Chelsea

Chelsea

Premier League • England

Next Chelsea manager: Shock name incredibly puts himself forward, as Blues called ‘worst in Prem’

Sam Allardyce, Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea

Sam Allardyce has backed himself to replace Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea

Sam Allardyce has thrown his hat in the ring to become the next Chelsea manager amid rising pressure on current Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino.

On Monday, TEAMtalk exclusively revealed that Chelsea chiefs had been left embarrassed by the club’s League Cup final defeat to Liverpool. While Liverpool have been in fantastic form this season, an injury crisis meant Jurgen Klopp was forced to rely on a host of young players.

While Pochettino was able to bring on a plethora of expensive talent off the bench, Klopp managed to get the best out of his academy graduates and they helped Liverpool pull off an extra-time win.

With Chelsea already languishing in 11th in the Premier League table, way off the top six, club officials have become fed up with the excuses from Pochettino.

Sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that Chelsea are looking at five possible replacements for the ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss, including Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim and departing Barcelona manager Xavi.

But Allardyce, who has previously built a reputation as a relegation ‘firefighter’ for struggling Premier League clubs, has hilariously urged Todd Boehly and co. to consider him.

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The 69-year-old also ripped into Chelsea for their atrocious defending at times this campaign.

“Oh yes, I’d fly back from Dubai tomorrow for that – get me there,” Allardyce joked when he was asked on talkSPORT about taking up the Stamford Bridge hot seat.

Chelsea urged to ‘sort the defence out’

“Sort the defence out. It’s the worst defending I’ve seen in the Premier League for a long, long time.

“People see that as a negative punt. There’s a big thing on Monday Night Football about Manchester United and how many shots they’ve conceded and then looking at the top teams like Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal.

“They have the best defensive records. It’s a simple mathematical equation. You win the league if you have the best defence, not the best attack.

“The best attack gives you the opportunity to get the points in the end but the defensive side of it wins you the league.

“The defending has been ignored for many years now and I’ve never seen such bad defending for a long time.”

Allardyce went on to slam the defending of other top-flight clubs, too.

“Considering the quality of the Premier League and the money that’s spent, the quality of defending in the Premier League is worse or has been bad for the last two or three years, so I actually question the coaching these days,” he added.

“There’s such a big emphasis on the quality of football and playing the right way, that people seem to have shunned one of the most important things and that is when you haven’t got the ball, you have to be good at winning it back.”

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