Chelsea faith in data, process, and Pochettino ‘unwavering’ — report

A bit of PR briefing from the club this weekend by way of The Guardian, assuring that no one’s panicking “inside” the club despite our less than stellar start to the season. Inside those hallowed walls, they have crunched the numbers and “studied the data”, you see, and have “concluded that the situation will improve” ... if we “hold [our] nerve”.

Basically, calm down, you rabble rousers!

The report doesn’t specify which numbers are providing this great level of “comfort”. Presumably, us winning every match on xG is part of it. Alas, no actual points (or goals) are awarded for that, though “key performance indicators” say that we have been “tactically sound in and out of possession, and outplayed and outrun [our] opponents in every game”.

Basically, trust the process.

That process has included record spending on young(er) players, 25 and under — apparently seeing “little point in replacing experience with more experience” and instead deciding to “put foundations in place for the future”. That’s all well and good ... unless those foundations turn out to be not as solid as we imagine them to be. And also if the storm comes and blows it all down before we can actually build a shelter on top of it.

Basically, we’re too big to fail.

There is acknowledgement that we do need to start winning “before too long” (however long that might be), but there are further assurances that despite some perceived pressure on Pochettino, it’s all very “unified” behind the scenes — both among the coaching and technical staff, as well as the playing squad — and our faith in the project and its principal actors is “unwavering”.

Basically, what are you worried about? We’ve got this!

Now watch this drive.