Project Poch: What's gone wrong?
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- After a heavy defeat at the weekend, home fans at Stamford Bridge made their feelings clear.
Less than a year on from the sacking of Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
After spending so heavily on players over the past 19 months, what exactly is owner Todd Boehly’s plan for Chelsea? Where does this leave the Pochettino Project?
Ayo Akinwolere is joined by The Athletic’s Chelsea writer Liam Twomey and The Athletic's commissioning editor Dom Fifield to discuss.
00:00 Intro
01:42 Pochettino’s press conference
04:06 The Abramovich era
06:20 Poch’s project
11:04 When will Chelsea win more silverware?
17:30 How can Chelsea turn it around?
21:30 Chelsea fans & disappointment
26:55 Potter & Pochettino
31:10 Chelsea ownership
35:44 Final comments
38:01 Outro
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My best expectations for Chelsea under Poch would've been a high tempo, aggressive outfit that were fun to watch and were volatile to defend against. Not clean, not finessed by any stretch, but would be a team you'd want to watch. This would tide the media and enough Chelsea fans over for a little while, whilst maintaining the stock of the players.
Poch hasn't managed to spark excitement or facilitated the potential of his players nearly enough. If he had a more stable defence like he had at Spurs, maybe he'd have got more purchase out of the attack. But when you have a team that don't have the confidence to approach matches with a sense of control, how can you change the mentality?
Funny thing about that Abramovich era is that the core group really were empowered over any of the managers. That arguably might have been the most important identity in that whole period, passed on from Terry and Lampard to Azpilicueta, Hazard, Willian, all the way up to Rudiger and Kovacic. Poch can't give these new lads that entitlement because it was never in his hands to begin with: Boehly ripped that out of the club root and stem.
They are talented players though. Get a goalkeeper and a CB pairing who you can trust week in week out at the prime of their careers and it could work. But if Boehly has staked the club's future on Disasi, Colwill, Badiashile, Fofana and Robert Sanchez, then I'm sorry but he's fucked.
By asking Pochs' head, fans are only going to empower the toxic mentality of our young players. This isn't science, it's a well known fact. We've seen it at our Chelsea in the past ignoring instances for other clubs. We as fans are spoiled definitely and feel entitled to greatness with a mid par team of inexperienced young players with only potential. they ignore the fact that these so called talents will certainly have a lot of negative personality traits. If they are thrown under the bus, they won't start performing but rather start acting as 16 year old Karens. Potter didn't know how to deal with them, Lamps didn't know how to deal with them because of lack of experience. Poch does know how to deal with such situations and personalities. Mourinho won't deal with them, he'll just throw them under the bus and it'll the same story of salah and De bruyne. 😂 Some of ours fans are just too crazy at times like these.
Finally, a rational take. Talent is evident but good vs elite is mental. Players such as Pogba weren't let down by managers as an example, it's mental. This squad has brats who haven't proven themselves and don't have the will to fight.
We've seen Poch make Dele Alli a good player coming from League One, not even Championship and trust Harry Kane when everyone called him a one hit wonder. He surely can't forget management in a year
@@ras7646 totally, over that our situation is first of a kind so no manager has dealt with it. Everyone will one experiment
"Sporting Directors not under any extra pressure" or scrutiny?! Absolutely disgusting, they have turned us into a mid table team with the shockingly bad recruitment. 😑
The signings have been good. But just not your own signings. When you steal other clubs targets this is what you get. Zero plan and I'm glad! Back to where they belong, mid table like the REAL Chelsea pre Roman era 😂😂😂 COYG 🔴🔴
@@naseibonsu8120 🤣🤣
thatsa a very short term view, when the policy has been a long term one. I didnt expect anything this season - nor next. They are bonding and building seasons.
@@paulmapp8306 Let them do that. Everyone is also building and way ahead. Arsenal are not the finished article. Neither are Liverpool and Tottenham and Villa also utd. Chelsea will remain in the mid table section because there is no cohesion and no plan collectively, from boehly all the way down to the coach. On top of that you have players on 10 year contracts who have lost the hunger already. Good luck with that ride mate 😅
@@naseibonsu8120 only time will tell.
