Following a 5-0 drubbing at Arsenal a few short weeks ago, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino looked a dead man walking, but four wins on the spin may just have saved his job.
The Blues were well adrift of the European places in ninth place, despite spending in excess of £1bn on transfers since summer 2022. But a recent uptick in form has likely granted him another season at the helm.
Pochettino Chelsea job: a rollercoaster season
As a former Spurs manager, Pochettino always had an uphill battle to win over the Stamford Bridge crowd.
But after a wholly positive pre-season, things were looking brighter for the Blues, who were then bolstered by the additions of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to their midfield, beating Liverpool to both players.
But for most of this season, Blues fans have had a strong sense of deja vu, as Pochettino struggled to coalesce his disparate and expensively components into something coherent, just as Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard did last season.
So far in 2024, Chelsea have had humbling draws with the likes of Sheffield United away and Burnley at home, and received humiliating defeats from old rivals Arsenal and Liverpool.
But Pochettino seems to have finally found a team that clicks in the final weeks of the season.
His side have won four matches in a row, catapulting them up to sixth place, meaning that Chelsea will return to European football in some form in 2024/25 after a season away.
The Argentine clearly has the support of his players. Cole Palmer, following their 2-1 win at Brighton said: “All credit to the manager. All the players love the manager and want to fight for him”.
And for now, Todd Boehly and co seem to be keeping the faith in Pochettino. with The Times reporting that the American consortium Boehly heads up believes that some stability is needed at Stamford Bridge.
Have Pochettino's struggles been the sign of something deeper?
If Chelsea had sacked the Argentinian, it would have been the fourth manager they have parted ways with in just two seasons.
The 52-year-old has had to work with a very disparate group of young players that make up a dysfunctional, if talented, squad.
Some players have simply not performed at the level required to get into Europe, such as Nicolas Jackson, who despite some bright spots, has statistically been one of the worst finishers in the league, or the plethora of underwhelming defenders the Blues have signed in recent years.
Even after the Blues' success on the south coast against Brighton, Pochettino reiterated: “This is not my team. This is Chelsea's team.”
His squad has also been consistently decimated by injury issues. Despite being out of Europe, Chelsea have had both the greatest number of injuries and the most days missed through injury in the league this season.
The Premier League has changed a lot since Pochettino's time with Spurs ended in 2019, but the Argentinian has a track record of growing young sides. If he fails to do so at Chelsea, the Blues may need to look inward.
