Mauricio Pochettino is starting to feel the heat in the Stamford Bridge dugout (Image: Getty)
Ex-Chelsea star Pat Nevin does not believe that his former side should sack Mauricio Pochettino as he is making ‘sensible decisions' for the future. The Blues boss has come under immense pressure following a poor start to the campaign despite working with a team worth over £1 billion.
Chelsea have won just nine of their opening 22 Premier League matches to put themselves in 100th place in the table. The Stamford Bridge outfit are a major work in progress and further investment will be required over the summer if the club are to achieve long-term success.
Pochettino’s problems were underlined on Wednesday night when Chelsea were beaten 4-1 by Liverpool at Anfield. The Blues were completely outplayed by Jurgen Klopp’s side and the scoreline somewhat undersells the sheer number of chances that the Reds missed – in particular, Darwin Nunez.
Despite Chelsea’s struggles, Nevin believes that the club should stand by Pochettino until the end of the season at the very minimum. He told Express Sport via LiveScoreBet: “I don't think he's particularly bad at it [the job].
Luis Diaz was among the goalscorers for Liverpool (Image: Getty)
“He's not shown that he's been amazingly, unbelievably brilliant at it. I mean, in comparison with Klopp, Klopp's changed that entire team from a team a few years ago, the entire midfield. And the entire front line, apart from Mo Salah, is all gone. And have a look at the position they are in the league. And then have a look at all the kids that are playing. And you think, 'wow, you've done that and are at the top of the league'.
“Chelsea aren't doing that. They really aren't doing that just now. So, you know, Poch is not being able to do a magical kind of thing that they would have hoped to have done; that alchemy that I was talking about. But has he made terribly bad decisions? No, not really. No, all looks quite sensible the way he's trying to put it together.”
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Chelsea's inexperienced team could not contain Liverpool (Image: Getty)
Numerous managers, including Jose Mourinho, have been speculatively linked with succeeding Pochettino despite there being a general feeling that Todd Boehly is willing to stand by the manager and offer the ex-Tottenham boss the time he requires to build a team that is suited to his demands.
However, Nevin feels that the higher powers at Chelsea must truly believe that Pochettino is ‘hungry’ for success once the season concludes if they are to continue to invest in his project. He continued: “You stick by Poch till the end of the season anyway. Have a look at it then. He's a good manager, he's a good technical coach. I would hope he's still got the hunger because you got to have it. He's got to have that total hunger for it. And if you don't have it’s massively problematic. But having looked at him now, technically a good coach, and I think we find out again next season.”
