Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea team has a comparable record to Graham Potter’s, so why are the team’s performances so dismal?

Chelsea has lost its last two games and let up eight goals, putting more pressure on manager Mauricio Pochettino, whose record with the Blues is comparable to that of Graham Potter; On February 12, kickoff at 8 p.m., watch Chelsea’s next Premier League away game at Crystal Palace live on Sky Sports.

Chelsea has spent over a year in the mud, where they currently find themselves.

Despite their enormous expenditure and equally amazing ambition, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have not improved the team’s performance thus far. In actuality, the club has regressed based only on the Premier League standings.

Recall that in Thomas Tuchel’s final season as manager, Chelsea placed third.

Groups of Chelsea supporters were heard screaming the name of the team’s former owner, Roman Abramovich, during Sunday’s 4-2 home loss to Wolves. As wonderful as the investment and goal are, patience with the new ownership is getting old.

Chelsea looked up in the Premier League and saw only Manchester City and Liverpool ahead of them when Clearlake Capital acquired the team in May 2022.

When Chelsea was acquired by Clearlake Capital in May 2022, they could only see Manchester City and Liverpool ahead of them in the Premier League.

In the Premier League standings at the time, Chelsea was ranked eleventh, just as they are now. The two managers’ respective records have striking similarities. During that time, both managers lost 11 games; Pochettino, however, won two more draws.

Image:
Chelsea have slipped into the bottom half of the Premier League table

Nonetheless, Potter led Chelsea to just one loss and three victories in his final five games in charge, one of which came against Borussia Dortmund and advanced them to the Champions League quarterfinals.

In Pochettino’s previous five games, Chelsea has advanced to this month’s League Cup final thanks to victories over Middlesbrough and Luton, but there have also been crushing losses to Wolves and Liverpool.

There’s no indication that Pochettino is in danger of losing his job anytime soon, but Potter was let go despite having a very similar track record, even though Boehly claimed the former Brighton manager was chosen because he agreed with the owners’ vision of managing a long-term development project. That was a seven-month project.

In those 31 games, Pochettino’s Chelsea has scored 54 goals compared to Potter’s 33, but the squad has also given up a lot more goals (43 to Potter’s 31).

Chelsea under Potter kept two more clean sheets (11 against Pochettino’s 9), although the Argentine manager has marginally increased the team’s passing accuracy (88 percent of passes completed compared to 86 percent) during Potter’s tenure.

However, the final figure reveals that none of the three Chelsea managers that Clearlake chose had won a sufficient number of games. Frank Lampard’s win percentage was 9%, Potter’s was 36%, and Pochettino’s is 45% at the moment.

Put between Potter and Poch, Lampard’s record was even more unimpressive:

The main issue is hiring.
Why, therefore, have so many well-known players found it difficult to seize control at Stamford Bridge? Hiring has been the clearest and largest issue.

First of all, it should be noted that Potter, Lampard, and Pochettino did not receive managerial appointments. The term ‘head coach’ suggests something about Chelsea’s organizational structure and the little influence the first team manager has over squad recruiting and other matters.

Jamie O’Hara is not impressed by Chelsea’s current form following a 4-2 loss to Wolves at Stamford Bridge and discusses what he believes has changed at the clubs

The club spent almost £400 million on 13 players during the summer transfer window under Pochettino. Chelsea spent £550 million on players throughout two transfer windows while under Potter’s leadership. Although Potter and Pochettino were consulted, neither head coach was directly involved in most of the signings.

Image:
Chelsea have spent more than £1bn on signings under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership

Launch the whole version.
Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, Chelsea’s co-sporting directors, were hired a year ago. As such, they hold ultimate authority over all football-related affairs, including talent spotting, coaching, recruitment, and data analysis.

Chelsea’s recruitment department is the talk of Europe, having amassed some of the biggest names and brightest talent in the football industry at tremendous expense, along with a plethora of additional top professionals brought in to serve behind Winstanley and Stewart. However, that hasn’t resulted in any advancements on the field thus far.

From what the head coaches have said, the persistent, unprecedented investment in players has resulted in unmanageably huge squads. The sheer quantity of players that Potter and Pochettino have had to manage has been a source of grievance for them both.

In July, Pochettino declared that if his “unbalanced” team of 29 players was not culled, there would be a “mess”. He had five natural midfielders at the time, but four left-backs.

Image:
Chelsea captain Reece James has made just eight Premier League appearances this season

He declared in September that “I need to be more involved in all the decisions going forward.” I’ve begun the process of figuring out what we’ll need in January.”

With thirty-three senior players in the Potter era squad, there were not enough locker rooms at their Cobham training base, thus some of the players had to change in the corridor. More than a dozen players would frequently be seen on the sidelines or rehearsing in a different small-sided game during eleven-versus-eleven training sessions.

Potter stated, “I found out that we’d signed Enzo when it was all done and I’m very pleased, because he is a fantastic player,” after Chelsea spent more than £100 million to get Enzo Fernandez a year earlier.

“The biggest challenge I’ve found day-to-day is the squad has been too big,” Lampard stated prior to his last game in command last spring. Because they’re not playing or may be going, a lot of guys are feeling a little demoralized.”

Additionally, Lampard stated that the club’s standards have generally declined: “I can be honest about that, particularly because it’s my last game.”

The root of Chelsea’s problems is injuries

The degree of structural change at Chelsea, which is still being felt 20 months after the Clearlake takeover, has also been a problem for the club’s head coaches.

The first team’s medical staff had a complete makeover eighteen months ago, and several long-serving members were replaced, including Chelsea’s Paco Biosca, who had managed the department since 2011.

Potter’s tenure was marred by injuries, with 11 first-team players missing action at the height of the issues. Earlier this month, Pochettino had 12 players out with injuries.

It’s another illustration of Chelsea’s extensive, still-settling adjustments, even though there’s no proof the medical staff changes contributed to or caused those injury issues.

Potter would also point to the cancellation of the winter World Cup in Qatar, which left him with just four senior players to deal with, and the absence of a preseason to prepare his team as mitigating factors for his dismal Chelsea record.

However, it’s evident that Pochettino is facing many of the same problems as his predecessor.

The Chelsea owners and supporters have high expectations for their squad, which won the Champions League less than three years ago, but the team’s performance has been resolutely subpar.