Mauricio Pochettino's turbulent first season as Chelsea manager has ended. Despite a strong finish to the season that saw The Blues get back into Europe, he has chosen to leave the club by mutual consent.
But rather than the dressing room or a bust-up with the owners, this decision was one that was entirely tactical, and has been visible on the pitch ever since he took charge. FourFourTwo's Adam Clery looks at why the club were on the right track, but it's still a decision that makes sense.
But rather than the dressing room or a bust-up with the owners, this decision was one that was entirely tactical, and has been visible on the pitch ever since he took charge. FourFourTwo's Adam Clery looks at why the club were on the right track, but it's still a decision that makes sense.
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00:00Ciao, merhaba and good day mates, Adam Cleary from 442 here and Chelsea fans, I don't know
00:12how you do this. No sooner have they gone on a late surge to end the season on a high,
00:17have they parted company with manager Maurizio Pochettino and the question is now again,
00:22what happens next? And while I don't have the answer to that one yet, I can tell you
00:27precisely why he has chosen to go and why the club are happy to let him leave. So let's
00:34look at that.
00:35All right, so before we start, I just want to let you know mentally where I am here,
00:42right? This was me at the start of the season.
00:46Chelsea are winning the Premier League this season. Yeah, right. I know, I know, I know.
00:50And this is me now, which is why I said I don't know how Chelsea fans do this because
00:54I have visibly aged about 10,000 years watching this team this season. And this by and large
01:00was that Chelsea side. This is the formation you most commonly saw them in. And these are
01:04the players that most commonly filled those positions. Now, obviously, it wasn't just
01:08this lot like Mudrick had a lot of minutes here and Caldwell had a lot of minutes between
01:12left centre back and left back. Sanchez, we was the first choice goalkeeper when he was
01:17fit. Badia, Schiele was in and out, but just pretty much this was your 11 this season.
01:21But a major thing that happened over the last couple of weeks was the injury to Enzo
01:26Fernandez. So his lack of availability meant that they sort of went to this sort of three
01:32box three system with Mark Cucaracha playing as an inverted fullback alongside Caicedo,
01:37Gallagher pushing up from a deeper position. And all of a sudden, they looked really quite
01:42coherent and really quite good, which is, of course, not something that is supposed
01:47to happen when you lose a 100 million pound marquee signing of the current administration.
01:53But that is at the very core of what has been wrong with Chelsea this season and why we
01:59have just seen Pochettino leave. It is all about who as a football team they are and
02:05also who they're not. So who are they then? Well, the season is finished. And if we look
02:10at their numbers across the entire course of it, they are incredibly confusing. Now,
02:16the very short version of this is that they rank really highly for possession football
02:20because that is the profile of loads of players in their squad. But also at the same time,
02:26they rank really highly for like direct attacking football because that is the profile of all
02:31the magic imps and fairies in Mauricio Pochettino's brain. And that, as I've said, is a very confusing
02:37type of team to be. Now, you're really going to have to pay attention for the next couple
02:41of minutes because this is incredibly data heavy, but just sort of stick with me. Right.
02:44So Chelsea rank second in the league for the total number of touches in the defensive
02:49penalty area and the defensive third. So naturally, you might assume that that means they're really
02:54good at building out from the back. They have loads of the ball here because that's how
02:58they like to start attacks, right? No, wrong. In terms of the number of successful build
03:04up attacks they've had, which is like the measure of how good a team is at working it
03:08from back to front and making something happen. They drop off all the way down to eight. For
03:13context here, it's Brighton who rank top for all these touches. They're the only team who do more
03:18of that than Chelsea and they only drop off to third behind Man City and Arsenal, who are just
03:23like top of every stat. And so the reason that number ends up being so high is they just knock
03:27it around aimlessly at the back. They don't really know what to do with it. They're not good enough
03:31to be incisive and get through a mid or a low block. So they just rack up pass after pass after
03:37pass. So they have a lot of the ball, but you would not call them an effective possession team,
03:42right? But what Pochettino really wants them to be is this like aggressive front foot high
03:47pressing team and they score really highly for that as well. Like they're joint fourth in the
03:51league for passes per defensive action, which is the measure of how sort of like proactive you'll
03:57be when the other team have got the ball. How much will you let them do before you smash into them
04:01with a defensive action? They're right between Arsenal and Newcastle for that particular stat
04:07and those are two teams who are great at it. So again, naturally you'd assume they're doing a lot
04:12of that. They must get a lot of goals that way, right? No, no, also wrong. They get a reasonable
04:18amount of high turnovers from this aggressive style, but they drop all the way to ninth for
04:23the number of those they turn into chances and then drop all the way to 14th for the number of
04:28those they turn into goals, like one above Sheffield United. And what gives you that drop
04:34off is situations like this. This is a really good time to press the opposition. Conor Gallagher
04:38recognises that he charges the opposition, which will help keep your passes per defensive action
04:43quite low, but nobody does it with him. So even if he does win the ball back, they're very unlikely
04:48to create a chance and even less likely to create a goal. Like ultimately it leaves Chelsea with a
04:53compromised brand of football. And what does a compromised brand of football win you? The FA Cup.
