‘Frank Lampard just isn’t good enough to do the job’: Chelsea players will want Mauricio Pochettino to start NOW, says Stephen Warnock as coach closes in on Stamford Bridge job
- Warnock said the legendary Chelsea midfielder should be retired now
- Expert Robbie Earle says Pochettino may already be having an impact on the team
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With news indicating that Mauricio Pochettino will join Chelsea next season, NBC Sports pundits Stephen Warnock and Robbie Earle wondered if the Argentine should start managing now.
The Blues currently sit 11th in the table – level on points with London rivals Crystal Palace – and are well out of any chance of playing in Europe next season.
Warnock in particular said the team needed a change and interim head coach Frank Lampard had failed to prove he needed to coach at this level.
“I think the industry is a very stats-driven industry right now,” Warnock said before kickoff. “I wonder if there’s any part of that where he looks and goes, it’s pretty broken at Chelsea right now.” I don’t want it to affect where I start.
“But I walk into…take me into the locker room as a player and I say, ‘I want a coach now. I want to know where I am as a player, if I am part of the club that is moving forward. or if I’m going to move on”. Because I also put myself in the shoes of a new player who arrives at the club.
NBC Sports’ Stephen Warnock pleaded for Mauricio Pochettino to take over Chelsea now
Pochettino has been revealed to be Chelsea’s next manager for the start of next season
‘Mauricio Pochettino calls in the summer and says, ‘I would like you to come in’ and I was like, has that changed? Is there any improvement there? What happened ?
“At least now give yourself a month until the end of the season or a few weeks, however, to try and change the culture of the club and change the word around Chelsea Football Club – that he came and he got himself and he’s got an iron fist and he’s running the roost at Chelsea and starting to turn things around and have the right mentality.
“I just look at him and think he’s an easy cop. And I listen to the speech of Frank Lampard and the respect for a legend of Chelsea. He’s not good enough.
“He’s just not good enough to do the job. So bring in the man who’s good enough to do the job, that you employ.
Meanwhile, Earle wondered if Pochettino was already at the club monitoring players and wondering how they could fit into his system.
“I just wonder if there is a situation where he influences things from the background without getting into football.
‘And why I say that: I was doing the teams yesterday. Edouard Mendy started in goal for Chelsea. First Premier League start since before the World Cup. I wonder if Potter is gone, “Let me see him.”
Warnock also said Lampard was ‘just not good enough’ to continue coaching the Blues
“In the next few games, Felix and Sterling started in the team. Sterling scored a few goals. I wonder if he has that influence, but maybe from a distance, maybe he’s not. seen.
‘Totally agree with Stephen that if he walks into the training ground, one day next week, I guarantee training will increase by 20 [or] 30% because the boss is there. You are now responsible.
“And the other big thing I would say for Potch, I hope he’s rested well, because he has work to do at the club. By the way, the first thing he needs to do is manage the noise around Chelsea and calm him down.
“Stop the noise, stop the gossip and start building a football culture around one of the biggest clubs in Europe.”
