The phrase “in-game management” is something that gets brought up a lot when it comes to speaking about managers, usually in a negative way.
That’s definitely been the case with Mauricio Pochettino, who has made Blues fans suffer with the choices and timings of his substitutions this year.
Yesterday was a prime example, as he took off Mykhailo Mudryk and left on Raheem Sterling, leading to rage in the stands. But when asked about his decisions, the manager revealed he was pleased:
“That’s what we want, what we need, for the bench to have players who can create this kind of action and have an impact.”
He’s right that both Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke came off the bench to score. But as ever we’re left with the question of why the coach didn’t just start them in the first place?
You can see the coach speaking in the clip embedded here:
Fortunately, it’s not Poch’s job to manage so as to make the fans “happy.” He got the result and I’m fine (in fact, I think it’s long overdue) if he tells the fans to piss off! Their sense of entitlement, as if it’s their needs—not the players—that the manager and owners should be prioritising, is ridiculous. They’ve shown time and again that they’ll spout derision regardless of the result so why even try to please them??? It’s a fool’s errand and Poch is showing signs that he’s finally lost patience with them. I don’t blame him a bit. He knows football better than any of them and if he’s got to choose between supporting his players and making the fans happy he knows doing right by his players is always a choice he can live with. Let the fans continue to engage in this infantile whining and moaning. They don’t deserve the football team Poch is building, but he’s not building it for them anyway. He’s doing it for the boys wearing the badge.