When should Chelsea start to panic about Mauricio Pochettino?
By Evan Curnew
When Chelsea won just two of five at the beginning of the 2022-2023 Premier League season, it was deemed a disaster, and just over a week later, Thomas Tuchel was sacked by Todd Boehly. This season, under Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea have won just a single match in their first five fixtures, with the victory coming against Luton Town, who are favourites to finish 20th place.
Despite looking like their draw against Liverpool in the opening match week could be something to build upon, the Blues have failed to show that things are going to be different this season. Todd Boehly led a massive overhaul of the squad this summer, but even after the window has closed, the squad, on paper, looks nowhere near a title challenger.
In fairness to Pochettino, he’s had to deal with plenty of injuries to the squad. Captain Reece James is still struggling to stay healthy, and newcomer Christopher Nkunku is out long-term and has yet to make his Premier League debut. That’s not all, though; Carney Chukwuemeka, Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana and Trevoh Chalobah all missed the club’s most recent fixture against Bournemouth with multiple of those players being out long-term. A healthy squad for Chelsea should be able to see an uptick in performance, but for now, how long will Chelsea allow for poor results to be okay?
While fans have yet to turn against Mauricio Pochettino, they are frustrated with the start of the season, which has seen the club sink to 14th after matchday five. Boos could be heard from the away Chelsea fans during this visit to Bournemouth as the club failed to score in a nil-nil draw. Post-match, Mauricio Pochettino spoke about the supporter’s disappointment.
"“The fans are disappointed because of the situation but I am not worried about that. I say that because we really know what we are doing we deserved to win”. [Source]"
It goes without saying that Pochettino should be given the chance to showcase what his side is capable of when healthy, but how long will that be? Chelsea needs to see results very soon, especially given they have no European football this season, and the focus is fully on the Premier League. The club’s next run of fixtures includes Aston Villa, Fulham and Burnley. In this instance, Unai Emery’s Aston Villa will be the favourites in that match, but the fixtures after that should be ones where there is no excuse for Chelsea not to win those games. It’s time for the club to have a “no excuses” attitude and get the fans in positive spirits again.