Inexcusable again today, 2 up and cruising, usual 2nd half abysmal start, lose a stupid goal and we fell apart for 15 minutes or so, absolutely shambolic, once again poch has no effect on the game at that point. Taking mudryk of but leaving sterling was just taking the piss.

Bloke really is insulting our intelligence. 

 

He's just such a complete w**ker isn't he, every game my dislike of him just grows.

City in the semis

 

We've miraculously managed to not get beaten by them this season in 2 games, so we might have a chance

I think his interview was clear.. he had some reason to do what he did.. we may not agree with it.. but his picking up the team list to talk about injuries was odd..

I think Poch should have stepped in or made it clear beforehand that Palmer is the penalty taker. What is Sterling thinking? He’s missed 5 out of his last 7 penalties. Awful record. 
 

Wasn’t a good day for Poch. Felt like the fans turned on him. 

Edited March 17, 20242 yr by JM7

1 hour ago, timetowaste said:

 

He's just such a complete w**ker isn't he, every game my dislike of him just grows.

He’s as thick as a spud…

The players, especially Palmer, are the ones saving his job at the moment. Might be enough for him to survive the season but if there is someone better in the summer I wouldnt be surprised if the new owners decide to pull the trigger regardless of if he gets us to Europe

Not making many friends, and that's after a win 🤔 On reflection, I'm sure he'd rather handled the media & fans more diplomatically, but the emotions or language barrier ( it's a big factor) got the better of him. I don't see him being here next season, think he had enough and a mutually agreed exit maybe the best for all.

14 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Not making many friends, and that's after a win 🤔 On reflection, I'm sure he'd rather handled the media & fans more diplomatically, but the emotions or language barrier ( it's a big factor) got the better of him. I don't see him being here next season, think he had enough and a mutually agreed exit maybe the best for all.

As a Poch fan, I do find it strange that he hasn’t made any effort or gestures to try and bond with the fans. It’s not helping. 

If and its a big if we sneak a European place and reach 2 cup finals.

On paper I would have taken that at the beginning of the season and most of us would also. He's pretty frustrating to listen to at times but I also agree with him about the reality of the situation we're in. This whole process is gonna take a lot of time and even though we've been pants at times this season there has been some positives in terms of home form and domestic cup runs.

After Wolves I thought he was a dead man walking but im warming to the idea he stays and has one transfer window. Recent history has shown us that you need to stick with the manager and trust the process (hate that saying) to eventually achieve success. We don't have a team of big personalities anymore that can grind out wins no matter the manager.

He saw Mudryk was tired. Interesting. 
 

Garnacho has come back from injury, trained only twice this past week, played the entire 120mins and contributed to the game winning goal. 
 

This f**king manager I swear. 

5 minutes ago, Sheva said:

If and its a big if we sneak a European place and reach 2 cup finals.

On paper I would have taken that at the beginning of the season and most of us would also. He's pretty frustrating to listen to at times but I also agree with him about the reality of the situation we're in. This whole process is gonna take a lot of time and even though we've been pants at times this season there has been some positives in terms of home form and domestic cup runs.

After Wolves I thought he was a dead man walking but im warming to the idea he stays and has one transfer window. Recent history has shown us that you need to stick with the manager and trust the process (hate that saying) to eventually achieve success. We don't have a team of big personalities anymore that can grind out wins no matter the manager.

Its a very valid point.

I too would have taken this at the beginning of the season, mainly because i would have made the assumption that there would have been a definite strategy and style developing with incremental progressive steps towards where we hope to end up, albeit with the occasional blips that will happen with a young squad. But by any measure, including by pretty much every media pundit (uninformed clowns that they are in the most part), it has been an awful season thus far.

Our progress in the cup competitions has been largely assisted by some very kind draws, but we have seen a definite improvement in our home form, aided by beating lower league teams in kind home cup draws.

The thing i am most disappointed in is Poch himself. The media circus, the in depth analysis of his manner, approach and style, the soundbites from him at the beginning, gave the impression of a well drilled, organised, somewhat micro managing, coach with great man management skills and the tactical ability to get the best out of young players. Seen none of that. 

If anything i think much of the form that we have seen has been despite the work from Poch not because of it. I like some of the postings that @Whats_The_Mata? makes, i know that they can be divisive and brutal, but often there are statistical facts backing his comments. However, contrary to his opinion i do think that with Petrovic, Gusto, a fit Chilwell, Caicedo, Carney, Mudryk, Jackson, Palmer, there could be the makings of a quality side with the addition of some experienced quality (unlikely under this ownership) senior players. I do agree with him that there is a fair amount of dross in the side as well. I would question whether those that are progressing are doing so because of Poch. 

