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Has Europe once again just become a distance memory for us Chelsea fans and a pipe dream for next season? Or are you keeping the faith and hope alive for now?
Time to have a look at a couple of the stories of the day. Well, I say stories, more like opinions/quotes from pundits.
I always enjoy reading and hearing what Paul Merson has to say, mainly because it’s become clear that he is a very passionate Chelsea fan just like all of us. He often makes some good points, and I will often find myself agreeing with him.
But I don’t think I do on his latest comments….
Merson believes Chelsea should want to avoid getting in the Conference League this season. I mean, we all want to aim higher and get Europa League, right? Champions League would be perfect and even better, but Europa League is the more realistic dream at the moment, even if that is literally just a dream and not reality either.
Chelsea still have a game in hand and if we can win that, then we can still probably be spoken about for the Europa League places, even if I know many of you, like me, have lost faith entirely.
We also have The FA Cup still, which offers Europa League qualification for the winner. Yes I know, we have very little chance of winning that!
Obviously the European spots are determined by how and where other teams end up in the league and FA Cup, but it could mean that finishing 7th would see Chelsea qualify for the Conference League. Chelsea are currently 4 points off that spot.
I know, I don’t see it either…. But still.
Merson thinks Chelsea should avoid it anyway….
“I think it’s going to get to a stage where they can’t want to get in the Europa Conference [League], surely?
“Why would you want to get in that on Thursday nights? Chelsea have got a squad together to go and try to win the Premier League, not play on Thursday nights in Magaluf.”
I personally think it would be a great opportunity with our young squad to let them grow and play in Europe. It also allows for more game time for fringe players and I don’t know, maybe even our world class academy? Just a wild thought I know.
I know we have suffered with injuries this season, but players need to play. The Conference League is a much less pressured environment than the Champions League, so ideal for raw players. And also, it would allow us to have a slightly bigger squad because there will be more game time and more minutes, thus allowing us to cover more for the inevitable largest amount of injuries we will have as per usual!
And it also generates more money and profits. Granted, not to the level of the UCL, but still, profit is profit.
Obviously I want to aim as high as possible, but I certainly would much rather get Conference League than miss out on Europe entirely.
And to the next quote this morning, something I agree with..
The Chief Football Writer for The BBC has responded to a question on whether Chelsea will sack their manager Mauricio Pochettino anytime soon.
BBC’s Phil McNulty says Chelsea need stability, and I agree.
“I think whether Chelsea reach Europe will have a bearing on Pochettino’s future but surely it is time for some stability at Stamford Bridge and to give a good manager a chance to build something with some good young players and a sensible recruitment strategy? Constantly changing managers has not worked for the current regime so maybe it is time to change tack.”
I fully agree with this, although we need to make one more managerial change first, because Pochettino is not the man for stability. The man for stability needs to be a modern coach who is at the top of his game tactically, as well as being a good man-manager. For me, and many others in this community, Pochettino is only good at one of those.
But yes, we all dream of stability and a manager who stays here for longer than one season, but it has to be the right manager. Pochettino is not the right manager.
And of course, you all know I fully agree with McNulty’s ‘sensible recruitment’ comment. Because for me, our recruitment has been FAR from sensible so far even though I do rate many of the players we have signed. We haven’t built a squad though, we have signed individual talent, raw individual talent, individual talent that may or may not prove good enough to be Chelsea players.
I’ll continue to bang that drum, because this is absolutely not all on the manager, FAR from it. The squad build has been naive at best, and I will keep saying that. It’s always more than one thing or one person at fault and if anything, I do feel sorry for Pochettino because what he has asked for has been ignored.
But he still has to go, and my two biggest reasons for that is his lack of tactics, setup, style of play, and pragmatic approach, and his inability to forge a connection with the Chelsea fan base. There’s no way back for him for so many fans now, whatever happens. I’m an open person in general so I am probably a bit more open to that last sentence than many others are, but when it gets to this point, there’s often no going back.
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