Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged the need to deliver immediate results as Chelsea’s new manager, emphasizing his determination to earn the trust of the club’s demanding owners.
In his first press conference since taking charge in May, Pochettino made it clear that he comprehends the magnitude of the challenge that awaits him at Stamford Bridge.
Arriving at the troubled club, the Argentine coach finds Chelsea in a state of crisis following their disappointing 12th-place finish in the Premier League last season, their first bottom-half placement since 1996.
Despite a significant expenditure of £550 million on new players, Chelsea went through four different managers last season and failed to secure any silverware, adding to the club’s concerns.
Pochettino is aware of the immense task ahead and is determined to turn the club’s fortunes around, aiming to restore Chelsea’s former glory and satisfy the expectations of the demanding ownership.
Pochettino faces a tough job to restore the club to its former glory and the former Tottenham boss knows he has to hit the ground running to avoid coming under fire.
“In football, there is no patience. It is difficult to wait. If you are at Chelsea it is not about asking for time, you need to deliver from day one,” Pochettino told reporters.
“Football is about today or yesterday, you can’t talk long term, you cannot tell the people we need six months. That is not good.
“We have a squad that can deliver. From day one we need to think about winning.”
The key to Pochettino’s success could lie in his ability to handle owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali and the club’s sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.
Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter were both sacked by Chelsea after losing the owners’ trust last season, with Bruno Saltor and then Frank Lampard picking up the pieces on an interim basis.
Pochettino reportedly endured a rocky relationship with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in the final months before his sacking in 2019, while the 51-year-old’s spell at Paris Saint-Germain also ended in his dismissal last year.
‘I trust in the owner’
Adamant that he had no problems with a collaborative relationship with his employers, Pochettino said: “They were very honest with me. They showed the plan, all the good and not so good things that need to happen.
“I trust in the owner that they are going to provide the tools to be competitive.
“I’m not a coach that needs to ask for power. I need to show they can trust me. They need to really believe in my judgement and that is my job. That is the biggest power you can have.”
Handed a bloated squad after 12 months of lavish spending under the new ownership, Pochettino has quickly rubber-stamped a host of departures.
Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kai Havertz, Cesar Azpilicueta and Mateo Kovacic have all left, with Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku and Villarreal striker Nicolas Jackson the only new recruits so far.
“The most important priority is to finish the squad, to have a very balanced squad. In the plan, the club also wanted to reduce the numbers,” he said.