04:59Just in this instance, FA stands for f**k all. So again, just to recap, loads of the ball at the
05:04back, but not an effective possession side and really proactive and front foot in the opposition's
05:10thirds, but not an effective high pressing team. So what does work for them? Well, they also score
05:16really highly. In fact, they're second in the league for the total number of take-ons. So a
05:21player gets a ball at his feet, he runs at an opponent and he successfully gets past them. And
05:25unlike the other two stats, there's no drop off here at all. In fact, they are the top team in
05:30the Premier League for creating chances as a direct result of running at an opponent, which
05:35obviously sounds really good, but that is like the complete opposite of having a clear and defined
05:41system. Like there's a huge drop off for possession. There's a huge drop off for high pressing, but
05:45they're really good at somebody just getting the ball and going, do you know what? Nothing's
05:50happening here. I'll have to do it myself. Like that stat is the most individual way of creating
05:57a chance. And the fact they score so highly for that should scream at you from the numbers
06:03themselves that so often these very talented players find that the system is not working.
06:10But here is simultaneously the other major problem they've got and the thing that should actually
06:15encourage them the most that they are going in the right direction, right? They create the most
06:20chances as a result of these take-ons, but they don't score the most goals. Their conversion
06:26rate from all the chances they get from these take-ons is only 14%. And the next most prolific
06:32team in this stat is Newcastle, and their conversion rate is over double that, like it's
06:37nearly 30%. And this is something that I and indeed loads of people have been saying about
06:42Chelsea this season. For large parts, their performances were way better than their results.
06:47They just could not finish the chances they were creating. Like these, right, are all of
06:53Nicholas Jackson's goals this season. And he's got like 17 in all competitions, which is a better
06:58first season than Didier Drogba had. But these are all the really good chances that came his way
07:06and he either missed, was saved, or were otherwise blocked, right? There are so many other goals
07:12that should have happened this season. And this is not me shitting on Nicholas Jackson, by the way.
07:18I think there is a hell of a player in there somewhere, and he's still only 22. So he will
07:22improve as time goes on. But there were so many times this season where a really good chance fell
07:28to him and he did not take it. And I know loads of people don't care about XG and I only try and
07:33mention it in these videos when it obviously passes the eye test at the same time. But just
07:37this is a measure of the chances he was getting, according to XG. And this is a measure of how
07:42effectively he was converting those chances. Like you watched Chelsea this season, you saw that,
07:48that was real life. And what's just crazy about the season Pochettino has had with this team
07:53is that there were long periods in it where it looked like he was definitely getting the sack
07:57and it was all going wrong. And that moment against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final,
08:02you didn't really see how there was any way back. But they've only lost one game since that
08:08afternoon. Every single start, every single metric has been trending upwards since it all bottomed
08:13out at Wembley. And that just doesn't happen. It would have been so easy for this Chelsea team
08:18to go under after that match, but they rallied. Pochettino has gotten to buy in to what he's
08:24doing and it looked like things were going well. And if we can just accept that they should have
08:29had at least a couple more wins than they got, then look at the league table. If all the English
08:35sides in Europe hadn't spectacularly messed up that fifth Champions League space, Chelsea would
08:40have gone into the last game of the season with a really good chance of getting into it. And
08:46regardless, Aston Villa, who've had a fantastic season, only finished five points above where
08:53Chelsea did. Like that's a win and two draws away from them having the season Villa just had. So
08:58yeah, they were actually really close from getting their main objective. Jackson's just had a better
09:02first season for Chelsea than Drogba had, technically. Cole Palmer was a great shout for
09:07player of the year. Caicedo finally seems to be the player that they thought they were buying.
09:11Like everything's going in the right direction. It's been a pretty good season, all things
09:16considered. But the problem and the reason Pochettino was left is not the season that's
09:21just happened. It's the season that was about to come. It's been public knowledge over the last
09:27couple of days that Pochettino was meeting with Todd Bowley and the rest of the Chelsea owners
09:31and management group to discuss where they go next. And the fact that he's left immediately
09:36after those meetings, you can very easily fill in the blanks yourself. He is quite understandably
09:42going to want to build on the successes they've had this season, build on the momentum they got
09:46towards the end by selling the players that don't fit his style of play and buying ones who do. And
09:52that means there probably isn't really a place in this side for players like Enzo Fernandes,
09:57like Modric, like Raheem Sterling, possibly even Desarzi. And the fact that Chelsea have gone on
10:02their best run when all of them have been marginalised and out of the side probably proves
10:07his point. But the problem is that he isn't in charge here and this is not his decision. Todd
10:13Bowley's name obviously gets thrown around a lot, but the real decision making tends to come from
10:17Bedard-Egbali, the other co-owner, and the sporting directors, Paul Wynn-Stanley and Lauren Stewart.
