Frank Lampard has been asked many times about Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival at Chelsea, and he always refuses to answer the hypothetical.
Now the appointment is so clearly done that even Lampard basically answered to a degree as though he knew it’s coming.
“I don’t want to be caught on the appointment until it comes,” the Chelsea coach said in post match interview today after watching a 1-1 draw at home with Newcastle, but then opened up on his thoughts about his likely replacement.
“I’m a big fan of Pochettino as a manager but it’s not about which manager it’s about getting the right level of manager. Pochettino works with clubs at this level. It’s about getting the team to a solid level, I think we have to be patient.
Standards had dropped, I can be honest now, it’s my last game I might not see some as much anymore. If you’re not together in the dressing room, any top team needs to have that. Very quickly I could see that wasn’t there enough. A very good manager could help that.”
Given that all of the major sources started confirming earlier today suddenly that Pochettino had signed, we had a moment where we thought it might be announced in some grand manner after ghe game today.
Instead, it seems a little time will be left for the stench of the season to fade before his smiling face is all over our social media feeds.
Lampard of course is likely to praise his peer, but it will remain to be seen how the former Spurs boss can improve on the dire struggles of the last 12 months.
