The chair under Mauricio Pochettino is rocking, even if the Chelsea hierarchy seem to trust him. The Argentine is under immense pressure as he's sitting in tenth place in the Premier League table with the most expensively assembled squad in football history.
Jose Mourinho is free after getting sacked at Roma in January. A portion of the Blues fanbase wants the Portuguese to replace Poch. Here's our analysis of the Special One.
Playing style
We all know what to expect from Jose. He doesn't change and keeps prioritising grinding out results over attractive football.
Jose Mourinho has consistently emphasized counter-attacking football throughout his managerial career. His approach to counter-attacking involves a team effort centered around directness, physicality and quick decisions on when to release the ball to a teammate
Mourinho's teams are also known for their defensive compactness, which allows them to recover quickly into counter-attacking situations.
Biggest weaknesses
Chelsea's new project under Todd Boehly has a heavy focus on youth players. The Blues have the youngest squad in the Premier League and this is something Mourinho is not used to. The 61-year-old might find it hard to work with such a young team.
The Portuguese prefers to work with experienced players and is notorious for not giving youngsters enough time and space to prove themselves. Mo Salah and Kevin de Bruyne both left Chelsea after not getting enough minutes under Mourinho.
At Roma though, Mourinho showed that he can adapt to circumstances, giving as many as 13 players their senior debuts. That was probably forced by the club's financial struggles — but it means that he can adapt to Chelsea's new policy.
The question is whether the youngsters at Chelsea would accept the Portuguese demanding 110% out of each player not just in every game but in every training session. John Obi Mikel and Joe Cole argued that only Conor Gallagher would 'survive' in Mourinho's Chelsea team of their playing days.
Biggest strengths
Mourinho became the embodiment of Chelsea's culture of winning in the Roman Abramovich era. The Portuguese kept delivering at other clubs (except Spurs), winning the Conference League with Roma in 2022 despite operating on a low budget.
The 61-year-old is also excellent at setting up defence. This is something that Chelsea have struggled with recently (40 goals conceded in 20 league games this season). Last season, his Roma side conceded just 38 goals in the same number of Serie A games despite goalkeeper Rui Patricio having a poor season (conceding 6.5 more goals than the xG of shots Roma faced).
Possible Chelsea lineups
Let's imagine that Mourinho replaces Pochettino right now. He'll inherit a squad full of youngsters and injured players. We can see the Portuguese building the team around the most experienced players like Sterling and Thiago Silva, in addition to Gallagher, who looks like a perfect player for Jose.
Mourinho likes playing with a traditional no. 9 and Chelsea have one — but he's not at the club right now. Yes, it's him. Romelu Lukaku is currently on loan at Roma but nothing prevents Mourinho from playing him next season if he becomes the Blues manager.
Thiago Silva is out of the lineup as his contract expires this summer. The Portuguese would probably try to keep the veteran defender but it's hard to see him staying at the moment.
Here is what Chelsea's starting would look like with Lukaku and no injuries next season under Mourinho.
