Mauricio Pochettino has urged his Chelsea players to be more ‘mature’ as they look to put their torrid start to the Premier League campaign firmly behind them. The Blues are currently stuck in mid-table after winning just four of their opening 12 matches but will be hoping to add a fifth victory by defeating Newcastle this weekend.
Chelsea will go into the fixture on a strong run of form after picking up impressive results against Tottenham and Manchester City before the international break. Pochettino knows that his squad is nowhere near the finished article, though, and wants his players to start displaying a greater degree of maturity both on and off the pitch.
“We were not consistent in the first period of the competition,” said the Chelsea boss in Friday’s press conference. “We talked today in our meeting to try to find why. We were very good against Arsenal, Liverpool and struggled against teams with less quality than us and play in a different way.
“That is part of the process. We are a young team, started work four months ago and we need to be more mature. We were talking about that, we need to be more patient. We can not get frustrated when things don’t work when we don’t create chances or score goals.
“I think it happens because of expectation. Maybe creates some nerves when you play a team that is less quality than you and you rush decisions, not [making the] best decisions on the pitch. You want to do the job of your team-mate. That is about being more mature. We are going to improve with time. More than tactical or physical, it’s being more mature like a team.”
Chelsea will be hoping for Cole Palmer to produce another match-winning performance against Newcastle after earning the Blues a draw with City in their last outing. The 21-year-old was rewarded for his impressive form with a debut England call-up and has already shown during his time at Chelsea that he is not short of either confidence or ability.
Pochettino was also quizzed on Palmer’s progress and was quick to insist that although his rise to prominence has been fully deserved, it will be important to keep his feet on the ground in order to ensure that he stays on the right path.
“We were talking in the last few weeks to keep players at their best,” added Pochettino. “It’s about keeping them outside of their comfort zone after playing a few games well because [they are] human beings, it’s fine.
“Our responsibility is to push him every day. That is why we sign him, because we believe in him but Manchester City won the Champions League and it’s never easy to compete with big players. Maybe with us, in this project it is easier to keep pushing him and all the players to be their best.”
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