In his latest column, Sky Sports' Paul Merson analyses Chelsea's problems after suffering their seventh Premier League defeat of the season in a 2-0 loss at Everton; Merson says Chelsea have to sign a striker in January and Mauricio Pochettino must have a say in who it is
Tuesday 12 December 2023 14:47, UK
Mauricio Pochettino deserves time. He is a good manager but it doesn't matter how good you are as a coach if you don't have the players.
You have to have good players at the same time as being a good coach. It's as simple as that. Pep Guardiola isn't taking Rochdale through the leagues to win the Premier League.
Just take Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham. When he had his full team out he was the best manager you've ever seen. However, in the last four weeks, with the squad wrecked by injuries, everyone is on his case saying he has to change the way he plays.
You don't become a bad manager overnight. You just need good players, and you need them fit. At the moment, Pochettino doesn't have good players all over the pitch. That's the problem.
And who are Chelsea going to go and get if they replace Pochettino? Managers don't grow on trees. He is a very good manager but you can't get away from the fact that good managers need good players.
People can say they have because of the money they've spent, but it's not true. They haven't got a centre forward. They've spent a billion and haven't got a striker. They created so many chances again on Sunday which they could not take.
Everyone can point to Christopher Nkunku coming back but he's not an out-and-out centre forward.
Chelsea have to get a centre forward in January. How many teams do anything without a centre forward? What will Arsenal's downfall potentially be this season? It will be no centre forward. They dominated Aston Villa at the weekend, but they couldn't score a goal.
I think Ivan Toney could be in demand. Sometimes you become a better player when you are out of the game. But will Brentford sell him? I don't think they can afford to, especially with a couple of their players going to the Africa Cup of Nations. Does Toney want to go? Will he want to show some loyalty to Brentford? It's a really hard one to call.
It is a lot of money. I do think he is a really good player, but he hasn't been at a top club yet and we are seeing that with David Raya and Moises Caicedo at the moment.
It's so different playing for Brentford, no disrespect, to playing for Arsenal or Chelsea. There's so much scrutiny playing for the top clubs.
Let's take the weekend. Brentford lost to Sheffield United. What page was that report on? You hardly heard about it. However, Chelsea lost to Everton and it is headline after headline.
It might just be worth the risk. I feel Arsenal and Chelsea might need Toney if they are to do anything this season. The hardest job in football is to score goals. There just aren't many top-quality centre forwards around.
There is Victor Osimhen at Napoli. However, I feel that is a gamble because he would be coming into the hardest league in the world. How many times have we seen someone rip it up in another country only to struggle in the Premier League? We've seen it too many times.
If Chelsea go and buy players in January, then Pochettino has to have a say in it.
I went through the summer signings. I was looking at them and it was like, 'good signing', 'alright', 'no', 'alright', 'not bad' and 'alright'. That's where it is at the moment. There are not many you can say have been amazing.
Cole Palmer has been a really good signing, but I'm not sure there's much else. Mykhailo Mudryk hasn't really got going. Caicedo doesn't look like a £115m player. Enzo Fernandes looks really good every now and then. Axel Disasi looks good when he plays next to Thiago Silva and he's playing well. Noni Madueke and Carney Chukwuemeka don't play.
You can keep going through the list and it is the same. I just don't see what the thinking was with all these signings.
I called it on Wednesday night. I didn't see any way Chelsea were beating Everton.
Should Chelsea be doing better? Of course they should. The form has just not been good enough. There have been some signs that things might improve, but they have been false starts.
When Chelsea had that good spell against Blackburn, Spurs and Man City, you basically knew the team. However, now Mauricio Pochettino has gone back to making lots and lots of changes.
We are 16 games into the league now and next week Chelsea play Sheffield United, you could get 10 people to name the team for Saturday and none of them would be the same. If I pick the Chelsea team for Saturday, I could easily be five names out.
For Arsenal's game against Brighton next weekend, I could give you the Arsenal XI now. I can virtually give the Man City team, the Liverpool team, the Aston Villa team, but I can't give you the Chelsea team. I haven't got a clue.
Pochettino talks about assessing the players, but he can't really. He's stuck with them because most of them are on eight-year deals. He's got Caicedo on big money on a long-term deal, but he hasn't dominated one football match yet.
Meanwhile, Declan Rice runs 90 per cent of the games he plays in. He has a say in the whole game, the way it is played and the way Arsenal play. Caicedo doesn't do that.
Another one is Conor Gallagher. Chelsea were desperate to get rid of him in the summer but he's been one of their best players.
A few weeks ago, Raheem Sterling was unplayable but now he's not playing. Mudryk is now playing but I can't see that he is better than Sterling.
It's just muddled thinking all the time.