As ange said in a presser a few weeks ago. If your waiting for other managers to leave so you can succeed your in the wrong job and aren't pushing yourself enough. (to that end, havent gone back to check wording).
As a Chelsea fan, both reports were spot on! God help us!
Here's a serious question. Do people actually believe Chelsea has a better squad than 9th or 10th team? I personally don't think so. Wolves, Brighton has a better squad than Chelsea tbh. Chelsea has a squad of some potential players, I don't buy the narrative of 22 players all has very high potential. Atleast 12/13 players of this squad won't survive at PL for 2 years
It is a good question. I think this experiment has proved that you can't just buy a tonne of players and construct a team quickly. It clearly has to be more organic, slow and steady. I wonder what Chelsea fans think of Potter in hindsight. Arguably he had it worse with the number of players not fitting in the dressing room. No slight on Poch but out of curiosity I would have liked to see how Potter faired after a full season and pre-season. The question of who is better, Howe or Potter remains unanswered for me.
I think they do but it’s not by much at all. A tactically superior coach can bridge that gap or even over take you. The Chelsea squad is just a mismatch of parts. For example, I think we have better players than Brighton overall cos of depth. But difference they recruit their players to fit a certain profile and have tactically great manager. But you’re overall premise is right, the players aren’t nearly as good as our fans make out
The problem is that these players don’t click together but they are individually very good. Enzo, Caicedo, Nkunku, Palmer, Reece James,... not title contenders but not 11th place team.
I can attest Enzo was phenomenal for Benfica in the Champions and for Argentina in the WC. Amazing young player. Now he’s a shadow of himself. Look how Caicedo is playing. Players are worse now than they were 6 months ago. It’s up to the manager to make a great team out of a group of great players and Poch has failed.
People act like they spent a billion on some first team ready gems, when for the most part they bought projects/players with potential and are angry they aren’t getting immediate results
I feel like Reece James was an integral part in some players decision to come play for Chelsea. Unfortunately, he’s been out of the team almost constantly since then.
In my view yes, Boehly and Clearlake are to blame for the mess Cheslea have become since the takeover. It’s a real tough job to mold something from this randomly bought together team.
But Pochettino doesn’t help himself and does a lot of things wrong, most importantly not using key players to their strengths.
ENZO should be playing much closer to Caicedo in a pivot, not pushed up as a second striker or whatever he tries to make of him.
GALLAGHER is very one dimensional and what you win with his great pressing and energy you lose on the build up and defensive side on the midfield.
COLWILL at a traditional line hugging Left back is ridiculous, while he is the brightest LCB ralents! Why when you have a Maatsen if the other 2 LBs are injured???
Moreover his tactics are recently very naiive, and the pressing is not working if you are only doing 80%. You either park the bus or when you press you press all out, decide for gods sake.
Was agreeing totally with you until the last segment. You can only have 80% possession when you high press. And you have to put in context when teams come and just let you have the ball because they know they can withstand your attack. And Poch wss never a park tge bus kinda managee he did it a lot his last 2 years at Spurs but that was more because the team was getting old.
@@Kriscur20I didn’t mean 80% posession but the effort put in for pressing. I watched our pressing not at 100% so many times this season while sometimes it was top notch. Pressing is something you do properly or you don’t, if the gas is only pushed to 80% it will fail and opposition players will get out.
As a fan of nearly 60 years all I want to see is progress. I don’t expect to win anything you have to earn it but it didn’t need to be this bad. The ownership has a lot to answer for.
