Despite all the criticism, Mauricio Pochettino continues to believe in Chelsea’s new direction under the American owners. The Argentinian manager concludes based on the statistics that his team should have been much higher in the Premier League.
According to the ex-coach of Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain, it takes time to turn a selection full of young players into a team that can compete with the English top teams. “We knew it would be a challenge to work with not one or two, but ten young players. If we didn’t look at this project that way, you would probably be talking to a different trainer by now. We understand very well what this change of course means, but we all want the best for the club.’
For a club that became champions of England in 2017 and the Champions League in 2021, eleventh place is not enough. ‘Of course we want to win the Premier League. And one day we will. If not under me, then with another technical staff. But first we need to let this project do its work. Because if we don’t do that, these young players cannot develop,” said the manager of Chelsea, which is in danger of missing out on European football for the second season in a row.
According to Pochettino, the results give a distorted picture of Chelsea’s field play. ‘Based on all data (Expected Goals, ed.) we should be in the top four. But for various reasons we are not allowed to do that,” the Argentinian referred to the large number of missed opportunities and the necessary injuries. ‘The data shows that we are on the right track, so we must trust the process. We have to improve the details, which can only be achieved by gaining experience and playing together a lot.’
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