Why Poch should stay
I've written two identical pieces in the past about this - one for Graham Potter and one for Tuchel.
For Poch, I think it's absolutely vital that we do not sack him this summer, and there are several reasons for doing so.
1. There aren't (many) better options at this time
The two names that I've seen linked alongside the news of Poch's potential departure are Kieran McKenna and Ruben Amorim. Amorim has stated in a press conference that he wants to carry on in Portugal, as he attracted attention from several clubs this season including Liverpool and West Ham, before they settled on other options. It would be a statement signing, but has a few question marks that may lead to some issues managing in England, and due to that, he's a risk.
Kieran McKenna has just led Ipswich to a Premier League promotion, and attempting to pry him away from the club to come and manage at Chelsea would just be... evil. At least give the man another season and see how he fares.
Tuchel and Conte are both available but I'm not sure a Stamford Bridge reunion would be ideal for either coach. Of course there's also Mr Chelsea himself, Jose Mourinho, but I think that ship has fully sailed.
There's a small group of De Zerbi backers amongst the Chelsea faithful but given how he's ended the season with Brighton, I'm slightly put off.
Anyone else is a very long shot, and it brings us back to Pochettino, who should be given every chance at a second season, and more importantly a season back in Europe, to see how he develops and improves this Chelsea team.
2. Our form is improving
If you showed me only the first half of Chelsea's 23/24 season, maybe even the first two thirds, I might have been open to letting Poch go. However, the way we've ended the season has been strong. Tactically, Pochettino seems to have finally found his footing. We're now setting up and operating in a way that can compete with the top teams, and provided we invest smartly in the summer, as well as cling on to our existing talent, a Top 4 challenge may look likely.
Players are warming up to the manager as well as the coaching team, and under Poch's coaching we are starting to see relationships and chemistry form on and off the pitch. Why would we jeopardize that by going back to square one again?
And taking nothing away from the fact that this season has been a messy one - as many Chelsea players and Poch have said, it's not up to Chelsea's usual standard. But to finish the season in the top 6 with potential Europa League football on the cards, after sitting as low as twelfth in the league, shows improvement at the very least.
3. Pochettino helps to solve the teams issues
Our one glaring issue in the latter months of Tuchel's Chelsea and for the majority of Potter's Chelsea was how clinical we were. Chelsea were amazing at getting the ball into an attacking position to score...and then not scoring. It meant that big signings to help fill this gap - Havertz, Lukaku, Werner, etc. all ended up flopping, because we just couldn't find a way to
We may just have gotten lucky, but Poch does have a track record in terms of getting his attack firing, especially in England, at Southampton (Lambert, Rodriguez) and Tottenham (Alli).
With Palmer and Jackson in this new Chelsea attack, Poch has brought goals. Palmer made a strong challenge for the Golden Boot, beat Hazard's best PL goal and assist return, and ended the season with the PL Young Player of the Year award and Chelsea's Player of the Season.
Many will critique Jackson for not putting away certain chances, but he's ended this season with 17 goals in all competitions, which actually beats Drogba's first season at Chelsea (16). Jackson certainly has things to work on, but I am a big fan of him as a player, as he seems to be strong creatively as well as a goalscorer, and will only improve as time goes on.
Not only our attack, but several players have seen improvement - Cucurella still has his weaknesses but has shown improvement, and his new role as an inverted fullback seems to suit us well. Malo Gusto has shown to have been an absolutely masterful signing from the board.
There's been talks from earlier today that Chelsea would look to appoint a 'young manager' if we end up parting ways with Poch. I'm not sure if that means McKenna, or someone else, and I'm not totally against the idea - just not now.
I always say that the next manager Chelsea sign cannot be another risk, it needs to be someone proven enough to compete with the likes of Arteta and Pep.
Moreover, this ownership needs to decide whether it sticks with their head coach, or get trigger happy until they find their perfect candidate. Continuing in our recent trend of pulling the trigger after 12-18 months is just not sustainable in my opinion, and for me, Poch deserves to see out his 2 year contract, at the very least.