Mauricio Pochettino to get straight to work at Chelsea after Frank Lampard signs off on a positive note

Chelsea signed off with a 1-1 draw with Newcastle on the day Pochettino signed a contract to take over at Stamford Bridge
Goodbye: Lampard finishes his second stint at Chelsea with a positive draw
Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Nizaar Kinsella28 May 2023

Chelsea finished their dismal season on a positive note playing a Mauricio Pochettino style of football.

The Blues lined up in Pochettino’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation against Newcastle to offer the same attacking approach they took to Old Trafford on Thursday. Only this time it worked.

On the day Pochettino signed a three-year contract to take over at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea managed to defend and held Newcastle to a 1-1 draw.

Pochettino is set be announced as the new Chelsea head coach within 48 hours but was not as the game and gave space to Lampard, who was taking charge of his final game in charge.

Raheem Sterling forced a Kieran Trippier own goal to cancel out Anthony Gordon’s early strike in an end-to-end match.

Chelsea fought incredibly hard to raise their game to compete against Newcastle, who had already qualified for the Champions League.

The open, attacking system allowed players like Sterling, Noni Madueke and Joao Felix to express themselves but another layer of sophistication is needed.

Sterling missed a wonderful late chance that deflected off Dan Burn’s arm but VAR didn’t deem it worthy of a penalty.

Joao Felix and Christian Pulisic missed further late chances to show the need for a new striker next season.

Pochettino will also need to develop a system that allows players to attack in a more coordinated fashion, while they will need to protect their goal better.

The Chelsea No1 was still forced to make several huge saves, notably including a one-on-one with Miguel Almiron.

It was a positive end to a dismal season in which Chelsea recorded a record low points total, finishing with 44 points and in 12th, their lowest position since 1994 in the Premier League.

Cesar Azpilicueta, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic, Trevoh Chalobah and Joao Felix were among the Blues players to feature in possibly their last game for Chelsea.

Mason Mount, who could join Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal this summer, was involved in the post-match lap of appreciation as Chelsea players thanked supporters for sticking with them in the worst season in recent memory.

Pochettino will soon arrive to resolve the uncertainty and lift Chelsea from the ashes of a 2022-23 season to forget.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in