When I hear moaning all the time on here, on socials, on YouTube about Poch out and that Chelsea need a "top manager" I always think people are being a bit naive, especially because most can't actually name anyone we would or could reasoably replace Poch with.

Poch has been pretty tactically inflexible and naive a lot this season, and while I don't think all of the criticism is fair considering we have so many injuries still his inability to get more out of the squad or change to a formation that actually works for our fit players has been more than concerning. It's been incredibly frustrating watching Chelsea play possession football when it's clear the current crop of players are much better suited to playing a fluid counterattack. We're struggling to beat teams we should be clearing with ease and don't play well for huge stretches of these matches we should be waltzing (Palace case in point). Most of this is Poch and the coaching staff's fault for setting the team up how it is.

Yes, Chelsea are massive but there are at least 10 clubs in the top 5 leagues bigger or as big as us, and 2 of them will definitely have an opening this summer. The Bayern job might very well open up as well. If Poch were to actually get the sack, who exactly are Chelsea meant to be bringing in? In my mind, the top managers right now are:

Pep: Not leaving City to come to Chelsea, will likely go back to Spain or Germany or even try Italy after a few more seasons at City. Might coach the Spanish national team later this decade.

Klopp: Done in England after this season, never coaching another EPL team that isn't Liverpool, probably will coach in Germany in 25/26 or will take over the German national team job sometime before the 2026 World Cup.

Zidane: Will likely never coach in England, on the record saying he doesn't want to. Waiting for the France job to open, which will automatically be his.

Ancelotti: Not going to leave Madrid for a return to Chelsea, especially with Mbappe likely coming into the team this summer. More likely to coach there a few more seasons then potentially explore the Brazil job or retire.

Enrique: The PSG job was more attractive to him, has unlimted money, even more if Mbappe leaves because that clears up literally like 100M in wages and bonuses, can buy whoever he wants. PSG might actually make another UCL semi or final this season too if they run lucky in the draw.

Emery: No reason why he would leave Villa if they're competing in the UCL next season and have even more money to build the team he wants. Owners should make a push for him, but I don't know why he'd say yes.

Nagelsmann: 100% rejected Chelsea this past summer. Still largely unproven, doubt the board would admit they were wrong not hiring him and giving him more control. Literally might go back to Bayern.

Alonso: Would be a mistake to stay at Leverkusen beyond this year as they will likely get raided like Monaco and Ajax did after recent exceeding expectation seasons. Liverpool seems the most likely answer since he has history there and he is the odds-on favorite.

Tuchel: Playing abysmal football at Bayern right now, most of their fanbase has turned against him and he is starting to lose the dressing room. Was gifted one of if not the best attacking football squads in the world and has done fuck all with it. His talent evaluation is getting worse, too.

Inzaghi: Under contract with Inter until 2025, don't see why he would leave. Nerazzurri playing great football right now and could make another deep UCL run on top of winning the Scudetto. Has also never coached or played outside Italy.

Simeone: Stylistically I don't see this as a fit for the type of football we want to play or the squad we have. Only thing I agree with him on is not rating Joao Felix.

Spalletti: Another guy whose entire career has been in Italy save for a five year stretch at Zenit. Can see him going back to Napoli if the job re-opens after the Euros, and that's about it.

Realistically, I don't see Chelsea having any chance at convincing any of the above to leave their current project. So, you go the next group of more realistic appointments, which looks like:

Jose: Round 3, one more time before he hangs it up. Tactically I think his best days are behind him but from a man-management standpoint I think he would improve a lot of the mentalities for the current squad. He's made personal growth in dealing with young players at Roma and it's tough to see him not getting the team to compete for the odd cup or guiding them to a Europa League win inside the next two seasons, with probably getting back into the UCL by 25/26 or 26/27. But he also could be inflexible with transfers, I don't rate his talent eval anymore and doubt the board would want to give him any control over that process, which he'd hate.

De Zerbi: I don't think he has anything more to prove at Brighton and they've essentially reached their ceiling or at least will whenever their Europa League forray comes to an end. He should be getting interviews by any of the big clubs that have openings this summer and plays a style that would suit our current squad. For me, the most realistic appointment (and best available) we could make if we moved on from Poch. But would definitely have to sway him since there's no reason Liverpool and Barca shouldn't be gunning for him, too. Would have to hope he realizes Barca's a lost cause right now and would need Liverpool to really prioritize Alonso over him. He also could just stay at Brighton until Pep eventually moves on, would be foolish but we know he wants Man City.

Thomas Frank: Like De Zerbi I don't think he has much more to prove at Brentford. Deserves to move on to a larger team. I know most don't rate him for Chelsea, wonder if he'd take something like Leverkusen if Alonso moves on. Could help facilitate an Ivan Toney move if the board choose to go for him over Osimhen/Sesko/whatever striker they fixate on.

Sebastian Hoeness: Hasn't played/coached outside Germany. Arguably even more impressive in the Bundesliga this season than Alonso, since Alonso inherited a stacked team and Hoeness didn't, Stuttgart is just massively overperforming. More realistically if he were to leave it would be for an open Leipzig, possibly Bayern.

NOT REALLY CONSIDERING

(I'm changing the wording here to clarify: Personally, I think these are all solid managers. However, I don't think they'd have any realistic chance at becoming Chelsea manager in 2024 because the board will not seriously consider them).

Slot, van Nistelrooij, Will Still, Amorim, Schmidt: All of these guys are likely 1-2 stepping stones from appearing on Chelsea's radar, from an ownership pov. Ones to watch but it's not happening this summer or anytime soon, realistically.

Rose: Stock is down this season, Leipzig have been really dissapointing. Another club fit to be raided, just really tough to see him going straight from an underachieving Leipzig to Chelsea.

NO THANK YOU

Xavi, Conte

Am I missing someone? Seriously, what top manager are Chelsea meant to get, other than maybe De Zerbi? Is that the only realistic answer that satisifes definitely being an upgrade and actually potentially happening?

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