The question of "where next?" for Mauricio Pochettino is yet to be answered. There are no immediate coaching vacancies among Europe’s elite clubs and, most likely, Pochettino will now have to wait until summer to find his re-entry point.But the where is less intriguing than the what. While the Argentinian has the reputation to pique the interest of almost any club, there are clearly some scenarios which would suit him more than others. That will – or should – be the priority. Instead of finding the most decadent throne at the highest point of the game, Pochettino must identify a situation which best complements his style of management.That’s imperative. For all the obvious reasons, but also because good stock isn’t...
1992-93 Ipswich Town, 8 gamesFinal Position: 16thFirst Defeat: Oldham 4-2 Ipswich, 19 September 1992Newly-promoted Ipswich navigated their first eight games back in the top flight without a loss, but six of them were draws. They hit better form after their first loss to Oldham, embarking on a winning run that lifted them to 4th by the end of January. Soon after, things started to go badly wrong, plummeting down the table thanks to a 13-game winless run. In fact, it was Norwich City, their East Anglian rivals, who were the story of the season, finishing in 3rd place.1993/94 Coventry City, 8 gamesFinal Position: 11thFirst Defeat: Coventry City 0-2 Leeds United, 25 September 1993An excellent 3-0 opening day defeat of Arsenal...
10 minutes are on the clock and there are 86 clubsto guess - from all over Europe, since we're counting not just domesticassists but European and cup competitions too.Remember to tweet your scores@FourFourTwo, and remember to challenge your mates!THEN TRYQuiz! Can you name the 44 teams Frank Lampard played against in the Premier League? He's not exactly the first player you think of when you consider Jose Mourinho's most iconic line-ups - but Mesut Ozil made his name under the Portuguese manager at Real Madrid, balling with Cristiano Ronaldo and delivering a La Liga title midway through Pep Guardiola's dominance.We're still trawling through Jose's phonebook to celebrate the fact that he's on our cover this issue - it's out now,...
Chelsea’s summer of 2019 was enough to kill some clubs.Eden Hazard confirmed his flight to Madrid in the post-match interview after winning the Europa League. The club were grounded from buying anyone to replace him. Marmite Maurizio Sarri departed to take on Juventus.The Blues were left starless, transferless and managerless - a triple threat of sorts - caught between the pragmatic revolving-door phase that the club had become infamous for, and a brave new Sarriball worldwhich received mixed reviews at best.Where Chelsea stand in February 2020 is, frankly, admirable. The top four is on; they’ve just had a whole month to transfuse new blood into the side and have chosen to stick by kids who have been learning on the...
To this day, Rio Ferdinand still can’t believe that Chelsea captain John Terry missed his crucial spot-kick which would have given the Bluestheir first Champions League title.After a 1-1 draw with Manchester United in normal time and an extra-time period clouded with controversy following Didier Drogba’s red card, the 2008 Champions League final was deep into the penalty shootout:Cristiano Ronaldo missed his, leaving Terry and Chelsea one successful penalty from glory.However, the former England captain famously slipped in his run up, hit the post and United won on sudden death penalties.Ferdinand knows Terry well from his time with the England national team and says that Terry would have easily scored that penalty under normal circumstances.Reflecting on the final in the...