We’re coming towards the end of Mauricio Pochettino’s first season at Chelsea, and it truly is a hard one to wrap your head around.
There are plenty of things to be furious about, and plenty of reasons to be very fearful for the future. Yet there have been flashes of good things, and some brilliant games and results along the way.
The injuries that have plagued this group for so long make it very hard to give the manager a balanced assessment, and although we’ve heard from many sources all year that he’s going to be “judged at the end of the season,” that is easier said than done given the cloudy context he’s been working in.
If anything, as his assessment date gets closer, we’ve seen him grow more confident and less deferential. It’s not exactly a powerplay, but his recent comments about the sporting directors were as close as we’ve come to seeing him put the blame on them for building him such a lopsided squad.
“My responsibility is that the team performs. But of course, the club is designing and planning a structure that you need to prove works. Because of the results, you can say it’s just [the manager]. But I don’t have the key to the club. I don’t make all the decisions here. That is to be made clear. If you say to me I have the key and this guy is here because it’s my decision, that is one thing,” Pochettino said in quotes picked up by Goal.com.
“The sporting directors need to understand that we are the people dealing directly with the players, performance and medical staff. Football is about supporting each other, trusting each other, and having confidence in each other,” the coach said in his press conference before the Aston Villa game.
We are certainly in the camp that believes that more of the blame for the bad parts of this season should go on the sporting directors than on Pochettino. He’s due plenty of criticism, but it’s still clear to us that he’s been working with his hands tied behind his back not only due to injury, but also to the unbalanced group and the overly ambitious project that those above him embarked on.
We’re glad to see he’s finally willing to push back a little on them too. It’s interesting to speculate about what that means for his future too. Does he know that he’s safe in his job, so he’s more willing to stick his neck out to defend himself now? Or does he know they’re keen to get rid of him, meaning he’s got nothing to lose now by shifting the blame?
The season may be coming to an end, but the power politics upstairs are just beginning.