- Chelsea suffered the toughest defeat in their history against Arsenal on Tuesday night.
- The pressure continues to mount on Mauricio Pochettino after a dismal season
- I don’t complain about playing too often. Why are managers not sincere about the well-being of the players? Listen to the everything is beginning podcast
Truth be told, it was originally going to be an article about Nicolas Jackson and whether he could do a job as a left winger if Chelsea sign a striker this summer. But that was when the score was 1-0.
Then it was 2-0, which was frustrating for Chelsea. Then 3-0, something embarrassing. Then 4-0, humiliating. Then 5-0, a certified capitulation in which one of the country’s most loyal fans decided he had seen enough and left the visitors’ zone at the Emirates Stadium well before full-time.
Jackson and the leftist debate can wait another day. After this loss to Arsenal, Chelsea have bigger issues that need to be addressed, and it’s hard not to feel like they go beyond the manager.
That does not mean that Mauricio Pochettino is innocent. Far from there. He cannot escape being held responsible for how Chelsea have collapsed into a pile of price tags.
Because of how the defense was non-existent on the penalty corner that Ben White scored. Because of how Mykhailo Mudryk doesn’t seem to know where to be or when in his system. Because of how this young team seems to emerge in the second half as if a lullaby had been sung to them. In a division full of discernible playing styles, it is difficult to see what Chelsea are trying to do.
Mauricio Pochettino cannot escape being held responsible for Chelsea’s failures this season
The Blues have had a dismal campaign and lost to Arsenal 5-0 on Tuesday.
Conor Gallagher’s team capitulated and suffered the heaviest defeat in their history against Arsenal.
Reports emerged elsewhere on Tuesday that Pochettino will remain in charge for next season and they were premature, to say the least.
The plan was, and apparently still is, to have a summer review. Sources say players ‘love’ Pochettino but such embarrassing nights as Chelsea suffering their heaviest ever defeat to Arsenal will not help their cause with Clearlake Capital owners and sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
However, when looking at the manager, those responsible must also evaluate their own strategy. Thomas Tuchel was fired. Graham Potter was fired. They could still turn on Pochettino (someone who was hired because of his reputation as a developer of young talent despite his loyalty to Tottenham) and turn to another head coach in the hope that they get it this time.
It remains to be seen who would be willing to risk their reputation because, until now, this has only seemed like a doomed recruitment model: one in which players like Kai Havertz were sold to make way for greener youngsters. It did not go unnoticed that, unlike White’s two goals, Chelsea’s social media team did not mention Havertz’s name when updating their millions of followers about his brace during this embarrassment at the Emirates.
Pochettino has spent much of this season asking for patience, insisting that this team needs time to thrive. Chelsea’s lineup had an average age of 23 years and 169 days (the youngest in a Premier League match against Arsenal) and it showed for a miserable 90 minutes.
Nicolas Jackson again failed to justify his £32m price tag and failed to find the back of the net.
It’s unclear what co-owners Todd Boehly (left) and Behdad Eghbali (right) are trying to do.
Kai Havertz, who scored against his former team, was one of the players sold to make way for new talent.
And now they are stuck. Stuck with young players, signed for significant sums and on lifetime deals, who would struggle to trade for anything more than a loss. Stuck wondering what to do, who to turn to, and if this team will ever reach the potential they paid for.
Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile cost £74m combined and only stopped conceding once Thiago Silva, 39, was introduced to form a back five in a change that screamed damage limitation. Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández cost £221 million and couldn’t come close to anyone in the red. Noni Madueke and Mudryk cost £117m and barely sniffed the goal. Jackson cost £32 million and, despite showing glimpses of the good, we again witnessed the bad in its completion.
Pochettino’s position will be scrutinized, and rightly so, but he is just part of a wider problem that has left Chelsea facing yet another season without European football.
