Mauricio Pochettino took more criticism after Chelsea’s 5-0 loss at Arsenal on Tuesday and it has seen exit rumours surface.
Chelsea suffered yet another loss in the Premier League on Tuesday evening, in what was their biggest defeat of the campaign against London rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium – but whilst it has seen exit calls for Mauricio Pochettino after a slow start to the campaign, pundit Riath Al-Samarrai has labelled that notion “insane”, with the Argentine having only seen a year at the helm.
The thrashing saw Chelsea fail to win for the 21st time this season from just 32 Premier League games, leaving them in ninth place and three points away from a European spot – which is not what was expected of Pochettino at the start of the season.
With the club looking increasingly likely to only be able to secure a Europa Conference League spot, it would be a start for Pochettino with Chelsea having finished in 12th place last season, though fans are still harping for his exit from the club having experienced so much European success in recent years. However, Al-Samarrai has labelled the idea of Pochettino parting ways with the club as “absolute madness” – allowing Pochettino time to implement a long-term approach at Stamford Bridge.
Al-Samarrai: “Getting Rid of Pochettino Would be Insane”
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Back Pages podcast, Al-Samarrai admitted that Pochettino hasn’t been up to scratch and that there is an overreliance on Cole Palmer to produce a moment of magic when they need it most – though he doesn’t see the benefit in sacking a manager so quickly. Al-Samarrai said:
“I think frankly, it would be insane for them to get rid of him. That’s not to say that in any way it’s been a good or even an encouraging season, it’s been absolutely dire.
“I mean, the past few weeks as Charlie was saying, they had an eight-game unbeaten run in the league, but even within that I’ve struggled to sometimes see an identity in the way that they’re playing.
“I would dispute what Pochettino was saying the other day about sort of ‘Cole Palmer FC’. I think you only had to look at the Arsenal game to see just how reliant they have been on one extremely talented player, and you’d maybe throw in a couple of exceptions to the rest of the squad.
“But I think it would be absolute madness to change.”
Pochettino Should Stay at Chelsea
Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking wouldn’t enhance Chelsea
Chelsea are still evidently going through a changing period, and their squad needs time to gel together before they can expect results to start coming through on a consistent basis.
The likes of Dorde Petrovic, Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Moises Caicedo have only played with each other for a year, alongside Palmer who seems to be the only one who has hit the ground running.
For such a young squad and for a team that has multiple years left on their contracts, there can be no good of something that comes from parting ways with managers so frequently.
Pochettino has some Premier League pedigree having led his Tottenham side to a second-place finishe and a Champions League final against the odds, and so Chelsea would benefit from that if he could replicate that at Stamford Bridge. But as has been proven, time will be needed to turn the squad around.
