Mauricio Pochettino: Should Chelsea replace their manager?

At the end of the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino looked like a broken man as the Chelsea manager accepted his silver medal.

He has lost another final as the manager of an English team and a second consecutive final loss to Liverpool.

As the gaffer of Tottenham, Poch reached the final of the Carabao Cup in 2015 and faced Chelsea, but his team was beaten.

That seemed like the start of something good, but it was in 2019 that he reached the final of another competition, with Tottenham facing Liverpool in the final of the Champions League.

The Lilywhites were fortunate to have reached that final thanks to the heroics of Lucas Moura against Ajax in the semi-final.

However, Liverpool was too good for Spurs and won the game 2-0, and this was the beginning of the end for Poch at Tottenham as he left months later in the following campaign.

His return to the Premier League as the manager of Chelsea was not met with a lot of excitement because of his reputation and the rivalry between the Blues and Spurs.

But we cannot deny that Poch is one of the best coaches for young players in the world and deserves a second chance to manage a top Premier League side.

As many predicted, his spell at Chelsea has not been very successful so far, and the loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at the weekend could be the last straw.

The Reds were missing so many first-team players and had a bunch of youngsters on the pitch during extra time, yet they found a winner against a Chelsea team that has taken around a billion pounds to build.

Fans who keep buying Chelsea tickets will ask for more from their team and the manager, so their discontent could spell the end of the road for Poch.

What does Chelsea want?

Chelsea has spent so much on several players in the last few months as the Blues' new owners try to find their feet in European football ownership.

Under Roman Abramovich, we all knew Chelsea wanted to be the top club in England and Europe.

The Russian Billionaire splashed the cash to appoint the best managers on the continent and strengthened the team with some of the best footballers in the world, with the goal of winning trophies immediately.

Abramovich was all about short-term success, and he cut corners to take Chelsea back to the top of European football, but the new owners have taken a different approach.

Todd Boehly and the Blues’ newest owners have splashed the cash on relatively unknown and inexperienced players.

The signings excited fans on paper because these are some of the finest young players around the world who were being tracked by other top clubs.

However, most, if not all of them, are not experienced enough to win trophies, which is why it is baffling some of their supporters want quick success.

As they say in football, young players can win you games and excite your fans, but experienced players will win you trophies.

Chelsea’s insistence on signing players for the future means the Blues have sacrificed short-term success for the long-term, and this should buy Pochettino some time.

The Argentinian manager does not have a reputation for winning many trophies, but he is also no magician who can transform all the youngsters in his group into winners automatically.

These players will learn from their failures and become successful players, and that will take time, so there is no need for this cry over Poch’s lack of success so far.

Unforgivable failure

We are having this debate on Poch’s future because of the Carabao Cup final, with many Chelsea fans embarrassed by their loss to Liverpool.

As we pointed out earlier, the Reds played without the likes of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, and Curtis Jones, among other several stars.

Liverpool’s bench for that game was filled with teenagers from the club’s academy, and Jurgen Klopp threw them into the game when it was extra time.

We wonder how the teenagers will fair against a team like Chelsea whose players have been signed with big money.

But the Liverpool youngsters were full of confidence and outplayed Chelsea so well we think they all deserved their medals.

It is hard to look beyond that and Chelsea supporters will feel they will not face an easier Liverpool team in a final.

But does that mean that game should be Poch’s last on their bench or should he be handed more chances?

For many Chelsea fans, there should be no days left with Poch as their manager and the Argentinian needs to leave immediately.

But in all fairness, Chelsea played well against Liverpool, who had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping out the Blues.

Poch shouldn’t be judged by the outcome of that game and the end of the season would be a better time to replace the manager.

Is the Chelsea squad too young for success?

Chelsea has several legends over the last two decades as several top players have worn their famous blue shirts not so long ago.

However, the current owners opted to cash in on their most experienced players and replace them with youngsters doing well all over Europe.

This means a majority of the players who won the 2021 Champions League for the Blues have all left and have been replaced with much younger players.

Indeed, the Blues’ current squad's average age is 23.4, which is remarkably low and shows it lacks experience.

In defence, the Blues can call on Thiago Silva in defence who is a very experienced player, while Raheem Sterling leads their attack and he is a very experienced player as well.

Apart from both of them, Poch is working with players between the ages of 19 and 24, which are very inexperienced in the Premier League.

This does not mean he should not do better, in fact, Arsenal’s squad’s average age is just 25.5 and they are in the title race in this campaign.

Chelsea has the youngest squad in the league by average age and their fans should be prepared to allow the group to develop, but losing a final to a bunch of Liverpool kids does not speak well of them.

The Blues had three different managers to work with last season and would not want to start making changes to their managerial positions again this season.

This could be Poch’s saving grace and we expect the former PSG coach to remain the Chelsea boss until the end of the season unless things significantly deteriorate.