Mauricio Pochettino has just spoken in his press conference ahead of the game against Nottingham Forest tomorrow, and his words about his future were the most concerning yet.
In a slightly confusing speech he seemed to turn the heat around on the club’s owners and sporting directors, pointing out that it wasn’t a unilateral relationship. They can fire him, but he and his staff can also walk away.
As usual it came out in a bit of a confused stream of consciousness, but it’s worth reading through it deliberately and trying to get to the message inside:
“If we are happy, perfect [we will stay]. But it is not only if the owners are happy or the sporting directors are happy. If we [the coaching staff] are happy, you need to ask us, also, because maybe we are not happy and we accept the situation and we need to split. It is not going to be the first time the coaching staff at the end of the season decide to not keep going,” Pochettino said, with a vaguely threatening air.
“[We can part ways either] because Chelsea is not happy, the owners or the sporting directors. [But] maybe we [the staff] are not happy because we arrived here with a job to do and in the end it has not happened what we expected. I am not saying I am not happy but it is always one side and maybe [we need to look at the] other side,” the coach said, hinting at broken promises.
A rapidly unravelling situation
The two wins in a week really felt like it should have settled things down hugely. It brought 6 points and great vibes, and now should be the time that Pochettino is assured he’s staying next season and planning for that can begin.
Instead of that, each press conference brings a faster unravelling of the situation, and comments like this (while still pretty cryptic) see Pochettino speaking more openly about potentially leaving with every passing conference. Insisting he’s not necessarily unhappy doesn’t help much when you’re also basically threatening to leave in the same presser.
This is the opposite of what we need as we try to win our final 3 matches to scramble into Europe at the last.
Let’s not lose our heads. Poch has his pride and it’s clearly on display hear, but if, as we’ve heard all along, the decision will be based on the team’s performance then there’s no point in creating drama around these or any other comments by Poch.