Sam Allardyce has joked that he would ‘fly back from Dubai’ and take over from Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea ‘tomorrow’.
It came after a Chelsea fan had claimed on talkSPORT Breakfast that the former England coach, who has been out of management since last summer, should take charge of the London club.
Pochettino’s position as Chelsea boss has come under increased pressure in recent weeks after the Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat in extra-time to Liveprool on Sunday.
With Chelsea now 11th in the Premier League, Mail Sport understands that there are doubts over whether the club is prepared to continue to work with him heading into the back end of the season.
When asked on whether he would take charge at Stamford Bridge if approached, Allardyce delivered a resounding yes, before lambasting the Blues’ defending as ‘the worst he’s seen in the Premier League for a long time’.
‘Oh yes, I’d fly back from Dubai tomorrow for that – get me there!,’ Allardyce joked on talkSPORT Breakfast.
Sam Allardyce has joked he would ‘fly back from Dubai to take charge of Chelsea tomorrow’
It comes amid mounting pressure on Mauricio Pochettino’s position as Chelsea head coach
But the Argentine stated that the club’s owners had shown their faith in him following their Carabao Cup final defeat by Liverpool on Sunday
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The former Leeds, West Brom and Crystal Palace manager subsequently delivered his verdict on where Chelsea’s main issues lie.
‘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.’
He added: ‘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.’
Pochettino’s side face another difficult game on Wednesday night as Chelsea host an in-form Leeds side on Wednesday in the FA Cup.
Daniel Farke’s side also come into the clash having claimed a resounding 3-1 win against Championship leaders Leicester on Friday.
Failure to secure victory would undoubtedly lump more pressure on their Argentine coach, who insisted that the club’s owners had shown their faith in him following the Blues’ Carabao Cup final defeat.
Pochettino also refuted claims Chelsea played for penalties during extra time at Wembley
Allardyce gave a scathing assessment of Chelsea’s defending claiming it was the ‘worst he’d seen in a long time’
Pochettino said: ‘The owners showed support to me after the final. Todd Boehly also sent me a nice message.
‘After the final, during the night, I met Behdad (Eghbali- co-owner) and we were talking. We were sharing our opinions of the game and the opportunity we missed.’
Claims were made that he had blanked the club’s co-owner, Boehly, during the presentation ceremony at the final on Sunday. Fans on social media claimed that the ex-Tottenham boss ignored the American businessman after footage emerged of him collecting his runners-up medal at Wembley.
Pochettino has also been embroiled in a war of words with Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, who labelled his team ‘blue billion-pound bottlejobs’ during the League Cup final.
His claims went viral on social media, with Pochettino on Tuesday stating that the ex-Man United defenders comments may have been ‘unfair’.
‘Always, I respect the opinion of every single pundit and of course you and with Gary, I have a very good relationship with him,’ Pochettino said.
In his post-match interview, the Blues boss pleaded for patience in his project and said it was a good achievement to reach the final
Chelsea now face a tough fixture at home to Leeds in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Wednesday
‘But that doesn’t mean that maybe sometimes he can be unfair. In my opinion, that was not fair, the comment.
‘We need to put it all into context. After 90 minutes, I think we were the better side and we deserved to win. In the last 10, 15 minutes, we created too many chances to score. We were not clinical enough and then, you always need some luck to score the goal and win the game.
‘If we won the game after 90 minutes, all the people would be talking different today – maybe we were geniuses and what amazing players we have and everything. That cannot happen because of after extra time, we didn’t manage well, because the team started to feel really tired for different circumstances for which I can explain.’
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