I genuinely think its just the fact that they've signed a bunch of players who are either not worth the money or not experienced enough
The biggest critique of Poch is that he hasn’t maximised what he’s had which if you fail to do as a manager then there should be no long term future there. However the problems around this club are way beyond him. The recruitment and squad planning has been shocking. I’ve said from the start that this strategy won’t work and had no practicality. And we’re seeing proof of this right now
Completely agree. I’m afraid the damage was done under the hood is even worse than what we see right now and warrants that the future doesn’t look bright either. I’m talking about of the firing of the whole hierarchy, medical team, footballing directors, scouting network and who knows what else but they technically replaced or fired everyone!
Poch is a scapegoat for Bohely. It could be Jesus himself as Chelsea manager no-one is getting instant results with a bunch of kids thrown together on mega wages
Sorry are we seeing that a long term vision and strategy change won’t work in the long run because the team are struggling after 18 months?
I agree that this is awful for the fans, but they have at a minimum a 5 year plan for most of their purchases. And what is at the moment a bunch of players who have no experience together may in 5 years time be one of the most settled teams. I’m not saying it will be but it is too early to say if their strategy will work or not.
The problem with handing young players 8 year contracts is it gives them too much security. Compare that to other clubs who only offer performance-related contracts, it makes their players far more motivated to perform to their heighest level.
The first mistake was getting rid of Tuchel, then the whole scouting network, medical staff and sporting direction. Boehly thought this was an american sports team and not a global football game.
The ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM is TODD BOEHLEY
He's not that fat
Pochetino struggled at PSG had one of the best Spurs sides in their history and won nothing, progressed Southampton and Espanol but he is not good.
Nice considered video 👍👍
BRING TIFO BACK
Chelsea paid a lot of money and signed players on long term deals who have less than 2 years top flight experience and also rely on injury prone players. While also lacking experience on the pitch
They may improve in time but itll take a few seasons of regular football and fans (esp Chelseas) lack that patience.
Combine that with a need to sell academy players to meet FFP concerns and you have a toxic storm brewing
I agree. Last season was really a "look at what we have" this season is a "weve bought a future - start to get to know each other". Next season will be a "now we know each other, lets start to build the tactics and philosophy". Season 25/26 is when it all comes together. Lets look at it - only 4 players have been in Chelsea's first team longer than 18 months..... Fofana, James and Chilwell who have all spend most of the last 18 months injured, and Silva whos now 39. You can agree or disagree with that plan - but its the plan we have. Those at their peak - Sterling particularly, and chilwell to a lesser degree (because of injuries) - haven't stood up as the leaders to help mould the youngsters. WE probably need to go against the recruiting policy and grab a couple of 28 year old leaders that can hold things together on the pitch - but you wont get those with the wage structure we now have. Honestly, Its a tough ride, but we just have to push through for a couple of years before it all comes together. I can do that,.
Ole, Lampard, Potter, Jose, Conte, Pirlo, Vieira, Poch, Ten Hag, Xavi.
Mikel Arteta was considered inferior to all of them.
"Just give the Manager time"; as if Arteta was some donkey who succeeded because he was "given time"
Ange & Howe are next 😃
Teams make so much revenue and external pressurw there's no time to bleed lmao mean having a losing streak learning curve. Money talks.
The owners have not brought in any winners and leaders at any level. With exception of Sterling, who's on the down would slope to obscurity, Fernández, who beginning to look like another one season wonder; winners of cups but not leaders. The directors, players and the coach are all bought in on their potential which is beginning to appear like most of them have reached their peak. With the exception of Palmer, Gusto and the goal keeper. All whist selling or being prepared to sell/clear out the identity of the club and playing team. However I do think that this slide on the performance front had started under Abramovich, some of the signings and Tuchels performance dropped off drastically at the end of Roman's ownership.
doing a good job
The fanbase doesn't expect instant results they just want their team to be more competitive. You wont find one Chelsea fan who expects Chelsea to be pushing for the league title but they do expect to be competing with the teams who are finically similar.
These are typical things that you see with poor long and short term planning, poor strategy, poor recruitment, this squad is at the level it is which is what happens when you buy random players just because they are young. Then you bring in a series of managers whom have had relative success but never really at this level and the one in Tuchel who was qualified, was then sacked. It was totally unnecessary to break everything down and get rid of everyone and go for a total rebuild
Arsenal has focused on young players too but made it work. Being young isn’t the problem but the right young players like you said.
