What will Pochettino bring to Chelsea?

ALI HASSAN

After a long 6 weeks of searching, Chelsea’s managerial search is finally over, and whilst this season has brought mostly despair for Chelsea fans, there is finally something to be optimistic about again. Former Spurs and PSG manager

Mauricio Pochettino has agreed a 3-year deal with Chelsea and will formally start work on the 1st of July. But what can Chelsea fans expect from the Argentine, and should any cause for optimism be halted as it stands, I’ll explore what he can offer and whether next season will see a change in Chelsea’s fortunes.

Mauricio Pochettino was first introduced to English football at newly promoted Southampton, and in his first full season at the South Coast, took the club to 8th place, whilst developing players such as Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin. Pochettino shocked English football and implemented his extremely aggressive front foot pressing football in no time at all. In fact, Southampton’s 13/14 team recorded the most distance covered by any team in Premier league history! Rickie Lambert described his time under Pochettino as the “fittest” he’s ever felt in his career, Pochettino is one of the most well-known figures for modern revolutions in football based around sports science and using technology to improve training sessions. He and his staff have a video database of every training session they have run since Espanyol, and regularly refer back to footage in order to review their methods and tailor feedback to individual players. Chelsea already have some of the infrastructure in place to facilitate this approach — drones have been in use at Cobham to capture aerial footage of drills for a number of years, for example — but Pochettino’s set-up will have its own specifications. Pochettino speaks highly of the importance of “changing habits” and likes to establish a mentality at his clubs where his players can push themselves further than what they think they are capable of. He likes a hungry squad, motivated to do better and be willing to learn from his brutal training sessions. Yet perhaps with Pochettino, it’s his unique blend of an extreme focus on tactical sessions whilst forging strong relationships with his players that sets him apart – a rare combo that only the likes of Guardiola and Klopp can say they possess in the modern game. He isn’t one to stand for poor attitude and those who aren’t willing to buy into his plan will surely get sold off promptly, with the likes of Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Edouard Mendy, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all expected to leave this summer. If Chelsea give Pochettino time, I am confident he will succeed, this is a man who achieved 86 points with Tottenham in the 16/17 (more than Arsenal have this season) and took Spurs to their only ever Champions League final without spending a penny in the previous two windows. It may take some patience and time to adjust for the Chelsea fans, but I can assure everyone reading this, that if he is properly backed, success will come in no time. And who knows, perhaps even a certain English striker from a certain London rival will be tempted to make the move to Stamford Bridge and break Alan Shearer’s all time goalscoring record in the colours of the Chelsea blue and finally win his first ever trophy at the Pride of London.