Chelsea continued on their bad run with additional pressure piling on manager Mauricio Pochettino as they slumped to their fourth Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday.
Be as it may, owner Todd Boehly is reportedly pleased with the Argentine despite the Blues’ undesirable start to the season under the former Tottenham coach. The Stamford Bridge side were handed a disappointing 2-0 home defeat by Brentford on Saturday that sees them languishing in 11th place in the Premier League with only three wins from their first 10 matches.
The main feature has been their indifference in form with only one home win all season – against newly-promoted Luton Town – and the early optimism of a Champions League return next season is already beginning to dissipate, with a glaring 11-point gap having opened up between Chelsea and the top four.
Pochettino had been chiefly instrumental in guiding Spurs to their first Champions League final in 2019 and was brought in to halt the massive slide for the Blues’ fortunes after a dismal 2022-23 campaign that saw them plummet to a 12th-placed Premier League finish and failing to qualify for any of the European competitions. Both Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter were relieved of their posts with Frank Lampard returning as interim boss until the campaign was over.
Somehow the financial muscle of Boehly has neither aided nor abetted Pochettino in making any progress. Nevertheless, co-owner Boehly is seemingly contented with the man he now has in the dugout and is not about to hit the panic button in terms of managerial changes.
According to journalist Simon Phillips, who had “spoken to a source”, the American billionaire is apparently pleased with Pochettino despite the current indifferent form of his team. This is deapite Chelsea having already lost four times in the Premier League this season, drawing at home to both Liverpool and Arsenal, with the latter two having already both emerged as title contenders this season.
A lack of cutting-edge in front of goal appears to be The Blues’ biggest problem currently, along with ongoing injury issues, but Pochettino has identified that there are legacy issues and has pleaded for time to put things right.