Chelsea are where Utd were 2 years after Fergie left wasting massive sums of money on dud players. There is no easy fix and Boehly is now finding out 8 year contracts might not be such a great idea because you could end up with a team of Winston Bogardes who never leave. Silva and his missus can do one hes done cant ever play in a 4 hes too slow. There are a few decent players but they are lacking leaders the issue is the only players who could fetch decent money are Gallacher and Colwill and I doubt Chelsea really want to lose either.
What is project Poch? Discover young talent? Improve young talent? Construct a competitive team to win most games and finish top 4? Or huddle a squad of young, recovering, underperforming players get results?
Still have issues bypassing high press. Continue to concede on set plays. Cannot breakdown teams that sit deep. Unable to convert simple chances. Plays narrow and struggles againt quick counterattacks.
So what is Poch's project?
When Todd Boehly has built your foundations, any project will struggle for stability. Poch included.
One thing is clear, Chelsea are underperforming. So someone or some group have failed at their job. Be it the sports science, coaching or the recruitment. They all come under the custodians, so ultimately they are to blame. But having said that, changes can only happen if changes are made. I know they've made lot of changes recently and have got at least half if not whole of it wrong. But sorry to say, the only way to correct it is doing it again in the right way. We can't expect change without changing anything.
They tried skipped the queue by purchasing all the young talent in a year leading to dis balance between the experienced players and younger ones.
Maybe other clubs dont give eight year contracts for a reason.
"at this moment in time"
Chelsea’s downfall is all on Bohely. The guy thought he could buy a club and play football manager in real life. As the saying goes “You don’t win anything with kids”
Such a coin slot ideology 😂
An ideology that Chelsea are proving correct @@chull-lg7gv
It’s pretty obvious- the wrong manager was recruited followed by some very dubious player recruitment. Poch is a over rated under achieving guy , but the players at Chelsea are playing for the club they are pay check players
Everybody is a paycheck player just like we are in our jobs. The question is if the workplace can be made so you enjoy working there and that is missing at Chelsea right now obviously, too.
@@sygmaone I get your views but what I should have said was the Chelsea pay check players all got 6-7 year deals vrs other clubs who offered 3 yr deals .None of these current Chelsea players show any love or passion or ownership for the club , granted that can be instilled by the coaching team but these players don’t even look like they take responsibility for their performances.
If they win the League Cup, doesn't that open them up to UEFA's FFP rules? Can they even pass them?
Just stick to a back 3 ffs. Silva can't hack a back 4 and neither can our cbs and full backs! Connor is not a no.10, no idea why poch keeps trying it. He's a cdm or wing back at most. Enzo can't shoot so save his life. Wingers just lose the ball and can thread a pass
Its palmer fc vs...
Keep calm, and play 4-4-3
Couldn't of happened to a better team.
Poch took Spurs to the champions league final based on the swashbuckling style that he succeeded in implementing there. He just came unstuck against a super human Liverpool team. Ever since he got linked to the Man UTD job in December 2018, he hasn't been the same. Remember what happened to Rogers at Leicester in 2021 when all these credible outlets saying that he is their number one choice to replace Ole.
Harry Kane, Eriksen and Son spared his blushes and then. Here, there’s nobody to hide behind
@@drakegeralds699 he created those three
@@nostalgickang2494 they were gems he was lucky to manage. If he could create those, why hasn’t he been able to produce such anywhere else
@@drakegeralds699Brother mine, what about his good work at Southampton. I'm sure any good manager will fail under this Chelsea set up. If they want to spend their way out of trouble then they need to bring back Jose. Even that might fail. City spends a lot of money but wisely. Poch and Potter both are fantastic managers. Poch made the wrong choice of extending his contract with Spurs around 2017 I think. He was at the top of his game and should have left Spurs. He needs to find a decent project where a manager is actually listened to rather than loaded with players from all over the place.
