Why have Chelsea changed the manager dugouts around?

Mauricio Pochettino paraded the Stamford Bridge touchline for the first time as the home manager on Sunday, but he took up a position familiar to him from his previous ventures to Chelsea’s stadium.

The Argentine’s away visits to the Bridge rarely ended cheerfully during his spells as Southampton and Tottenham boss, although he did oversee Spurs’ first win at Chelsea in 28 years back in 2018.

He’ll be hopeful of more prosperous times at the helm in west London, with his tenure getting off to a promising start as his Chelsea side drew 1-1 with Liverpool at the Bridge.

It’s all change for the Blues after a miserable 2022/23 campaign, with Pochettino even going as far as switching the positions of the managerial dugouts.

The home dugout at Stamford Bridge has forever been to the left of the tunnel as the players walk out with the away dugout based on the opposite side.

However, Pochettino has opted to switch this around which means his dugout is now to the right of the tunnel. This change is believed to be all the manager’s doing, with the former Spurs boss favouring the more centralised position of the previous away dugout.

Explaining this adjustment ahead of Chelsea’s game against Liverpool, Pochettino said: “We are moving because we have better space and it is better to be on the right and that was the decision, the day we signed here and the club agreed with me. Breaking news, we are moving to the right.

“I don’t know if it’s lucky, I think it’s the best because it’s bigger, because you are in the middle, you are at home and you control everything, for me that is important. It was strange that they gave me the best position when I was at Southampton and Tottenham and it was always a thing I was thinking.”

With the home dugout now more central, opposing managers will occupy the away dugout which drifts out to the left from the halfway line and is closer to the travelling fans tucked away in between the East Stand and Shed End at Stamford Bridge.

One other theory behind Pochettino’s switch up is Chelsea’s pretty ordinary home record over the past three seasons.

The Blues won just six of their 19 games at homes during 2022/23 and nine the campaign before – by comparison Manchester United won that amount combined just last season.

24 wins out of 57 games represents a win percentage of just 42% for Chelsea, making for pretty grim viewing for a crowd used to challenging for major trophies and winning titles. Manchester City, in comparison, have a win percentage of close to 79% and Liverpool 66%. Even West Ham have achieved 47% in that time.

Before that, Chelsea were pretty formidable at home. 12 wins in 19 under Maurizio Sarri helped the Blues finished third in the Premier League and they won six of their seven home games, drawing the other, en route to winning the Europa League.

*Table below denotes Premier League games only.