Attention
Football fans – we are, admittedly, fickle. In minute 98 of vs , is a chump, who'll be ushered out of Stamford Bridge by Todd Boehly, if the angry Blues' faithful don't bundle him out first. is the calm, resilient manager, who not only went into the contest , but would lose Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans to injury, and still came from 2-0 down to beat
Chelsea 3-2, sealing home and away victories over the Blues for the first time since 2019. Two minutes and two swishes of Cole Palmer's left foot later, Chelsea win 4-3. Pochettino has installed character and a never say die attitude into a young Chelsea side, who never know when they're beaten, while Ten Hag's United are, dare we say, 'Billion Pound Bottlejobs'. Admit it, you all thought it! And that's okay. What is football if we cannot change our minds incessantly and pretend that we didn't? Pochettino and Chelsea deserve their moment. But when the joy and disbelief subsides, reality will hit them in the chest, with the same force Palmer's hat-trick goal whacked Scott McTominay on it's way past the helpless Andre Onana. This cannot go on. They have to be more boring The Three Lions are among the favourites to win this summer's Euro 2024 tournament and you can get your hands on the brand new Nike and kits before the first whistle. From £84.99 Pochettino's Chelsea rallied until they were level and got back to the centre-circle in time to find a winner. Fantastic, if you are a Chelsea fan or Pochettino, who may have been anticipating an angry text message from the powers that be after surrendering a 2-0 lead so meekly. Luckily for him, football is fickle. The board may look past Chelsea conceding at least two goals in their last six matches so they can spend extra time re-watching the explosive atmosphere at Stamford Bridge in those two unforgettable minutes. In the build-up to all three goals, Chelsea's defending bordered on hilarious. It may seem mean spirited to pick apart what is Chelsea's biggest result of the season and, perhaps, the best since Boehly's Clearlake Capital took over the club. As they proved against City on both occasions and
Arsenal at the start of the season, Chelsea thrive and grow when games are reduced to end-to-end chaos. When football becomes a
basketball match, Chelsea often hit the three pointers. The contrast between Chelsea vs United and Arsenal vs City was utterly breath-taking. Switching between matches would be like moving from table
Tennis to bowls. Chelsea and United exchanged their biggest blows, while City and Arsenal took turns showing how tight their backlines could be. On the subject of the fickle football world, spare a thought for ex-West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis. When he deployed four central defenders, he was deemed as an anti-football dinosaur. Arsenal deployed Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Jakub Kiwior, while City turned to Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol - eight central defenders! Maybe Pulis was the visionary all along. "I guess you guys aren't ready for that" the Welshman may have said, quoting Marty McFly in Back To The Future. Mikel Arteta and
Pep Guardiola are not dinosaurs. They are managers, in a terrifyingly tense title race, knowing they cannot afford to slip-up. Their set-ups were sensible and they have the results to prove it, even if it was a bore-fest. Pochettino must learn from Arteta and Guardiola. Chelsea cannot turn every match into a basketball contest. Guardiola and Arteta have invested heavily in midfield and defensive enforcements. City do not deploy Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva in the same midfield, they put Rodri in the middle. Arteta has an armada of technically gifted players, yet the physical might of Declan Rice has made them even more of a force. Pochettino has a wonderful technician in Enzo Fernandez and two-ball winners in Conor Gallagher and Moises Caicedo. Enzo and Gallagher want to be forward and Caicedo, as proven when he assisted Garnacho's goal, is not comfortable holding the midfield fort on his own. If Pochettino's instructions were to bring entertaining football, then he has delivered on all fronts. The record of 53 goals scored and 50 conceded is as mind-blowing as it is concerning - only West Ham, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Brentford and the bottom four have worse defences. Pochettino has to add steel and, boringly, experience to this team. Considering Chelsea's spending, this fortification may have to be coached into his team. Those so intent on dashing forward may need to be leashed back into midfield and the likes of Palmer, Mykhailo Mudryk and others may need be more adept defensively. If Eden Hazard had to track back under
Jose Mourinho, than the
England international and the Ukrainian should not expect anything different. Chelsea have rode the roller coaster on numerous occasions this season, and it has looked fun at times. But their play has bordered on reckless. Pochettino and his players have to remember, their European hopes were less than two minutes away from coming off the tracks. This feature would have been entirely on Ten Hag had Chelsea not rallied back. Now the Dutchman is the one on the chopping block.