@@nostalgickang2494 Southampton will and always has been a talent factory. Chelsea’s problems aren’t solely on poch but he is part of. If he failed with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe then he shouldn’t have been given this role in the first place. Chelsea should have done something similar to what Newcastle did with Howe
Liverpools team bar virgil trent Alison salah that's 4 players they've missed salah for alot of it and trent is largely thrown together a brand new midfield etc ridiculous injury record are top of the league Chelsea shouldn't be 11th come on
He’s not a top coach. Him reaching the CL final with Tottenham was a fluke. He had the best players in the world and unlimited resources at PSG and he still shit the bed 😂.
Why do people keep going on about Abramovich? Chelsea didn't win a domestic title for his last 5 years in charge, how are some people so divorced from reality?
Roman abramovich must take over chelsea fc again
Poch isn’t completely without blame but this Chelsea team is a poison chalice. By far the worst run most dysfunctional club in the league. I genuinely had them fighting relegation before the season started so I’m impressed they’ve avoided that
The moderator (an Arsenal fan, “we” beat Liverpool) could barely hide his glee - laughing, giggling throughout the discussion. So unprofessional.
to be fair to him, chelsea are a vile club.
Thiago Silva is the one who needs to go, his performances recently have been poor and showing no heart at all
age is catching up with him. But They will lead at least one other leader on the pitch. Those kids let their heads drop too quickly
Chelsea are back to where they were before the money...😂
Don't trust Liam at all actually. writes clickbait headlines like everyone else.
Enzos agent should get a statue built outside the Benfica stadium because that kid is terrible. £120m? Hes a £20m player. Cant tackle. Cant pass. Cant shoot. Cant run.
Agent of the year.
"us chelsea fans really appreciate what abramovich did in terms of making us successful, even though he clearly cheated in several different ways"
Being a good player at an underperforming mid table team doesn’t always translate to being good enough for the top brass. Palmer isn’t doing much except finish a few chances that would have gone begging
I don't get it... Mid table in PL is higher than Chelsea's natural position 🤷🏻♂️ what are they. . 15th biggest club in England? Just pumped up on cash doping recently but never been a big club before finances. Seriously does anyone remember Chelsea doing anything pre immoral investments? Nope!
Why would you want to give Chelsea terminal cancer by re-appointing José Mourinho? I get that you need views and traction for the channel, but come on, Ayo. Don't stoop to those sorts of lows.
José Mourinho is bad for football. It would honestly be like being told you have a terrible disease, but then you refuse any treatment for it. This generation of football has no place for him.
It's a better product for him NOT being a part of it.
Chelsea was stolen from Roman Abrahimovic and Chelsea are now suffering the consequences of that great injustice done to a man that has been nothing but good to them
Lay off the crack
Won’t somebody think of the billionaire oligarch 😢
@@crayontom9687 the English government played Chelsea. Like you said, he’s a billionaire oligarch and Chelsea due to politics got stuck holding the short end of the stick
"What's gone wrong?"
Quick, simple answer: Pochettino. 🤷🏻♂️
Nothings Gone wrong. We are basically playing an Under 23 squad in the prem. We arent getting european football for this season or the next. This is a long term project. we arent going to sign 5 players in their prime next season and play UCL. our money is tied up in these youngsters and we just have to stick it out. In 3 seasons if we havent won anything the project has failed.if you fire everyone and restructure the team we are getting relegated. simples as that stop bitching and support your team through the tough times and hope they come good. The bed has been made now its time to sleep in it.
I get that you guys need to churn out content, but it's simple here. The owners don't know what they're doing, and they've sucked for 2 years, and they'll continue to suck because the owners are doing Football Manager.
As ange said in a presser a few weeks ago. If your waiting for other managers to leave so you can succeed your in the wrong job and aren't pushing yourself enough. (to that end, havent gone back to check wording).