FA Cup glory should grant Mauricio Pochettino another season at Stamford Bridge; otherwise, it’s time for Todd Boehly to play opposites and hire the man made for Chelsea: Diego Simeone.
“For a second time, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, we are going to Wembley. When I arrived in England at Southampton, they said, ‘we need to go to Wembley, we need to go to Wembley’. In Tottenham, ‘we need to go to Wembley, we need to go to Wembley’. Now look in nine months in two different competitions we got to Wembley and we need to enjoy and we need to trust more.”
If we take ‘going to Wembley’ as meaning a League Cup final or an FA Cup semi-final/final, Chelsea have managed that feat 26 times in the last two decades. It’s not the feather in the cap Pochettino would have us believe, and drawing favorable comparisons to Southampton and Tottenham is an odd tactic given a) it highlights his lack of cup success at those clubs and as he’s said on numerous occasions this season, expectations at Chelsea are far higher.
Chelsea fans aren’t saying ‘we need to go to Wembley, we need to go to Wembley’ because they’re always going to Wembley. What they haven’t been able to do in recent times is celebrate a trophy, with their last six Wembley finals all ending in defeat. Break that hoodoo and Pochettino will have earned another season at Stamford Bridge, whether the fans like it or not.
Possibly as important as claiming the actual silverware will be victory over Manchester City in the semi-final, and likely Manchester United in the final, adding further credit to the Big Six bank which has been Pochettino’s saving grace thus far.
They were comprehensively beaten by Liverpool and Manchester United in the Premier League, but have beaten Tottenham away in that madness of a game, drew with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City at home – in games they probably should have won – and clung to a point at the Etihad having again caused Pep Guardiola’s side problems on the break. The Carabao Cup final ended in defeat, but they had the better of it in normal time.