August 20th 2023.
Mauricio Pochettino has yet to register a win in his first two games as Chelsea head coach, and Ashley Cole has an opinion on why. During the 3-1 defeat at West Ham on Sunday, youngster Carney Chukwuemeka scored his first senior goal to make it 1-1 in the first half after Nayef Aguerd opened the scoring for the Hammers.
Unfortunately, Chukwuemeka had to be taken off at half-time and Pochettino replaced him with Mykhailo Mudryk. This substitution has been criticised by former Blues defender Cole, who said: “Maybe the substitution caused an issue. They lost a bit of impetus in the game. They weren’t getting the runs in behind between right-back and centre-back. It was all too easy for West Ham. Pochettino will have understood the context behind the change but I felt they lost a bit of ability to drive beyond and cause West Ham a problem. They lost a little bit of power and impetus to sustain attacks.”
Enzo Fernandez had the chance to put Chelsea in front before half-time, but his penalty was saved by Alphonse Areola. Cole added: “Chelsea would have been disappointed at half-time not to be in front. You’d have expected them to come out and be aggressive, press in the same way as they did in the first half.”
Mauricio Pochettino has yet to find success in his first two games, and Ashley Cole has voiced his opinion on why this could be. It remains to be seen if Pochettino can turn Chelsea's fortunes around and get a win under his belt.
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