Former Crystal Palace and Newcastle boss Alan Pardew believes that a trophy-laden boss would gladly replace Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea if the west Londoners come calling.
Pochettino under pressure at Chelsea
Following their second humbling in as many games, this time at the hands of Gary O'Neil's Wolves, there is mounting pressure on Pochettino amid what has been another poor Premier League campaign.
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The Sky pundit doesn’t hold back.
ByEmilio Galantini
The era of Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly's takeover isn't exactly bringing on-field success with it, despite serious investment off the field, with Pochettino also failing to sheer the Chelsea ship to higher ground so far.
The west Londoners have now slumped into the bottom half of the Premier League table with every side above them boasting a better defensive record. Chelsea's lack of bite in the forward areas is also highlighted by the fact only West Ham, Wolves and Man United have scored fewer goals than them out of England's top-half sides.
There have been reports that Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali even wants to replace Pochettino with Xabi Alonso of Bayer Leverkusen, with the Blues boss also admitting his job is far from safe.
"Myself, also. I’m responsible for this situation. What we showed today was not good enough. We didn’t manage the situation properly and of course no one can be safe. I don’t want to come here and say I am the best. We’re all responsible," said Pochettino after the defeat to Wolves.
“The players need to take responsibility like I take responsibility. At the moment we’re not matching the history of the club. That’s true. We need to accept it, be critical but we cannot give up. We’ll work hard to change. If it’s not working in this way, we need to move on and find a different solution.”
Another man who's been floated as a potential candidate is former manager Jose Mourinho, who enjoyed plenty of success there as a real fan favourite.
Pardew says Mourinho would love Chelsea return
Speaking to talkSPORT this week, via The Chelsea Chronicle, Pardew has claimed that Mourinho would jump at the chance to return to Chelsea after departing Roma in his recent post.
World's best club coach
4
League Cup
4
Premier League
3
FA Cup
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Community Shield
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Serie A
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Coppa Italia
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Supercoppa Italiana
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La Liga
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Copa Del Rey
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Supercopa de Espana
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Primeira Liga
2
Portuguese Super Cup
1
Portuguese Cup
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Champions League
2
Europa League
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UEFA Cup
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UEFA Conference League
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“Listen, Jose Mourinho won’t care about [the issues]. If he gets the phone call [from Chelsea], he’ll be walking back in," said Pardew.
There is little denying his success in winning major honours, with West Ham boss David Moyes calling him a "serial winner".
"I want to try and take it a couple of steps further, and I would refer back to the serial winner Jose Mourinho – who found winning this trophy so special for him and his football club," said Moyes on Mourinho's Conference League success at Roma.
"If ever I needed someone to show how hard it is, it would be Jose. He treated it as if it was so important, there's no way we're treating it any less than that."