Ahead of the 2017 FA Cup semi-final, an ambitious young manager heard a knock on the door of his Wembley dressing-room. It was his counterpart, offering condolences for a colleague who had recently passed away. The two men then got talking.
“A wide-ranging chat,” Mauricio Pochettino, then the manager of Tottenham Hotspur said of his conversation with Antonio Conte, then of fellow Londoners Chelsea.
“Two different approaches to football were laid bare: Talking to the manager of Chelsea is a good way of confirming how different things are. Same league, same city, but our problems are totally different.”
Fast-forward six years and Chelsea and Spurs look like clubs with many problems in common. They are both under interim management, having changed head coach twice this season. Both are falling far short of targets and facing to a 2023-2024 campaign without Champions League football.
In the spring of 2017, they were not only the top two clubs in London, but first and second in the Premier League. Conte’s Chelsea ended up winning it and defeating Pochettino’s Spurs in that cup semi-final.
In the period since, Spurs terminated Pochettino’s five-and-a-half year tenure as their manager, and, after bringing in another ex-Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, have hired and said goodbye to another, Conte.
Chelsea now look ready to complete the circle by offering Pochettino the chance to become the fifth manager to take charge of their first team in a year.
The Argentine, 51, is eager to manage again in England. He feels more worldly that he was in 2017, thanks to the lift he gave Spurs and a testing period in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, and is understood to be giving Chelsea serious consideration.
But the Premier League landscape he knew and enjoyed at Spurs has changed significantly. Look only at London, where Arsenal are now the city’s pacesetters and will take on Chelsea on Tuesday seeking to regain the leadership of the Premier League from Manchester City.
If they win, it would lengthen the gap with Chelsea to 39 points and 11 places in the table.
To look at Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta is to see a manager doing something of what Pochettino did at Spurs between 2014 and 2019.
At Arsenal, a young coach is guiding a fairly young team with bold instincts but also with a hint of fragility, and, in a division where managers have lately been chopped and changed with unusually high frequency. It is an example of the virtues of staying patient through the high-pressure moments.
That was the point made by Chelsea’s interim manager, Frank Lampard, as he prepared for the trip to Arsenal, with five successive defeats behind him and three changes of coach — from Thomas Tuchel to Graham Potter to the previous stand-in, Bruno Saltor — in a surreal nine months at Stamford Bridge.
“It is interesting to compare,” said Lampard of Arsenal’s faith in Arteta, who was appointed in late 2019.
“There’s a long process to get where you want. You have to go back to the tough periods — I saw times when the manager was being questioned and that process can take two or three years. Another club might have changed manager two or three times.”
Chelsea 1 Brighton 2: Player ratings
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CHELSEA RATINGS: Kepa Arrizabalaga - 7. Made a cracking save to deny Mitoma from close range in the 28th minute. Made another smart stop to deny Ferguson in the shortly afterwards. Ended the game with nine saves. Getty -
Ben Chilwell - 6. His first-time cross led to Pulisic’s effort that came off the crossbar on the stroke of half-time. Could only manage a tame effort at Sanchez when he was given a little space just after the restart. AP -
Trevoh Chalobah - 5. Had a testing start to the game against the skilful Mitoma on the right flank. Subbed off early in the second half after picking up a yellow card. Getty -
Wesley Fofana - 6. Showed his class when he made a last-man tackle to stop the fleet-footed Mitoma from running through on goal in the. However, he failed to properly challenge Welbeck for the Seagulls‘ equaliser. PA -
Benoit Badiashile - 5. His poor clearance led to Brighton's equaliser just before halftime. Could have done to better reduce the space in front of Enciso for his goal in the second half. EPA -
Conor Gallagher - 7. Got lucky as he opened the scoring for the Blues via a deflected effort in the 13th minute. Worked hard and was easily one of Chelsea’s better players on the day. AFP -
Enzo Fernandez - 7. Began the sequence of play that led to Chelsea's equaliser with an intelligent pass that took out three Brighton players. Tracked back well to intercept a pass into the feet of Welbeck in the 41st minute. Getty -
Denis Zakaria - 5. Worked hard in the Chelsea midfield but still looked a cut below against Brighton’s hardworking midfielders. EPA -
Christian Pulisic - 6. Should have done better with his final ball after he cleverly got past Estupinan in the 24th minute. Unfortunate to see a glancing header come off the post on the stroke of half-time. AP -
