Current US Men’s National Team and former Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino recently sat down with the English press to discuss the upcoming World Cup among many other topics. During that interview, the topic of his Chelsea tenure and his thoughts on the club’s progression during his reign.
In a response that may surprise Chelsea fans that were all about the #PochOut movement, the Argentinian manager was pleased with the progression of the team and was even grateful for the short experience.
"The team in the beginning suffered many, many problems, and even then we were performing well without getting the results we wanted. In the end, we were doing really, really well. If you see the table in the last six months you can see the progression was massive."
"We became a team fighting for the top four and that was a good thing to keep going in the season after. We are very grateful to Chelsea because it gave us the opportunity to be involved in a project where as a coaching staff we learned a lot."Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino came to Chelsea at a tricky time because it was very much a transitional period for the club. They had just finished 12th in the league under a combination of Graham Potter and Frank Lampard in an interim role and fans were showing great discontent with how things were going under new ownership.
This same ownership group had already fired Thomas Tuchel who won the Champions League with the club and failed with the hiring of Graham Potter who wasn’t up to the task. To add to this instability and stench of failure, Pochettino was most known for being the manager of a hated rival in Tottenham Hotspur who had a history of “spicy” derbies with Chelsea under his leadership.
Initially Pochettino struggled to make headway with the Blues as they slogged to just one win in their first 6 matches. By January they had already lost 8 matches in the Premier League but things started to turn around in February.
In their last 15 league fixtures, from February 12th and on, the Blues had an impressive record of 9 wins, 5 draws, and just 1 loss. They ended the season with 5 league wins in a row but that loss stood out as it was a 5-0 drubbing to another hated rival in Arsenal.
The Blues finished sixth in the table and it seemed like that would be enough to keep Pochettino around but there appeared to be too much bad blood between the parties. They “mutually agreed” to part ways and Pochettino would take the USMNT shortly after.
Since then, Chelsea’s league form has not improved much and there is a chance they end up outside of the major European places just like they did under Pochettino. Still, he is credited with helping Cole Palmer take a star turn and their best chance at a domestic trophy in a while with a loss to Liverpool in extra time of the League Cup Final.
Depending on how the rest of this season goes and the rest of the Enzo Maresca era fares, Chelsea fans may be wishing for the days of Pochettino and his style of football. We don’t see a reunion anytime soon as Pochettino is with the USMNT until at least 2026 and has spoken of unfinished business at Spurs, so what ifs and maybes will have to suffice.