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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lee Wilmot

Mauricio Pochettino named as potential next Chelsea manager after Thomas Tuchel sacked

What is going on at Chelsea? There was much excitement in the summer with the takeover completed by Todd Boehly following a long and protracted Roman Abramovich saga.

The American billionaire came in, and money was spent, with the Blues the biggest spenders in the Premier League. Although it did take them some time to get deals done, with Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling and Marc Cucurella joining with pre-season already underway, Carney Chukwuemeka and Wesley Fofana following suit and then Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Denis Zakaria joining late on transfer deadline day.

The Blues' Premier League campaign has got off to an inauspicious start, with Chelsea winning three, drawing one and losing two of their six games so far. They sit sixth in the table, five points off the top.

READ MORE: Why Reece James got angry with Hakim Ziyech as Thomas Tuchel discovers true Chelsea undroppable

And the Champions League campaign has not got off to a good start either. The Blues travelled to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night expecting to win. However, a limp performance and a goal from Mislav Orsic - a name Tottenham fans will be all too familiar with - condemned them to a 1-0 defeat in the Croatian capital.

Not great when Zagreb are the pot four team in the group and the ones Chelsea would have been expecting to get maximum points from, with matches against RB Salzburg and AC Milan to come. Head coach Thomas Tuchel was not impressed afterwards. He said: "I'm angry at myself, I'm angry about our performance, this is a huge under-performance from all of us. It's not precise enough, it's not clinical enough, it's not aggressive enough on the ball, it's not determined enough, it's not good enough individually, it's not good enough as a team.

"It's for me to find the solution and find the reason why. Obviously, they are underperforming individually, and I don't really know where this performance today comes from. A lack of determination, a lack of hunger and a lack of intensity to actually do the things that we need at the highest level. We are clearly not where we want to be."

That defeat, coupled with the start to the season, has led to Tuchel being axed by the Blues. A statement was released on WEdnesday morning by the club saying Tuchel had been sacked.

It read: "Chelsea Football Club has today parted company with head coach Thomas Tuchel.

"On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the Club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the Club. Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea’s history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup and Club World Cup in his time here.

"As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition."

With Tuchel out, attention will immediately turn to who could replace him. And amongst names like Zinedine Zidane and Joachim Low - both out of work at the moment - is a somewhat controversial name - Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine is also out of work, having left Paris Saint-Germain at the end of last season, but he made his name with Chelsea's big rivals Tottenham. Would he take the job at Stamford Bridge, and would Chelsea fans accept him? Particularly after he labelled the Blues a "defensive team" last year.

READ NEXT:

Every word from angry Thomas Tuchel on blaming himself, Chelsea lacking hunger and no days off

What Thomas Tuchel did at full time as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fails to inspire Chelsea up top

Aubameyang starts, Zakaria decision - Chelsea's best XI's for Dinamo Zagreb and Fulham clashes

Chelsea news and transfers LIVE: All the latest news, rumours and gossip from Stamford Bridge

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