Welcome Mauricio Pochettino

[Blue Armour 4,278]

55 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Earning a million a month - Not one player has improved under Poch + he keeps playing people out of position. Who would you reckon he is replaced by ? And would that mean Clownlakes policies stay the same ?

That's the problem isn't it? What would Clownlake's next move be.

Considering how long they took to appoint a full time manager., there won't be anything to look forward to in terms of an interim appointment.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

1 hour ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Earning a million a month - Not one player has improved under Poch + he keeps playing people out of position. Who would you reckon he is replaced by ? And would that mean Clownlakes policies stay the same ?

Not many top managers who would be daft enough to take this project on in the current circumstances.

The new owners were shouting about stability, feasibility and moving away from the previous regime yet we are on our 4th manager/head coach technically in their ownership period which is barely even 2 years and basically have to sell before we can buy because they blew their load too quickly. They’ve completely turned over long serving members of staff from various departments and not to mention upstairs the likes of Vivell being put on gardening leave after barely being in the door and now Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb - the footballing directors - really should be given their matching orders come the summer as 80% of what they’ve signed haven’t done anything. Or they would at any top club who had an ounce of sense.

The whole thing is a mess and it doesn’t look like we have any clear plan at all - I am genuinely worried that it is only going to get worse too.

At least before with Roman, potential managers knew that when a manager was sacked we would always be looking to bounce back immediately and usually would due to his ambitious and demanding nature as an owner. Chelsea sacking a manager always meant one thing: they will be back and competitive the following season.

That isn’t the case now, look at the lengths of contracts they’ve given out to absolute shite with the thinking that they’ll maybe become top players in 3 or 4 years.  Why would any top top manager want to come here and have to wait 3 or 4 years for some of these near untouchable misfiring assets to maybe become good? Its clear the clubs invested in these players and will not be binning certain ones anytime soon.

Hopefully these clowns sell up after 10 years and stick to baseball.

[Vesper 28,768]

Clown

[TheHulk 1,855]

The owner's ability to get the worst coaches and bang average youngsters is out of this world.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

24 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Clown

It's not just one clown.

We have a whole circus.

[TheHulk 1,855]

We have a bang average squad but Poch making all of them look worse than they are. Get rid of him asap.

[Reddish-Blue 2,345]

2 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Not many top managers who would be daft enough to take this project on in the current circumstances.

 

I think there would have been managers out there good enough to get something out of this squad of players

You don't think Conte/Mourinho would have been a good fit for the amount of money that was being thrown around by the Clearlake/Boehly group?     At the very least, they could have taught these youngsters a thing or two about working hard and keeping them in shape. 

Feels like they chose Poch because he caved into their demands

Also Poch needs to stop playing defenders out of position, if a player is a CB, play them in that role, stop asking them to play LB or RB, it never works out well. 

 

[lucio 5,418]

5 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Earning a million a month - Not one player has improved under Poch + he keeps playing people out of position. Who would you reckon he is replaced by ? And would that mean Clownlakes policies stay the same ?

It’s all on the clown lakes , they wouldn’t have hired the right person to begin with. 

[DDA 9,690]

POTCH OUT!

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

1 hour ago, Reddish-Blue said:

I think there would have been managers out there good enough to get something out of this squad of players

You don't think Conte/Mourinho would have been a good fit for the amount of money that was being thrown around by the Clearlake/Boehly group?     At the very least, they could have taught these youngsters a thing or two about working hard and keeping them in shape. 

Feels like they chose Poch because he caved into their demands

Also Poch needs to stop playing defenders out of position, if a player is a CB, play them in that role, stop asking them to play LB or RB, it never works out well. 

 

Conte and Mourinho wouldn’t work with these clown owners and sporting directors. They would have disagreed on the signing of the huge number of u21 players to start with, even more so after losing so many experienced players in the past 2 seasons probably precisely because of what we are seeing.

And yes I get the feeling Poch is a yes man. Even at Spurs with Levy you got that feeling. He is a good coach but I feel he needs to get some proven quality in there to stabilise the team which seems to lack the knowhow of what to do when things aren’t going well. Also the midfield is a huge issue, Enzo and Caicedo as a pairing aren’t solid enough and things get by them too easily. I do think Poch won’t last much longer if performances continue as they are but ultimately he doesn’t shoulder all the blame, although the owners and sporting directors will throw him to the wolves when they are really accountable for the poor squad planning and new direction with recruitment.