10:23They're the people who are in control of Chelsea as an organisation and they want to be heavily,
10:28heavily involved in the football side of the business. And they want Chelsea to be a dominant
10:34possession team, not unlike a Man City or Real Madrid. And as a result, they see players like
10:39Enzo Fernandes, Modric and Sterling not as bad fits for what the manager wants to do,
10:45but as marquee signings of this administration that should be getting built around. And crucially,
10:50they will see a player like Conor Gallagher, who is admittedly a bad fit in a possession side,
10:55but the perfect player for a Pochettino team as the most sellable asset. In fact, to be totally
11:02honest with you, it wouldn't surprise me at all if this more or less entirely came down to whether
11:06Conor Gallagher gets to stay or gets to go. Because if we look at his defensive numbers
11:11for an attacking number 10, they're off the charts. They're insane. They're incredible.
11:15He's amazing at doing this. You put him in a team that actually plays this way effectively,
11:19he'd look like one of the best players in the world. I say that with my entire chest.
11:23But then you compare his creation numbers, his ability to unpick defences, his output from an
11:28attacking standpoint, and you simply can't have somebody taking up such a vital position in your
11:33team if that's your output. So again, say it with me, an awkward fit for a possession side,
11:39which the Chelsea ownership desperately want to be, but the perfect player for a Pochettino team,
11:44which Pochettino wants to be. In fact, actually, let me just sum this whole thing up for you right
11:49in footballing terms, okay? This is Enzo Fernandez's pass map in the Carabao Cup final,
11:56where for large part, right, we'll all agree, Chelsea were on top. It is side to side. It is
12:01retaining possession. It is exactly the kind of team that Chelsea's owners wanted them to be.
12:06Very rarely does he pass the ball forward. He just keeps possession, he dominates the opposition,
12:11and they only try and be incisive in the final third. And this is Conor Gallagher's pass map
12:16from the weekend where with no Fernandez in the side, he plays in that role. You will see
12:22there is virtually no side to side passing. There is virtually no attempt to retain possession.
12:26It is the fundamental difference between horizontal football and vertical football.
12:32And in an act of pure poetry, the horizontal football of Enzo Fernandez and the vertical
12:37football of Conor Gallagher has left Chelsea at a crossroads. Can you see that there as the
12:44metaphor on the nose enough for you? It is a literal, literal crossroads. And you can see
12:49as a result why it makes perfect sense for them to just part ways amicably now before it just gets
12:57worse. And as disappointed as I am in the whole thing, because if you've watched the channel a
13:01lot this season, you'll know I've got this weird, inexplicable soft spot for this Chelsea side.
13:06It does kind of make sense. Like it's either that Pochettino has to go or the ownership has to go,
13:12and there's only one winner in that scenario. So the ownership might as well go out and get
13:17somebody who's going to play the brand of football they want, which to be fair,
13:21a lot of this side do actually suit. Like not to randomly throw names out there,
13:26but if they were to get a Roberto de Zerbi in part exam play, things might work out pretty well,
13:35in my opinion. But I mean, I'm also the guy who said Chelsea were probably going to win
13:38the league at the start of the season. So I mean, maybe just don't blindly take my word for it.
13:43Maybe let's, maybe let's see what happens. So yes, Chelsea fans, silly season is here,
13:48and that train is never, ever late. Anyway, thank you for watching. If you have enjoyed
13:52this video, please do consider subscribing to us here on 442. New subs are the best thing in
13:57the world to us. They really do make a massive difference. If you've not already subscribed,
14:01please do consider doing so, because think how much there's going to be to talk about this summer.
14:06You guys will get a new manager, and there's going to be the Euros, and signings, and transfers,
14:10and this is, I promise you, in my opinion, the best place to watch all that stuff. You can,
14:15of course, also get me across all the social medias there. That is at adamcleary, C-L-E-R-Y,
14:19the 442 socials are in the corner of the video. The latest issue of the mag, that was a reasonably
14:24good catch, is the Euros edition, and it is on sale now at all good retailers, and all the bad
14:29retailers, because we do not discriminate. Until next time though, I've inexplicably got to now
14:34watch Newcastle United vs Tottenham at 10.30 in the morning, because nobody cares about anyone's
14:41hamstrings anymore, so I'm away to do that. Goodbye! And if you're watching, Maurizio,
14:47adios, which I'm like 80% confident is how you say it in Argentinian. Bye!