Whos looking forward to seeing Sanchez against Foden, Silva and co?

I remember years back when Drogba took penalty duty away from Hazard, Mourinho wasn't happy even though Drogba scored. Poch's response to the whole situation is an embarrassment. 

2 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

I remember years back when Drogba took penalty duty away from Hazard, Mourinho wasn't happy even though Drogba scored. Poch's response to the whole situation is an embarrassment. 

Mou sold the idea of winning and anything not in line with that got criticized.. Poch  sells the idea of a club as a family so this is in line with his philosophy.. not surprised but also because we won maybe its good for us.. Palmer was bound to miss one takes the pressure of him. 🙂

I think Pochettino tries to play attacking-minded football, which he has done probably mostly in his career. That is something we should take as a positive. We wanted (mostly) to play 4 at back which he does. With Tuchel or Conte we'd be 3 at back. 

We have scored more this season than last season which is positive. We are also letting in goals which is the downside but in the long run if we want to be attacking minded we need to learn to balance. That is something experienced teams usually do well. 

We are finishing a bit better latter stages of the season which is an upgrade since Tuchel started basically although the team was completely different.

Pochettino's in game management is questionable at times. But I am not in the dugout. I'd probably make most of the same decisions than him if I was there. There are reasons usually behind decisions. This is something we can only speculate.

I'm on the fence with Poch, but I do think some on here are giving him some unnecessary stick.  Take for example Sanchez.  Don't all managers play their 2nd keeper in the cups?  By that token, Tuchel f***** up big time by playing Kepa in the final against Leicester as we all know Mandy saves the shot from Tielemans.  We should all be grateful that Poch has made the right decision that Petrovic is his number 1.

Also, that greedy f**** Sterling with the penalty, how is that on Poch.  I remember when we needed to beat Wigan to win the league with Carlo.  We were leading 1-0, get a penalty and Drogba had a massive row with Frank on the pitch as he wanted to take it (at that point we had no idea we'd win 8-0).  Frank took it and Drogba sulked the entire 1st half.  If that had been with Poch some on here would have said poor management - ridiculous!I

Poch needs to make more effort to bond with the fans but must be hard when a lot of them are giving him.criticism for some ridiculous stuff.  As I mentioned in earlier thread, a lot of you have forgotten that last year we couldn't score at all, I'm enjoying the fact that we now score and are able to come.back when things don't go well during matches.

2 hours ago, Jangz said:

Mou sold the idea of winning and anything not in line with that got criticized.. Poch  sells the idea of a club as a family so this is in line with his philosophy.. not surprised but also because we won maybe its good for us.. Palmer was bound to miss one takes the pressure of him. 🙂

You keep penalty shooting duties until you miss. Been the rule in the game for, like, forever. Makelele, 8th goal in the last game of the season are the only types of exceptions. Everyone in football has been brought up in this way. This showed weak management from above and, rightly or wrongly, a perception of peer pressure on the pitch.

1 hour ago, Chris Gundleton said:

I'm on the fence with Poch, but I do think some on here are giving him some unnecessary stick.  Take for example Sanchez.  Don't all managers play their 2nd keeper in the cups?  By that token, Tuchel f***** up big time by playing Kepa in the final against Leicester as we all know Mandy saves the shot from Tielemans.  We should all be grateful that Poch has made the right decision that Petrovic is his number 1.

Also, that greedy f**** Sterling with the penalty, how is that on Poch.  I remember when we needed to beat Wigan to win the league with Carlo.  We were leading 1-0, get a penalty and Drogba had a massive row with Frank on the pitch as he wanted to take it (at that point we had no idea we'd win 8-0).  Frank took it and Drogba sulked the entire 1st half.  If that had been with Poch some on here would have said poor management - ridiculous!I

Poch needs to make more effort to bond with the fans but must be hard when a lot of them are giving him.criticism for some ridiculous stuff.  As I mentioned in earlier thread, a lot of you have forgotten that last year we couldn't score at all, I'm enjoying the fact that we now score and are able to come.back when things don't go well during matches.

Yes Tuchel did f**k up big time picking kepa. 

Poch is the manager, he allowed that nonsense to happen. Sterling should have been bollocked and hooked at half time. 