On defenders out of position, particularly Levi, when Ben and Marc are back fit, Levi needs to come out the team all together for a few weeks. I don’t care how good he will/can be, he has been particularly poor this last while and needs taken out the firing line. Unfortunately due to the injuries and the fact Maatsen isn’t up to much (shock horror), he has had to be used there.

Disasi for me has started to show some half decent qualities playing as a centre back but I do feel he needs to be used there and not at RB to keep going to see where he maxes out. It seems like he is maybe starting to find his feet a wee bit. I don’t think he will ever be a top top quality CB but certainly looking like if he can just keep plodding on as he has done the last few weeks and keep steadily improving, he could be a good 3rd choice. Bailed Silva out I don’t know how times yesterday - who is certainly starting to look a bit aged although he still has moments of class due to his experience and knowhow. If the midfield could also solidify up a bit too this would give us a better platform. 

Edited January 10 by OneMoSalah

[milka 3,344]

Pochettino was setup to fail at the beginning .

Our squad is bunch of youngsters , looking the quality of the players he got  they are not good enough to be at Chelsea .  If these owners  wanted success, they would give Pochettino what he wanted and talked about in the summer - experienced elite players  not 20years old  everywhere .

their project is to sell players every two,three years  build them up  whether  they're  on a transfer fee but they are on long wages the tax of 20% loss and decreasing their value of that player of the offset of  the tax and the books  for finicial fp every year
And every three year  these percent decrease  they sell  the for the whatever prize and they make their profit.

They hoping when buying young  players  for 40,50 millions they will elevate  and develop and become 80,100mill but when come clubs with ambition and double their wages  are getting to Chelsea because their  getting  wages  on def contract.
That's why they wanted Gallagher to sign one year contract like Mount   only to get more value  out of him to sell anyway .

[Fulham Broadway 16,831]

Put all the players in a room in full kit on hard chairs, and Pochettino, and make them watch our 22 Silverware wins over the last 20 odd years. then ask them if they want to be part of the next chapter or fuck off.

[Vytis33 1,144]

 

[Costa19 858]

The thing is, when you have a squad full of young, promising and at the same time tactically immature players, having a cozy uncle as manager doesn't work.

You need to have a tactician who hammers in them a philosophy, running paths, attack patterns, etc.
So much so that the young players dream about it at night and it settles in their spinal cord.
You can then shape them gently and lead them on a more personal level.

Wrong manager at the wrong time unfortunately..

[Vesper 28,768]

It is hard to believe Chelsea will see the best of Levi Colwill at left-back

https://theathletic.com/5191501/2024/01/10/levi-colwill-left-back/

The time had come to ask Mauricio Pochettino the question that has been on many Chelsea followers’ minds: why does he keep playing Levi Colwill at left-back?

Colwill looked rather uncomfortable again in the position against Middlesbrough. Chelsea lost 1-0 with the winning goal coming from a cross by Isaiah Jones after he had got the better of the 20-year-old, not for the first time, down the home side’s right flank.

After the issue was raised by The Athletic in the post-match press conference, Pochettino explained: “I think we would all agree Levi is a young player that can play in different positions. Last game (against Preston) he played like a centre-back with Axel (Disasi). Today we played Thiago (Silva) with Axel (Disasi).

“We were talking a lot. I think it’s for him to take experience in Premier League with Chelsea playing there. I think it will help him be a better player and in the end, it is to feel the competition.

“I don’t like to compare with another player but you (can) find some similarities with different clubs who sign players that can play centre-back or play full-back. Look, for me, Levi is having a fantastic season. He is playing centre-back or full-back and is a player for the future of Chelsea. At the moment, when you don’t win, when you struggle — and we are a young team with young players — they need to learn and need to improve in the competition.”

Chelsea’s head coach is right to suggest he wants Colwill to get better in the role, but it still seems a very odd thing to consistently play one of England’s finest young centre-backs elsewhere.

According to football statistic website Fbref, just six of his 25 appearances this season have been as a central defender (his substitute role against Blackburn in the Carabao Cup should count as a seventh but is not accounted for on the site). There are another five listed as CB/LB, which reflected how Pochettino — particularly early in the season — would have Chelsea line up with three at the back while in possession, but switched to a four when the opponents had the ball. It was Colwill who occupied the left-hand side though in each system.

