This season has been a very disappointing one for Chelsea and it will not end on a high.
Chelsea lost 1-0 to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals yesterday, meaning that they will not be returning to Wembley at the end of the campaign to have a shot at winning the competition.
The Blues are ninth in the Premier League, so it is easy to see that things have not gone well for Mauricio Pochettino this term.
With there being a strong possibility of Chelsea not qualifying for Europe once again, the Argentine’s job could easily come into serious danger, if it is not already.
However, yesterday showed that Pochettino simply cannot be the only man at Chelsea to blame for the club’s failures in the current campaign.
Can Mauricio Pochettino complain if he is sacked?
It is a really competitive Premier League these days. Given the state that Pochettino found Chelsea in, finishing in the top four was always going to be a difficult challenge.
However, this Chelsea squad is more than good enough to not be mid-table, which is exactly where it has been this season.
Simply put, Pochettino has not got enough out of his players. If the 52-year-old is dismissed, he cannot have too many complaints.
One thing that he can complain about, though, is the poor finishing from his attackers, particularly Nicolas Jackson.
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Nicolas Jackson is proof Mauricio Pochettino deserves more time
Under Pochettino, Chelsea have not done too badly against the bigger teams in the country, and yesterday’s FA Cup semi-final versus City was another example.
The Blues played really well but were let down by Jackson and the clinical edge he was missing on the afternoon.
A lot of their games have been like that this season. If the Senegal international, who arrived at Stamford Bridge from Villarreal in a £32m deal last summer, was a better finisher, his side would have won yesterday and be having a much better campaign.
Jackson himself has admitted that he should be on more goals this term.
There is only so much Pochettino can do. This Chelsea team should not be ninth in the table and he may have to answer for that at the end of the season if they finish there. But there have certainly been enough encouraging performances for him to get into the second year of his contract.