Pochettino’s First Day on the Job Puts Chelsea Behind the 8 Ball

Pochettino not being able to be at the Chelsea facilities, hinders the club in a multitude of ways. It gives him less time to get used to his new stomping grounds, to familiarize himself with the players that are around the training facilities, and to figure out what his best possible 11 will be come the first game of the season against Liverpool on August 13th.

Once July 1st hits, it will be interesting to see if Chelsea’s activity in the transfer window heats up, along with squad movement with even more players departing from the club. Chelsea has a massive squad, whereas last season the locker room wasn’t big enough to accommodate every player, according to Thiago Silva.

When Pochettino was at Tottenham he achieved great heights during his five years at the club helping develop players like Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son and even getting Spurs to a UEFA Champions League Final. The one thing he could not do at Tottenham was win any major trophy, domestically or in Europe.

At PSG, he managed superstar players like Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi. During his time there, he was able to win trophies, winning Ligue 1 in 2021-22, but also came in second the season prior. But Pochettino’s time at PSG was never going to be defined by how he did domestically, he knew that from the jump. Like many PSG managers before him, Pochettino was unable to win the Champions League, in 2021 he came close but lost to Manchester City in the semi-final.

Hopefully, Pochettino will be ready to clean up the mess that he is inheriting, and he will be given time to build this team back up because this is no easy job. One match that Pochettino will certainly have circled is November 4th when Chelsea travel to Tottenham where Pochettino will face off against his former club for the first time.