Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t had the best of starts at Chelsea.
The one-time Tottenham manager has been unable to slow down the slump that started under Graham Potter at Stamford Bridge as the Blues sit firmly in mid-table.
After spending over £1bn on new players, the Blues, quite simply, should be doing better, and questions are now, once again, being asked of the manager.
However, according to David Ornstein, Chelsea are still very much behind their gaffer.
Indeed, speaking on Sky Sports’ Back Pages Podcast, Ornstein says that as far as he knows, the owners at Chelsea are still backing Pochettino, claiming that they’re hoping he will survive at least until the summer when the situation can potentially be reassessed.
Pochettino still backed
Ornstein shared what he knows about the Chelsea boss and his future.
“Mauricio Pochettino now has the mantel and they hope he will get through at least until the summer where he’ll be one year into a two-year contract with the option of another,” Ornstein said.
“Some people feel that Chelsea have gone under the radar because of the Man United crisis. They’re still in a period of transition and we will see what happens in January and the summer of course. With Pochettino, there have been flashes and signs through Chelsea’s performances that they’re getting a good thing going on. They need to pick up a result for sure, and they might see Sheffield United as the perfect opposition, but if it doesn’t go Chelsea’s way it starts to get a bit concerning for Pochettino, but, as far as I know the owners and the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge are backing him.”
Different approach
It’s bizarre to see Chelsea giving a manager so much leeway.
In the past, having Chelsea in 12th after 16 games in the Premier League would be an unquestionable sackable offence, but, somehow, Pochettino has survived to this point without much pressure on at all.
In our view, Pochettino is a very lucky man, but this run of form goes on for much longer, that luck will surely run out.