Mykhailo Mudryk - 7. Rewarded for his lively start to the game with an assist for Gallagher’s goal in the 13th minute. Denied by a smart stop from Sanchez just after the hour. PA -
Raheem Sterling - 6. Failed to direct his header at goal after he backtracked to meet Fofana’s cross in the 38th minute. Still looks a little lost in the false nine role. AP -
SUBS: Reece James (Fofana, 57) - 6. Was too relaxed and allowed Enciso to steal the ball on the hour. Then lost possession that led to Brighton’s second goal. Played a couple of decent balls in the box. Reuters -
Mateo Kovacic (Enzo, 57) - 6. Only a heavy touch stopped him from having an effort at goal in the 66th minute. AP -
Joao Felix (Sterling, 57) - 5. Was a willing runner after coming on but didn’t get a chance to test Sanchez in Brighton’s goal. PA -
Hakim Ziyech (Pulisic, 57) - 6. Played a deft pass to send James through in the 64th minute. Failed to find a blue shirt in the penalty area when he put in a cross at the death. Mason Mount (Zakaria, 74) - N/A. PA -
BRIGHTON RATINGS: Robert Sanchez - 7. Could have done better with his pace of response to Dunk’s deflection on Gallagher’s effort to open the scoring for the Blues. Made a couple of saves to preserve the Seagulls lead in the second half. Getty -
Joel Veltman - 6 Struggled against the inspired Mudryk on the right-hand side of Brighton’s defence. Wasn’t as adventurous as Estupinan but he stuck to his defensive role well. Getty -
Pervis Estupinan - 8. Created the first chance of the game with a beautiful cross that Mac Allister failed to convert. Made a last-ditch challenge to stop Gallagher from having an effort at goal in the 80th minute. AP -
Adam Webster - 7. Impeccable next to the elegant Dunk in defence. Had to be substituted late in the game with what looked like a knock. Getty -
Lewis Dunk - 8. Unfortunate to have deflected Gallagher’s effort past Sanchez for Chelsea's opener. Later made a brilliant recovery tackle to deny Kovacic and make up for his error. EPA -
Pascal Gross - 7. Assisted Welbeck’s goal with a scintillating cross before the break. Unlucky to see Welbeck block his goalbound effort in the 54th minute. PA -
Moises Caicedo - 8. Excellent in the middle of the park for the Seagulls. He sat back and helped break up several attacks. EPA -
Solly March - 6. Had a lively start to the game but couldn't keep an effort on target in the 25th minute. His influence waned after the restart. AFP -
Kaoru Mitoma - 7. A little drop of the shoulder saw him beat Chalobah but Mac Allister failed to test Kepa from his cutback. Did everything perfectly but the finish when he skipped past four Chelsea players but failed to beat Kepa in the 26th minute. Getty -
Alexis Mac Allister - 7. Should have at least made Kepa work with the two chances he had in the first ten minutes of the game. The Argentine hit another effort wide in the 29th minute. AP -
Evan Ferguson - 8. Showed composure to hold onto the ball, turn and find space to hit a cracking effort that came back off the crossbar in the 10th minute. Displayed a lot of desire to get on the end of Enciso’s cross but Kepa was equal to his effort. Reuters -
SUBS: Enciso (Veltman, 28) - 9. Picked out Ferguson with a brilliant return ball for his effort on goal in the 35th minute. Blasted a shot at goal after the break but Kepa was equal to his effort. Finally got the goal his performance deserved when a hit a cracking effort into the roof of the net in the 69th minute. Getty -
Danny Welbeck (Ferguson, 39) - 8. Scored with virtually his first touch when he headed home Gross’s cross in the 42nd minute. Forced Kepa into a routine stop shortly afterwards. Jan Paul Van Hecke (Webstar, 87) - N/A. AFP
Chelsea did — five times. Before Tuchel went to Chelsea, in early 2021, Lampard had been Chelsea’s manager not on an interim basis, but as what they envisaged as a vote of confidence in a former playing idol’s capacity to take proven leadership credentials into coaching.
That formula is unreliable. Arteta, a former Arsenal midfielder, may have found, after some bumps in the road, success as their manager; Lampard was jettisoned after 18 months by Chelsea and recalled last month only as a short-term fireman.
Pochettino, who captained PSG in the early 2000s, found a very different club when, succeeding Tuchel, he became PSG manager almost two decades later.
PSG had wealth, thanks to their Qatari owners, and although Pochettino won a Ligue 1 title, the same shortcomings in Europe — where his PSG were eliminated after holding a 2-0 aggregate lead until a disastrous half-hour of a last-16 tie against Real Madrid — that have counted against several PSG coaches contributed to his departure after 18 months in France.
But the PSG episode carries useful lessons for any volatile workplace. Chelsea are less than a year into new ownership and, like PSG, they spend lavishly: close to €700 million on players in the last two transfer windows. Pochettino surveys all that and can see dazzling potential in the squad, as well as all the missteps in the boardroom.
Lampard saw it and, being available, still accepted his short-term role. “I came in with eyes wide open,” he said.
Pochettino needs the same clarity, and so, urgently, do Chelsea.
