Mauricio Pochettino: ‘Doing well isn’t enough at Chelsea’

Chelsea’s weathered coach Mauricio Pochettino shared some of his thoughts as the club’s first team warm up to meet Middlesborough today on the pitch. One of his statements was that doing well was not enough at Chelsea.

Speaking to Chelsea’s news outlet in an interview, the Argentine discussed at least two things he was working on in relation to the players.

Tension is likely to be high as the players look to beat Middlesborough so as to make the FA Cup finals.

Pochettino said the following on that:

‘The evolution is really important, but the most important thing is to focus on the semi-final and try to enjoy the semi-final, not to feel it is compulsory for us to be in the final.

‘You cannot play if you feel there is some pressure and you don’t feel fresh in your mind. If you feel it is compulsory to do this, always there is some restriction.

‘We need to take the semi-final like a great opportunity to enjoy playing football, performing well, helping, running, being aggressive, being all together. Not to feel that it is compulsory to get to the final, because then you will start to limit yourself.

‘That is why we were talking a lot in the last few days about going to Middlesbrough and feeling free to play. It is a game which is 180 minutes, but the most important thing is the start, approaching it in the right way.’

The Blues are among teams with multiple new players who need to be made one in important ways with the team.

The tactician believed that the FA Cup campaign will provide an opportunity to do that.

‘Because we’re not in European competition it’s really important for us. It’s good for many young players who have the possibility to play in a semi-final.

‘Also because we are winners and we want to win. So this semi-final is a great opportunity for us.

‘Not only for the young players, but also for the older group of players. The club has a winning mentality, we cannot say anything different at Chelsea, but the group of today that we have, the coaching staff and players, we need to match the mentality of the club.

‘It is a good opportunity to make the fans and the club proud, because it’s always about winning.

‘It is a great opportunity to step up and show we are more mature, we are improving, we are learning. It is an opportunity to realise that when you are playing for Chelsea doing well is not enough.

‘It’s about doing well and performing in every game and in every single competition, not just one game.

It’s really important. It’s one of the most important things, to create this chemistry.

‘First of all between us and all the staff in different areas, because there are maybe 120 people seeing us every single day, it is so important.

‘Then all of the players need to know each other, they need to trust and always it’s a process. When there are so many new players in the team sometimes it is good, but it is not easy to create this chemistry because it takes time.

‘We don’t know if it will take two or three months, or maybe one season, but it is important that we create this because after it is about fighting on the pitch and we need to feel the trust and the confidence and care for your team-mate.’

Chelsea recently beat Preston North End 4-0.

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