Chelsea’s players may be in for a surprise when they start to return for their first pre-season under head coach Mauricio Pochettino next week.
Pochettino starts work at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Monday, with players returning from Tuesday, depending on the extent of the international football they have played since the Premier League finished in May.
At least all of Pochettino’s first-team players should now fit into one changing-room after the club, correctly, decided that clearing out the squad, rather than installing more lockers, was the wisest way to spend the majority of the off-season.
Those who have done their homework on Pochettino will be braced for the sort of preparation that Kyle Walker once described as being “horrible” when he was at Tottenham Hotspur and Raheem Sterling tried to make an early impression this week by posting pictures on social media of himself training alone.
Running, running and more running is what many of the Chelsea players will expect and yet, for the first fortnight, before the squad fly to the United States for their pre-season tour, Pochettino’s new players may clock up very few kilometres.
Pochettino’s assistant, Jesus Perez, who is a fitness and conditioning specialist, and is described as being “a genius” by many of those who have worked with him, has spent the past month studying and analysing all the available data on Chelsea’s players.
Perez will have found that the numbers indicate that Chelsea are in no condition to be told to run before they can walk and he is likely to put the focus on building up players’ strength over the first two weeks of pre-season.
That is not to say life will be easy at the beginning of the Pochettino era, but it may well be different to what players at his old clubs have warned of and the “horrible” running could come later, when Perez can be more confident it will not result in breakdown.
There will be recognition that too much too soon could result in a number of injuries and Pochettino and Perez are expected to tailor their approaches accordingly, perhaps mindful of the fact that the tour to the US is longer than would be ideal.
Chelsea’s squad were plagued by fitness issues last season and Frank Lampard was shocked by the levels of the players he inherited when he took over as interim head coach, just as he was disappointed when one player was overheard questioning why they were being asked to do extra running.
Graham Potter took over a team who complained to him that last pre-season had been one of the worst of their careers and that they had simply not prepared properly for the campaign. He also had to deal with the fall-out from Chelsea’s latest owners sacking a number of the club’s long-standing and popular medical staff.
During the mid-season training camp in Abu Dhabi, Potter spent almost as much time reassuring staff they were not next in line for the sack as he did with the few players available to him on training and tactical work.
There was a sense inside the club that advice given by the medical department was influenced by paranoia over their own positions, with Chelsea losing at home to Southampton, a game the owners felt they should win with a second-string, after Potter was told that five of his first-team players risked significant injury if they started.
In Perez, Pochettino has somebody he trusts implicitly over player availability and the Spaniard considers personal circumstances, as well as physical condition, when making assessments on their ability to perform.
Perez will normally arrive at the training ground at 7.30am and, after having breakfast and meeting with Pochettino, will hold a 9am medical meeting in his office where plans for each player are discussed and adjusted every day. Programmes are never made for the group, but for every individual.
Pochettino to immediately start to cultivate a culture
While building fitness will be largely the responsibility of Perez, Pochettino must immediately start to cultivate a culture and those who have worked with the Argentine believe this is one of his biggest qualities.
Handshakes and hugs will quickly become commonplace at Cobham and Pochettino likes to take a personal interest in each of his players and the members of staff within the club. Those who work in the training ground canteen are just as likely to be asked how their children are as big-money signings.
Anybody who shows disrespect to another member of staff can expect to be read the riot act by Pochettino, while the 51-year-old will demand high standards for his squad as well as from them and Chelsea had better hope he likes the hotels the club have booked for the tour.
During a pre-season trip to the United States with Tottenham, Pochettino and his team stayed in Nashville, which proved to be a highlight of the tour for staff members who were able to go out and enjoy themselves in the city.
But those who were privy to Pochettino’s complaints regarding the building work that was going on nearby and some of the facilities remember it rather differently.
Boehly and Eghbali must tread the fine line between engagement and interference
Chelsea’s co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali made regular trips to Cobham to watch training last season and players were upset when Boehly addressed the squad in the dressing-room after a defeat to Brighton, when he labelled Chelsea’s plight as “embarrassing.”
There is a fine line between engagement and interference that Boehly and Eghbali will have to tread carefully, while what has previously been a desire to hold daily debriefs with their Chelsea coaches may need to be tempered.
Pochettino places huge importance on positive energy, something that has been sadly lacking at Chelsea for the past year and creating the right atmosphere will be key. The hard work starts here.
