Mauricio Pochettino has poured cold water on suggestions that last week’s public call for the club to check it’s own reality was a plea for new players during the January transfer window. The Blues boss launched into a passionate defence of poor recent result, citing context rather than excuses following the 2-0 defeat to Everton.
The loss, which came in all too familiar and predictable circumstances for Chelsea fans, prompted a fresh wave of pressure to mount on Pochettino. With just one win in five games and now coming off the back of consecutive losses for the first time since he took over in the summer, there is even more attention on the meeting with Sheffield United on Saturday.
Chelsea could end the weekend as low down as 15th in results go against them with only the scope of moving up to tenth. Having finished 12th last term, the same spot they are in now, it is a stark change of scenery for a side that had finished outside of the top four just three times between 2004 and 2022.
After a mammoth transfer spend with committments to paying over £1billion under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital lead ownership consortium, it isn’t a good look. It is in this view that Pochettino’s apparent cry for more players next month was largely mocked.
“We are talking after four, five months – 16 games – and it’s about assessing,” he said at Goodison Park. “If we are not able to score today with all the chances we had, we have to score if we want to win the game. We want to be in a different position in the table. The team played well against a very difficult team like Everton. We were much better than them but you need to score.
“After the first half of the season, we need to check. That is the reality. If we are not receiving enough, maybe we need to do some movement. That is the thing to analyse with the sporting directors, to see if we can change the dynamic and improve in the second half of the season. We need to be more aggressive. Then it is a massive assessment and when the transfer window opens, we will see what we can do.
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“I don’t say if I am going to ask for more or less players. It’s to see if the perception matches the reality. We are missing something. We need to improve our reality.”
However, when asked if he had spoken to co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, Pochettino took a different approach on Friday at Cobham. “No, we cannot sometimes take my words or sentences out of context,” he explained.
“When we talk, or some of you ask me, to be fair, I don’t want to blame journalists but after a game when you lose, you are tired, there are too many things going on; it feels like too many interviews. With six or seven interviews before the press conference, you feel you need to repeat, repeat and sometimes you are tired, you see the place was so hot, it was difficult.
“It wasn’t my intention because we were talking about solutions. Of course, this time and in this period, the top and the bottom are all doing the same. We assess the squad, see injured players, we see a period like now where we have a few players more. It is time to analyse and think, maybe yes or maybe no. That was my comment but, if you put the comment out of context, you can create a big mess but I didn’t say nothing.”
Pochettino spent much of the summer explaining that whilst he was happy with his options up front – Armando Broja was returning from injury with Nicolas Jackson adapting well to his new environment and Christopher Nkunku hitting the ground running in pre-season – there was a need for experience.
This demand went unheard though with Chelsea’s signings upon returning from the American tour being aged below 23 – Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Djordje Petrovic and Romeo Lavia. Now, as the inconsistency of his group is laid bare on a weekly basis, the January window offers a chance to change the dynamics of the group entirely.
This isn’t what Pochettino is focusing on though and the head coach is confident that he can make good use of those he has available. “You ask me about [Christopher] Nkunku, it is like a new signing because we didn’t use except for pre-season,” he said.
“Romeo Lavia will be fit in maybe one week or 10 days. These are two players who still haven’t made their debuts. Chilly [Ben Chilwell] and [Wesley] Fofana, who maybe needs more time, but we need two, three or four more players not making their debuts with us or are key players for us.
“I was talking, I am never going to ask, you know me from Tottenham and Southampton, and it is always about helping all the project. We are in a project and we have signed players and have a new squad but a list of injured since the beginning and it was massive. When you are disappointed, you may twist some words.”
Pochettino is once more set to go to work without at least ten players when the Blades travel to SW6 over the weekend even though Nkunku is among those returning. It is the second time this year that he has been unable to rely on nearly an entire XI though, something that has arguably cost him from naming a stronger, more readily able to compete side.
The 51-year-old isn’t using this as a reason to pass off the poor results. “I didn’t say it wasn’t good enough. If you see the squad, it is good enough. With the potential, reality and potential,” he said.
“It is not to make an excuse; now the cameras are off, you can use in the way that you want but, look, if we are all fit and we have the squad fit and I have Reece James and Malo Gusto fighting for their place every day. Then the level is not here [low], it is here [high].
“If I have Fofana, Axel [Disasi], Thiago [Silva], Benoit [Badiashile] and Levi [Colwill] fighting for two places then it is completely different. You need to understand. If all the teams, big teams also, would suffer in our situation. But what happened? We didn’t come from a consistent and solid season because it is a new season, new project and new team.
“Of course, when you receive all these hits against you then it is not easy. But step-by-step, we will arrive. In this type of project, four, five months is nothing. The situation internally, we will fix it, we will fix it.”
Chelsea fans will now wait for that promise to become a reality on the pitch. Even if Chilwell, Fofana, Lavia and Nkunku do make the impact in 2024 of a new signing it will be quite the ask for them to transform the current group to the level that most imagined.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