Drogba didn't take the penalty. If the team has told Sterling to f off, then that would be a good thing. 

Similar to Potter, we only know how good or bad a manager Poch truly is at Chelsea after the next guy takes charge for 6+ months. My feeling is he won't be here next season, so no point  'hating' him when we aren't winning. I reckon some of the criticisms last night was way too harsh, I would have thought we lost 2:3 because Sterling missed the PK based on the comments here.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

I think Pochettino tries to play attacking-minded football, which he has done probably mostly in his career. That is something we should take as a positive. We wanted (mostly) to play 4 at back which he does. With Tuchel or Conte we'd be 3 at back. 

We have scored more this season than last season which is positive. We are also letting in goals which is the downside but in the long run if we want to be attacking minded we need to learn to balance. That is something experienced teams usually do well. 

We are finishing a bit better latter stages of the season which is an upgrade since Tuchel started basically although the team was completely different.

Pochettino's in game management is questionable at times. But I am not in the dugout. I'd probably make most of the same decisions than him if I was there. There are reasons usually behind decisions. This is something we can only speculate.

I can broadly agree with most of this. We are scoring more, the players seem to like him and we are seeing the development of some players like Jackson, Gusto and Palmer. I would also say he has succeeded in creating a good team spirit, not a bad feat considering all that’s been going on. There are also a number of valid reasons why this has been an extremely difficult season to coach.

I find it hard to see him truly succeeding though, mostly down to three reasons:

language - you get the sense he’s not really able to correctly translate what he wants to say to english, which I suspect leads to fans getting frustrated by some of his comments

tactics - how many times do we have to collapse in the second half only for Poch to watch on and do absolutely nothing about it, until its too late?

preferential treatment - he has wasted no time hooking Mudryk and Madueke at half time after less than convincing performances, followed by long stretches on the bench. With Sterling, the same rules doesn’t apply. This is for me the most disappointing and surprising element of his coaching, and yesterday it felt like he was willing to sacrifice Chelsea just to appease Sterling. There’s probably more to it, I realize that, but that’s what it felt like. 
 

All in all, there are some positives and some, if not more, negatives.

Is he good enough to take us back on top? No.

Are our young group better served with staying with Poch for a second season, rather than chop it all up and start again? I’m leaning on yes, at least until it becomes clear we actually have a replacement in mind who is an undeniable upgrade

 

The way things are going with the fans though, its quickly becoming an untenable situation in which we will have no choice than change - again

14 hours ago, JM7 said:

Wasn’t a good day for Poch. Felt like the fans turned on him. 

Or any other managers they don't like and wait, players too. 

Absolutely horrible fans, or more like detractors and critics. Your job as fans in battle mode, when the boys are out on the pitch is to support them till the final whistle. That's why the f**k you're referred to as the 12th man and once you cross that threshold into the grounds you fight, live and die with the team. 

Sure if you don't like what's going on at the games, then stay at home. Don't turn up, don't buy tickets. Show your displeasure that way, but if you turn up be a part of the solution and not the damn problem. 

Let those that watch on TV moan to one another but in that stadium, be the godamn 12th man. 

When it's going well they look so bored and so quiet, once it's tough they intimidate with groans, moans and boos..... only they do it to the wrong team. 

That's a rant and whether you think our home support deserve it or not, you can't argue with me that they don't support.  That's not what support is. 

Edited March 18, 20242 yr by abister1
Autocorrect error

16 hours ago, RMH said:

Playing Sanchez, why? Why? Why the f**k does he do this?

At least this means he is the cup goalie which since Peteovic has still been playing in the league means he is definitely no longer our first choice. 

He is not a focused goalie and not just good enough to play in this league with his skillset. 

Like someone said there should be an investigation about his transfer. The only sense at the time was some kind of arrangement to smoothen the Caicedo deal but of course seeing how that one went, it wasn't. 

Not really a surprise. Win, Loose or draw, poch will get it from fans on social media. I guess it was the colour of his shoes that upset them yesterday.

We're actually in the semi final of another cup competition... 

We won 4-2 in a cup game where upsets are caused by smaller sides, otherwise known as underdogs. 

If we hadn't conceded the own goal the game would have been very, very different. And despite conceding two goals, he makes subs that eventually change the game, which fyi, is played over 90 mins... 

The players are playing for him and is liked by them... that's enough for me as I think we're starting to make progress under him. But that progress must be horrible to see for some fans... 

A semi final against city to look forward to, brilliant stuff. Well done Poch and the boys....