I pride myself to be as balanced as I can be on this website when it comes to making judgements about my beloved football club. Obviously in the moment at times, emotions can always get the better of us all, and I am always a passionate fan first before anything else. So in the heat of the moment it can be tough to stay balanced, but overall this is what I like to try and do and I think is important to do.
For me, being balanced is offering praise when it’s due, and also offering critique when it’s due. It’s equally as important as a fan to do both, and it’s completely normal to do both. When you love something so much, you will have and are entitled to have an express feelings, opinions, and emotions. We should never ignore the issues and always speak on them.
I’ve often highlighted quotes from Pochettino lately in a negative way, because I don’t think he’s been taking any accountability and we have just been hearing the same tired excuses. So for me, I cannot simply ignore that and I will always speak my mind.
But this week, Pochettino has said some things that I wholeheartedly agree with and I am so pleased to be able to write this article today agreeing with him and praising his comments. Because I will always give praise where it’s due and I will never let my opinions form an agenda, either way.
In some embargoed quotes for the pre-match Manchester United press conference, Pochettino is finally asking questions about his players, their mentalities, and the actual squad build. The only thing he is perhaps not doing is taking any personal responsibility, which maybe he should do because as I have said all season, the blame can never be solely one person when you sit 12th in the league, it will always be a mix of the manager, the players, owners, and the directors.
However, it’s a very good start that Pochettino is questioning his players mentalities, and questioning the squad build. Like I’ve said, it’s certainly not all bad what I’ve seen from the players, and I have also complimented togetherness, fight, and team spirit quite a bit this season. But from the Burnley game on Saturday, it’s clear to see that we still lack strong mentalities on a consistent level, and Pochettino is right to call that out.
Let’s just recap on what he’s said this week first…
Asked whether he fears his players may be too much in their comfort zone to compete, Pochettino said: “Yes. I agree. It was one of the subjects we were talking about.
“I am going to explain what I explained to them. When I was at Espanyol, my first experience as a coach, I was at the training ground at 7 o’clock every morning. Then when I moved to Southampton: 6.30. Then to Tottenham: 7, sometimes 7.30. Then PSG: the same, 6 in the morning. Now, again: 6.45, 6.40. You can ask the guy at security, go on, ask.
“After 15 years of working your salary increases but that cannot put me in a very comfortable zone to say: ‘Now I arrive at 9 o’clock and leave at 2 o’clock’. I need to keep pushing myself, to keep pushing my team and my coaching staff, because we want to win and want to be competitive.
“That question is true. If now because I move from another club – in another club I was playing for less money, for less expectation, no one is expecting anything from me – but now I arrive here and people really believe that I’m so good but now I feel the pressure, what do I need to do?
“It is to arrive early, it is too work more. It is to run more, it is to be more focused, concentrate. It is not now arrive to Chelsea – [slaps hands] – and I am so good because people believe that I am so good but I do the minimum effort. No, it is more responsibility now. For us [the staff], we feel the responsibility. That is why we try to deliver in this job.
“What you say is important. Never be in a comfort zone. If you in a comfort zone, you drop your level, you drop your standards. I don’t say that happened here because too many other things happened. But that is one of the things that we are aware of. Maybe it is a mix [of different issues].”
The Chelsea boss was also keen to explain what it takes to build a winning mentality, having endured a frustrating first season in charge of Chelsea.
Pochettino said: “The demand to win is completely different. The energy is different. To prepare yourself to win every single game you need to have experience, you need to be mature, you need to know yourself and all the people around you.
“That is why we are in the process to build something. That is why we are not winning in the way we expect. It is because we still need to create this mentality that is going to help us. You need to demand more from yourself and yourself team-mate. And then be strong.
“The example is the last game. I agree with you in all the criticism you can make of myself or the rest of team. But you know why? You cannot draw a game like this if you are Chelsea. You cannot draw. That is how I describe the situation and how I understand the game.
“Football is about talent, about players with [a mix of] talent and the right mentality. Mentality means you have the capacity to deal with the pressure and express your talent without limitation.
“It’s about translating the same feelings you had as a child to when you play for Chelsea, with 50,000 people there and the cameras, for relegation or to win the title.
“That is the capacity you have to identify in a player. You have to have this (head) and this (heart).”
He added: “We have to understand – what does it mean, potential?
“’I have potential’ – what does it mean? Potential what? We need to assess the players we have today and we can help them evolve but to what level?
“Potential teams, potential players, potential coaches. Potential, potential, potential. But we need to win today, no? Now I am teaching you.”
This is all great from Poch, and I fully agree with him.
At the end of the day, you cannot simply miss Poch from any blame when his team fails to beat 10 man Burnley who also had their manager sent off, however, the players very much let him down in that game too, and he’s right to highlight it.
He’s also right to highlight, perhaps indirectly, the squad build not being on par. He is literally talking about the squad being full of players with potential, but questions to what level they will evolve to. He’s bang on.
This is what many of us have been saying and this is my main concern. I’ve said so many times that our squad build has been naive at best. Full of players with talent, some much better than others, some will never be good enough for Chelsea. But most are young, raw, unproven, and may or may not become good.
Pochettino has drawn on all of that and he’s right to say it. We know he’s publicly asked for more Premier League proven players and evidently wants more experience in his squad, and so far he’s been completely ignored. Whenever he says things like the above, you can feel the frustrations and perhaps anger coming out in him. Will he ever say it directly or more to the point? I doubt it, he seems to want to keep the best relations with the directors and owners, and I guess you can understand that.
But what he is saying on the squad potential and the fact that they need to win right NOW, but haven’t got the squad to do that, it exactly what I wanted to hear from him and exactly what most of us have been saying.
This squad has not been built for the here and the now, and as every single fan and person involved with the football club knows, or should know, at Chelsea you HAVE to win now, there is no time to wait. You can not spend almost £1bn on signing new players and not win now, not qualify for Europe, it’s just not financially feasible for a start, it’s not even about fan expectations.
So, it’s very refreshing for me to see these comments from Pochettino and I will always highlight the good on here, as well as the bad.