LONDON — After a nine-year wait, Mauricio Pochettino has rekindled his desire to reach a cup final in England. But playing in next month’s Carabao Cup final won’t be enough for the Chelsea head coach – he has to win it.
Chelsea’s emphatic 6-1 victory in the semi-final second leg against Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge confirmed the Blues’ first Carabao Cup final since losing to Liverpool in 2022. Jurgen Klopp’s side will be their opponents again on February 25 if they beat Fulham in Wednesday’s second leg at Craven Cottage. Liverpool lead 2-1 from the first leg. But while Chelsea have been regular cup finalists in both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in recent years, Pochettino’s failure to deliver similar success during his five-and-a-half years at Tottenham has always counted against him.
Apart from defeat in the Carabao Cup final against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2015, followed by a UEFA Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in Madrid four years later, Pochettino has a poor record in knockout competitions, missing one of his Coupe de France titles. Leaving then with Paris Saint-Germain in 2021.
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At Tottenham, Pochettino rarely gave the impression that he was taking the domestic cup seriously. To the accusation that he was not committed to any cup, his response was that the priority for Spurs was Champions League qualification, either by winning or finishing in the top four of the Premier League. So six attempts in the Carabao Cup with Spurs resulted in only one final, a defeat against Chelsea, while the best of five FA Cup campaigns were defeats in the two semi-finals.
Pochettino was able to choose his priorities at Tottenham because the club did not have the resources either financially or with squad depth to challenge on four fronts, but this is not the case at Chelsea.
Since being transformed by Roman Abramovich’s money following the Russian oligarch’s takeover in 2003, Chelsea have been serious contenders in every competition and have won all competitions more than once over the last 20 years. Abramovich’s departure as owner in 2022 signaled a change in ownership, after his assets were seized by the UK government as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Chelsea’s terms of engagement have not changed under its new American owners.
The club still demands success. But at times Chelsea have looked a million miles away from success since Abramovich’s sale was completed in May 2022. Pochettino is their fourth manager in that time and has spent £910 million on 25 new players – with even more players having left the club.
Chelsea still look unlikely to win trophies as Pochettino’s young team is in a development phase, but they are gradually getting better and more consistent. The win was their fifth in six matches in all competitions and Raheem Sterling, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer once again produced big performances to lead Chelsea to victory.
Sterling scored three goals in the first half, Palmer scored twice and Fernandez finished with an own goal in an impressive performance. An own goal from Jonny Howson and goals each from Axel DeSassi and Nonny Madueke completed the defeat for Chelsea, before Morgan Rodgers scored a consolation goal for Boro in the 88th minute. So after so much turmoil and chaos at Chelsea, even during Pochettino’s six months in charge, the bleak clouds are beginning to lift, and there’s no better way to mark progress than winning a major trophy. .
But this probably applies more to Pochettino than Chelsea. Yes, Chelsea always want to win, but Pochettino needs to justify his status as one of the game’s top coaches by winning silverware. And building exciting young teams, as he did at Spurs and Southampton before him, is not enough if the end result doesn’t translate into trophies.
If Chelsea face London neighbors Fulham at Wembley next month, they will be favorites to win, but if their opponents are Liverpool then Pochettino’s side will be left out. Yet only Manchester City has won more trophies than Chelsea in the last 10 years, so no matter who Pochettino’s team takes on at Wembley, they will do so with the expectation of coming alongside all the top clubs.
They have talent on their team; Trophy-winning experience in the form of Sterling, Palmer and Thiago Silva; And a coach who has something to prove. This Chelsea team isn’t even close to the final article, but they are now just one win away from lifting a trophy, and that’s a good place for both the team and Pochettino to be in after arriving at the club last summer.
