Ange Postecoglou and Mauricio Pochettino will lock horns on Monday night in what is poised to be a fiery London derby
Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea plan proven ‘more sustainable’ than Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou and Mauricio Pochettino will lock horns on Monday night in what is poised to be a fiery London derby
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ByJake StokesTrends Writer
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Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Chelsea, arrives at the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Chelsea FC at Turf Moor on October 07, 2023
Tottenham handed damning verdict as Chelsea boast ‘more sustainable’ project (Image: Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
A new statistic suggests that Mauricio Pochettino is leading a far more sustainable project at Chelsea than Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur. The Lilywhites sit at the top of the Premier League after 10 games and boast one of the better goalscoring records, meanwhile Chelsea have significantly underperformed in the final-third and struggled to climb the table.
However, the underlying statistics prove that Pochettino has laid the foundations to build a far more reliable tactical setup. Unlike the Blues, Spurs have chalked up considerably more points than expected this term leaving little room for improvement already.
While Postecoglou has more than enough time to maintain the exceptionally high standards which he’s already set himself, Spurs could be in trouble if they’re no longer as clinical or as defensively astute as they’ve been. For instance, Tottenham have picked up 26 points in the English top-flight so far but, according to Sky Sports, the data claims that they should have only received between 17 and 18 points instead.
The data in question being xG (expected goals scored) and xA (expected goals against) in each Premier League meeting this term. Therefore, Tottenham have essentially chalked up nine more points than what is expected based off the statistics recorded, meaning that they would be sitting in sixth had they not been significantly over-performing.
As for Chelsea, the data claims that they should be fifth on around 19 points. While the Blues have significantly underperformed by seven points this season, Pochettino has already laid the foundation to a more sustainable project.
Therefore once the west Londoners finally strike a rich vein of form or welcome back some big names from injury – or both – they’re expected to record more points than Tottenham. Put it this way, Spurs will have a far more difficult job of maintaining their form than Chelsea, who have struggled yet still been expected to be far better.
Ahead of Chelsea and Tottenham’s meeting on Monday night, Postecoglou was quizzed on the Blues’ spending and whether he’d like to spend that amount of money on new signings. The Spurs boss said: “Not necessarily. I’ve always said I’ve never felt it is about just spending money. That’s been proved time and time again.
“If you get it all right then you’ve got a pretty strong case, but there’s always a limit to every team. You can’t have 24 world-class players. That will never work. It’s been proven that it doesn’t work.
“It’s about having a squad that’s balanced, guys that are committed to a cause. Having guys that maybe aren’t going to play every game, but every time they play they are going to make a huge impact for you because they buy into what you are trying to build.”
“Just spending endless money to get the best players has been proven that it is not the answer,” Postecoglou added. “The answer is to get the right chemistry in your team. I don’t think you can do that if you just get the 24 best players in the world. That’s a headache I definitely don’t want.”
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