Club legend claims even Pep Guardiola couldn’t fix the chaos at Chelsea

Premier League heavyweights Chelsea have been unable to replicate the success during the Roman Abramovich era since the start of the Todd Boehly leadership, but, recent results have provided encouragement among the Blues faithful of a turnaround to end the season on a positive note.

Club legend Frank Leboeuf, who spent five years at Chelsea from 1996 to 2001, has expressed his take on the troubles faced by manager Mauricio Pochettino to reclaim lost glory.

Pochettino has been under immense scrutiny since the start of his tenure last summer, registering just eight wins in 20 matches in the Premier League during the first half of the campaign. Leboeuf has come out in defense of the Argentine tactician, asserting that even managerial maestro Pep Guardiola would have struggled with the ‘shambles’ at Stamford Bridge this season.

Speaking on the issues at Chelsea, as reported by Goal.com, the Frenchman told BetVictor:

"When Mauricio Pochettino signed for Chelsea, there was not a ‘right man’ for the job – the club was a shambles. You could have put anybody in there, even Pep Guardiola, and I don’t think they would have done anything special with this Chelsea team because an instant solution was impossible to find."

Leboeuf emphasized on the challenges Pochettino faced, the gradual progress, and acknowledged the positive strides amid ongoing criticism.

He added:

"Now we are starting to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel after the games against Aston Villa and Manchester City, but it is all about consistency. We can see how Pochettino is working with the players and the confidence that he is building with them, but there is still a long way to go. I think Pochettino is the last person to blame for the situation at Chelsea."

"I’m not even sure that I would’ve taken the Chelsea job at the time he did, because although the money might be good it is hard to know where to even start with actually managing the team! He had the guts to take it on and he is doing well."

The former defender highlighted the difficulties of managing a team in disarray and delved further into the obstacles encountered by the Chelsea boss, including a string of injuries and criticism for not maximizing the potential of Blues’ star-studded squad.

"Sometimes the criticism of Pochettino is fair but he has not been without problems and injuries and he has done his best. Everybody was saying that Chelsea didn’t know how to defend without Thiago Silva, but then we saw against Manchester City that they are more than capable. Axel Disasi showed last weekend, against a cyborg in Erling Haaland, that he can handle it."

Despite the rocky start, Leboeuf acknowledged positive developments in recent weeks, especially after notable performances against Aston Villa and Manchester City.

The 56-year-old ended by saying:

"When Pochettino puts his confidence in his players, they have shown that they can produce good performances like they have recently against Aston Villa and Manchester City. Hopefully, we are going to see the result of Pochettino’s hard work very soon."

Chelsea face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round tie against Leeds United on February 28.

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