Ben Jacobs has published an update on the Chelsea manager situation which keeps a steady line on the managerial situation for Caughtoffside.
Mauricio Pochettino is under huge pressure from fans and results are wobbling between promising and just not good enough. There doesn’t feel like there’s huge momentum from upstairs to sack him, although finishing outside the top 10 would require some pretty big leniency from them if the coach were to keep his job.
“We hear a lot of names linked with replacing Pochettino, particularly Roberto De Zerbi, Ruben Amorim and Hansi Flick; whilst some fans are dreaming of a Jose Mourinho or Thomas Tuchel return, although it’s not thought either are being considered despite the obvious short-term PR win,” Jacobs explained.
De Zerbi was pretty strongly excluded:
“No candidate is actually being seriously pursued to date, and Chelsea sources insist in particular that De Zerbi is not on the radar as it stands. Chelsea are merely succession planning, much like Manchester United. This is normal when a change might be necessary and is something the club likely started on day one of Pochettino arriving given his contract is short.
“Succession planning should not be confused with formally interviewing others or starting to replace Pochettino. You can both look at options to avoid managerial limbo and still want to make it work with your manager, and that’s kind of where Chelsea are at.”
As Jacobs says, they are keeping tabs on plenty of coaches around Europe, as things could certainly move quickly towards a sacking situation if things really get nasty. But as it stands, it looks more likely Pochettino stumbles to the end of the campaign, and then big decisions are needed.
Given the instability everywhere, and given how it would reflect on them, it seems the sporting directors are willing to give him as much rope as possible. Certainly the Mourinho and Tuchel returns aren’t forward-thinking moves they’d approve of.
It makes NO SENSE to discuss replacing Poch with a manager (in De Zerbi) who isn’t a clear step up?! What has De Zerbi actually accomplished? And why aren’t we talking about managers who are actually winning things like Xabi Alonso? Even Thiago Motta (at Bologna) has HIS low-budget club higher up the table (4th) than De Zerbi (9th).
No, this is a classic case of a media echo chamber where everyone is repeating a rumour without ANYONE taking the time to ask whether it’s actually sensible move. (HINT: It’s not.)