Poch will preach peace!
After a year of utter chaos on and off the pitch, Chelsea now hope...
Aneeded.
FTER the chaos and confusion of last season, Mauricio Pochettino was just what Chelsea
An elite-level and inspirational leader, capable of managing both up and down — in part thanks to an endearing human touch that helps get people on side.
And also one who will bring an element of calm to the place, which he hopes will benefit his players, and whose views on the game should be heeded, especially at a club in need of some direction.
More than 14 years in management have armed Pochettino with the tools for a job the size of Chelsea’s — but also, crucially, a sense of perspective which will come in handy as he bids to revive the Blues.
‘Maybe now I sleep better,’ he said, reflecting on how different he is as a manager aged 51. ‘It was difficult when I started at Espanyol (in 2009).
‘It was like all or nothing. You feel, “If we don’t win tomorrow or tonight my career is going to be a disaster”.
‘Now you manage the pressure better. You always feel the adrenaline, but after you disconnect and say, “Now I need to rest, I need to sleep”.
‘That experience has helped me to have better sleep and to enjoy time with my family and my friends. It is easier to enjoy time with the staff and the players and the coaching staff.
‘Before it was more bam, bam, bam, bam. We use the experience to learn the passion is there, the adrenaline is there, the discipline. But it is about knowing when to be in this process and when to have time to enjoy yourself — when to liberate the players from all this pressure. How we behave as a coaching staff will transmit itself to the players.’
Calm and stability is exactly what Chelsea need following the unprecedented upheaval on and off the pitch which undermined their first season under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
And Pochettino is not a manager who needs any convincing about the benefits of such an environment. He said: ‘Liverpool won after very good years of working hard and being consistent, City the same after seven years with Pep Guardiola and Real Madrid also. That is important to understand.
‘Maybe sometimes you can win because it’s an exception but in general who is going to win is the club that is more consistent (in their) working, making a plan to try to win.’
At the same time, Pochettino accepts: ‘Today (immediately) we need to win. Next week we are going to face Liverpool and the mentality is to win.’
The patient approach Pochettino feels is required appears at odds with Chelsea’s demands — as Graham Potter might testify, having lost his job last season after just short of seven months under new owners who insisted they were thinking long term.
It is now Pochettino’s turn to try and find the balance. He said: ‘We need to work thinking about that short period but also medium and long term. Our plan first of all is one year and then we go and cut into six months, three months, one month, one week and then day by day.
‘But that doesn’t mean we aren’t thinking to win. My idea and message to the players, the fans and everyone is that we are Chelsea and we need to win. Today, yesterday, not tomorrow.
‘At the same time we need to be working hard and being clever in how we are going to prepare next month, next six months and the year.
‘We need to have a plan and a guide that says, “We need to arrive there”. And if we arrive before, perfect. But if not, we know that we are going to arrive at the destination. That is important.’
Huge demands are nothing new for Pochettino who insisted he has faced big pressure, for different reasons, everywhere he has managed. His time at Paris Saint- Germain is perhaps most instructive now.
‘When we lose after one year in charge, against Real Madrid (in the Champions League last 16), the club start to think to change everything,’ he reflected, before highlighting how different things are at England’s two most successful clubs of recent years.
‘City or Liverpool, they lose the semi-finals or the finals, they keep going, giving the coaching staff the possibility to work for the pre-season.
‘At a club like Paris SaintGermain, it’s about winning the Champions League.
‘If you don’t win the Champions League, like the coaching staff last season, you need to move on and the next one comes in.
‘I hope that changes because I think PSG deserve to be more consistent and have time to build something. You can’t win if you build nothing but are just bringing in names and players.’
It was another piece of advice from Pochettino that should not go over people’s heads at Chelsea. He is, though, encouraged by what he has found at the club and optimistic about what could be possible.
He added: ‘I know how difficult it is to build a squad to have the possibility to compete with big sides like City, Liverpool.
‘I think we are in a good way. We are building something special.
‘It’s a process and we need time. But in football you cannot ask for time and you need to deliver from now. We know that we are in Chelsea and even if we have young players that will be involved against Liverpool, the mentality is to win.’