Thread by @SS____899

Chelsea's squad deserves a positional playobsessed guru at the helm next, and soon
Poch is not that guy, and never was
Sure, you can play 343/325 blah blah, but can you coach an elite system?
Has your team ever shown the intent, have your past works ever shown that?

[ MEGA 🧵]

I was never an advocate for Pochettino, I always wanted a better 'builder' to start with, particularly someone that meshed with the way the squad was constructed by the sporting directors.
Poch started the preseason with good vibes, had the words & in particular was showing signs

https://twitter.com/ss____899/status/1650059998439907329

of having improved his system and how he saw the game.
All zones were occupied in the 325/442 hybrid. But... it's been anything far from the truth.

https://twitter.com/ss____899/status/1683470170705088513

Now, we want to be an elite possession based team that focuses on the collective rather than individual abilities to cover flaws, the system should cover your player's flaws not the other way around. One department that truly shines when said player's abilities matches with what the coaches interpretation of the game is midfield.

With any elite possession based system, the midfield needs to have protiles with the game sense/temperament/picture of the game fitting of the coach's interpretation of the game / his system.
Mou likes bruisers, What does that say about him as a coach ?
Pep likes technicians, What does that say about him as a coach ?
Proof is in the pudding.

Now, ask yourself this, what's Pochettino interpretation/Intent of the game? Does it mesh with what we're building ( miss me with formations, I'm talking about intent here ) Poch's interpretation is to always try and get the ball up the pitch as soon as possible. Basically transition football sprinkled with some use of deep build up.
Basically a 70/30 split when it should be a 30/70 split.

The idea is to attack space when it becomes available, looking for the vertical pass outwide (often to the Fullback) often in unsettled play & get up the pitch as quickly as possible.
The flaws of this interpretatior/intent? No repeatable patterns & most IMPORTANTLY control.

Look at this example against Newcastle. In the eyes of some this is good build up, but this isn't.
We're too predictable, the players only receive to feet, the defence is already set before we can react, we're always a second late & that's because the coach hasn't instilled basic principles. (2nd clip, transition but we should learn to calm things down)

Learning to calm things down has been a theme of the season since the 1st day.
We don't 'retreat' enough. Never go back back back to progress, we just go full ham and progress progress progress. Teams who recycle the ball with the right intention of what they want don't end up in dead ends (force a 50/50 pass, hopeful ball down the line).

There's an idea that Gallagher is as important as anybody in the system, and that's true, but why is it true? Because Gallagher is probably our only MF whose temperament matches that of Poch's interpretation. Gallagher is seen as someone that runs around the pitch 100mph, someone that's high octane, all action, a midfielder with immense ground coverage.
He moves quickly & makes everyone move quickly with him, he's also the saviior when things go wrong. Invaluable to Poch's ideas.

However, none of our other midfielders have the same temperament.
Caicedo/Enzo/Lavia are time & spacially cognizant midfielders. They need things moving at their rhythm, and that's how you get the best out of them.
Enzo should never be reduced to a tertiary role in the midfield.

He's a player that craves for the ball, that craves for control. A true DLP that needs the most volume.
What has Poch done? Given Gallagher all of us Enzo's volume.
Enzo is the one engaging in channel battles, he's the one pressing as a 2 up top, he's receiving wide as a mezzala & that's just not him. It's not him at all.

Look at these player here. Look at how calm he is, how he's always under control, splitting the CB's, shifting their defensive block with one switch, needs just one look up and that ball is getting to you, look at the zones he's receiving in.

A true game breaker. Someone with a ZOl you just can't teach.
Now compare it to here, look at the zones he's picking up, look at him always receiving with his back to goal and not the one initiating things.
That's outright robbery there from the coach

https://twitter.com/JacktheSparr0w_/status/1739304616506908959/video

Now, I wouldn't put all the blame on Poch, the sporting directors deserve a lot of scrutiny too.
They targeted tier 2/3 players to round up the squad with the abundance of young talent that we have. The consequences of that? A very good team with a lot of inexperience. The plan was simple, target the best of the best when we're going into the window

and supplement it with your young stars. I'm a simple man, all I wanted for the team was an Enzo + Rice revolution for the midfield. It was the bat bang for our buck, also one that gives us the best balance.
You don't rebuild with just young players, it's too toxic, there's no one to look up to, they're not held accountable, they play with too much emotion
It's just too much for them sometimes

The plan should be to get superstars when you enter the window, not tier 2/3 players.
You have your academy and youngsters for that.
Sure, injuries have affected us A LOT this season, senior important players out. But I wouldn't mind the losing if we were losing in the RIGHT way.
Sounds crazy, but try and get why I mean here.

So, we've come to that conclusion.
Questions you may be asking are
Why don't we sustain pressure?
Why's our press dysfunctional ?
Why are we losing?
We have the players for elite positional play, so why aren't we doing it?

Well,
Because we lack simple macro principles that are so important such as
Command and Control of Game
Having numerical superiority all over the pitch ( creating triangles and relationship between players )
Rational Occupation of space
How to manipulate defensive blocks / shapes

Let me start off by saying we have 0 control over our opponents, it's been like that from the start but our individual brilliance masks it a lot.
We try to play like Real Madrid but we're not Madrid. At least not yet.
Our build up is lacklustre, we don't have numerical superiority when trying to build up and we're always trying to avoid the middle.
People think we've been good in build up but
Hermano we've not.
Watch the elites then come say that.