Chelsea youngsters struggling under weight of pressure, admits Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino said that many of his young players have struggled to cope with the pressure at Chelsea on the day he organised a team-bonding barbecue at the training ground – part of the ongoing drive to improve chemistry and assimilation.

The manager, who is preparing for Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final at home to Leicester, has overseen an incredible churn of players since his arrival last summer. There are only three survivors, for example, from the 2021 FA Cup final match-day squad that lost to Leicester – Reece James, Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell.

Pochettino made it clear that Cole Palmer, who joined as part of the influx last summer, was an exception, talking up the midfielder’s quality but “most importantly how he deals with the pressure.” It has been a different story elsewhere.

“In the same time that you ask me about Cole Palmer, not all the players have the same process to be settled at the club or to perform,” Pochettino said. “We are in a process that the main group, the main young players … of course, they struggle a little bit to deal with the pressure to play for Chelsea.

“That is the thing we are aware of and we are focused on trying to help them in all the areas. It’s not only to help them in the two hours of training. We have spent a lot of time talking [with them], and talking, too, with the people that work around these guys. If we can help them in all the different areas in their life, I think after [that] the most easy thing is to help them perform on the pitch.”

Pochettino has repeatedly stressed the need for time and patience, which is not limitless as his team languish 11th in the Premier League. But things like the barbecue, which was held on Friday lunchtime after training, are an attempt to create a family atmosphere, to connect the players to the wider staff at the club.

“The most important is that the players understand what it means to be Chelsea players and to share with people you sometimes don’t see – from the office,” Pochettino said. “For sure we are not going to score goals because we’ve had a barbecue. But it’s about communication and feeling better; like it is not only a training ground where you come to work, it’s a home.”

Pochettino said there were 120-130 people at the barbecue and he was not in charge of the food. “The nutritionists are responsible,” he said, with a smile. “We drink water, orange juice. We cannot drink alcohol or eat too much fat. We eat protein, green salad. No fries!”

There is extra emphasis on the FA Cup for Pochettino, given the league position and the loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. It has been a relentlessly trying season, ever volatile and Pochettino seemed to catch the mood when he considered what success at the end of it may look like.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Always it is a strange year to judge what it means to be successful. It is difficult. Sometimes, the expectation is so high and sometimes so low. It depends on the mood of the day. You know like in England – sometimes it rains, sometimes it is sunny.”

Chelsea’s decision to sign the set-piece coach, Bernardo Cueva, from Brentford goes into the fast-moving mix; he will join in the summer. Pochettino had previously said that the club already had specialists in this department while on Friday he spoke about the new addition as having a “global” or club-wide role “to reinforce the area that is already settled here … to challenge the people that are here, we are very supportive of that.”

Cueva is a presence on the Brentford bench – he was shown a yellow card in their win at Chelsea last October – and Pochettino was asked whether he would want him close by on matchdays.

“Of course I am the head coach and I am going to decide if some people are going to be with me or not, or if I’m going to add more people or not to the touchline,” he replied. “The most important is to reinforce and be better. Always we are open to improve.”

Pochettino is expected to recall Chilwell after injury, which is good news, too, for Gareth Southgate. The England manager has Chilwell as his only recognised left-back for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.