteristically asked the club to continue spending in January, despite spending more billion pounds under current ownership.
When he was coming up with Tottenham, Pochettino was not averse to pressuring the board with calls for signings but, generally speaking, he was a rare breed of modern coach who was sceptical of spending his way out of trouble.
In a refreshing contrast to the likes of Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte (later his successors at Spurs), Pochettino pushed through the challenge of training youngsters and was wary of adding new signings to the squad who would not settle for his tough educational sessions. and top performances. -Football intensity.
Under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, Chelsea have spent more than any club in Europe, ostensibly to build a team of young but talented players hoping to become stars. So why demand more signatures?
There is an overwhelming sense that Chelsea lacks only quality, but also character, identity and culture.
Is Pochettino now a different coach (older, less patient and more difficult) after his time in the Paris Saint-Germain asylum?Or is Chelsea’s unprecedented spending so unconvincing to the head coach that he still doesn’t see any selection to continue?
Even at this early stage, it’s evident that many of Chelsea’s beloved signings are no bigger than the players they replaced, and Pochettino’s demands for an imposing goalscorer, an artistic midfielder and a ball-playing centre-back are understandable, given the qualities of his team. poster.
Raheem Sterling, Cole Palmer, Conor Gallagher and Levi Colwill are the only players who have noticed their inventory increase this season, suggesting the safest direction is to sign Manchester City players or advertise the academy.
It is alarming, however, that Pochettino’s Chelsea have taken a slight step forward from Frank Lampard’s bleak time, while some of their beloved signings, including Enzo Fernandez, appear to be backing off.
There is also an overwhelming sense that Chelsea only lacks quality, but also character, identity and culture.
It says a lot about the current state of the club that Chelsea felt a warmer and more soulful place when a certain Russian oligarch was in charge.
As popular social media account @chelseayouth pointed out this week, there is a “cold and transactional” feeling at Chelsea under Clearlake that they must move forward smoothly by replacing Pochettino or signing more players.
Chelsea sold a number of academy graduates and replaced them in most cases with equally young players, who would possibly be in the statistically higher rankings but have no feelings for the club.
It is true that this procedure predates Clearlake, since Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham sold Roman Abramovich to finance signings such as Romelu Lukaku.
Former Chelsea player Pat Nevin described this week that the team is made up “by algorithm”, while this year Didier Drogba said he “doesn’t recognise my club anymore”.
The affectionate Pochettino would, in theory, be the perfect coach for a club looking for a cultural replacement and more unity. On his arrival at Spurs, Pochettino discovered an organisation with gleaming educational services but an icy atmosphere, riddled with fear. His solution was to tap into the very soul of the club by selling young players who cared about Spurs, such as Harry Kane and Ryan Mason, and ostracizing overpaid mercenaries like Emmanuel Adebayor.
At Chelsea, however, Pochettino is unable to tap into the club’s local talent pool, as the business style is to fund new signings by promoting academy players, which counts as a natural benefit in terms of monetary fair play.
To keep buying, Chelsea will have to keep selling, and their only saleable assets are academy players who weren’t signed for high fees or tied to long contracts.
There is already a hypothesis that Gallagher, appointed captain, could be allowed to leave, while Trevoh Chalobah and Ian Maatsen are considered to be replaceable.
And therein lies the paradox, the intractable conflict in Clearlake’s supposedly cutting-edge business model: if Pochettino wants Chelsea to be competitive again, he wants more players. To sign more players, they will have to settle for Chelsea selling more of their souls. .
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