Conversely, 21 of his 24 appearances on loan at Brighton last season were as a centre-back (just one outing as a left-back), while in his first loan away from Chelsea at Huddersfield in 2021-22, he operated in the middle of defence 31 times in 32 matches (the odd one out shows him operating as a CB/wing-back against Bristol City)

Now this is not to say Colwill has been a disappointment on every occasion he has operated as a left full-back for Chelsea, but you can sense his unease. Defensively, his pace, not that Colwill is slow, is challenged more and his passing from deep is less assured because he is restricted by being closer to the touchline. He also cannot provide much attacking threat down the wing as his one assist this season indicates.

Colwill was refreshingly honest in an interview on the club’s website when talking about all this last week and intends for it to be a short-term measure. He said: “Obviously, I’m playing in a different position — everyone knows I’m a centre-back — but I am trying to help the team and learn as much as I can to help me in the future. There have been good moments and I am happy to keep learning for the future when I return to centre-half.

“In terms of one-versus-one defending, as a full-back, you’re very exposed to the winger. When you’re at centre-back, you have players around you and you can slow them down. So that has been tough.

“Another thing would be where you receive the ball, as a lot of the time you receive the ball on the line. At centre-half, when I’ve got the ball, I’m in control of the situation and can break the lines and start attacks. As a full-back that’s harder because you’ve got the winger ahead of you, the centre-half next to you, or the midfielder. Those are your options.”

Middlesbrough sensed Colwill’s disquiet about it from the very first minute. A clumsy back header allowed Emmanuel Latte Lath to get an early shot in at goal and had VAR been in operation, could have led to a penalty due to Disasi’s challenge on the Middlesbrough forward in the area.

The incident encouraged the Middlesbrough fans and infected Chelsea with uncertainty from the outset of their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. On the half-hour mark, Colwill slipped and in his panic to make amends, pulled Jones and was booked.

Shortly afterwards, the England international had a chance to play the ball down the line but before he could do so, knocked it out for a throw-in instead and was jeered by the home supporters.

So when Jones got the better of him to set up Hayden Hackney, albeit Moises Caicedo has to share the blame for allowing Hackney the space to finish, it came as no great surprise. To his credit, Colwill played for an hour on a booking and kept his discipline to avoid a second, yet it was one of the only positives to take.

With Ian Maatsen now in Germany to complete a loan move to Borussia Dortmund, Colwill’s chances of featuring more inside have decreased a little further, although Pochettino clearly did not trust the Netherlands Under-21 international to operate in his favoured left-back role anyway (just two of his 15 appearances under Pochettino were as a left-back).

Recognised senior left-back Ben Chilwell has returned to training after a serious hamstring strain, but his injury record over the past two years does not inspire confidence he can be a first-team regular at the moment. Besides, he was played ahead of Colwill when fully fit at the beginning of the campaign. Meanwhile, another option — Marc Cucurella — is expected to be ruled out for another couple of months with an ankle injury.

The other issue for Colwill is that Pochettino clearly wants to select veteran Thiago Silva on a regular basis to have some much-needed experience in a young team and prefers Disasi, more often than not, to be alongside the Brazilian.

It is better for Colwill to be playing at left-back regularly than not at all. Pochettino has also shown support in another way by naming him captain on two occasions, which is a remarkable achievement in the academy graduate’s first campaign with the senior side.

But it is hard to believe Chelsea will see the best of Colwill until he is playing where he feels he belongs.

 

[SomethingSomething 17]

Tbh Colwill has all the chances to prove himself. He has game time, trust, was even captain. If we doesnt make the most of it, he maybe just isnt on the level.

There are many issues with the club, neglecting Levi isnt one. Palmer is doing fine. 

[Strike 7,217]

17 minutes ago, SomethingSomething said:

Tbh Colwill has all the chances to prove himself. He has game time, trust, was even captain. If we doesnt make the most of it, he maybe just isnt on the level.

There are many issues with the club, neglecting Levi isnt one. Palmer is doing fine. 

There's a huge difference between LB and CB. Half a season in his second position when he's 20 isn't going to help him at all. 

[SomethingSomething 17]

2 hours ago, Strike said:

There's a huge difference between LB and CB. Half a season in his second position when he's 20 isn't going to help him at all. 

If he shown growth in defending and awarness he can get to CB spot, given we are leaking left and right. That said he was suspect defending all season long.