POCH DELIGHT AT £115m MAN MAKING STRIDES AT THE BRIDGE All hail Moises
TODAY, KO 12.45PM
MAURICIO POCHETTINO says we’re finally starting to see why Chelsea blew a record £115million on Moises Caicedo.
Well glimpses why, at least. For while accepting the recent progress of the Stamford Bridge midfielder is promising, and that he is at last settling in, there is still plenty more required, according to Poch (below).
As the Blues boss stated loud and clear discussing the form of the most expensive player in British transfer history ahead of their
FA Cup quarterfinal against Championship leaders Leicester
City today.
Indeed, if Caicedo’s show in Monday’s 3-1 league win over Newcastle was deemed his best 90 minutes so far since arriving from Brighton, then Poch is demanding that is the bare minimum required every week moving forward.
Cracking the whip, the Argentinian coach said: “He’s getting better and better. We expect more. The performance against Newcastle was good but we are going to put pressure on him to get better and improve every day.
“It is hard to repeat (the past). After a process where he needed to adapt in every single way – too many ways – he’s doing really well. Now this is the minimum standard... and from there to grow and to be better.”
Of course, Chelsea’s crazy billion-pound splurge in three windows by American owner Todd Boehly has been anything but an instant success.
And among the big-money buys nobody felt the pressure of their respective hefty, inflated price-tag more than Caicedo. The Ecuador ace’s neat and tidy combative style in the heart of midfield, so admired on the South Coast, quickly became conspicuous by its absence in South West London. Asked what has been key to the transformation in Caicedo, 22, and what part he played to spark it, Pochettino said: “Support. Playing him, the way you approach him, in meetings and talking – and sometimes doing things away from the training ground. “There’s many ways to help him feel better. The player needs to feel good, happy and settled. “Now he is much happier – still a percentage to go but much better.”
The same applies to Chelsea as they try to rescue a second turbulent campaign in a row with a first piece of silverware in three years.
And the visit of Enzo Maresca’s Midlands outfit is the sixth time this term that Poch’s Blues have faced opposition from lower down the league. With Maresca, assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City before taking the Foxes’ reins, Pochettino anticipates a tricky test. Pochettino, who took out Leeds in the last round, said: “Guardiola is one of the best coaches in the world but in the end you add your own ideas and character. You cannot replicate somebody else. “We respect coaches in their own right and, for sure, Maresca has something different. We admire the type of football that he’s producing at Leicester.”