Mauricio Pochettino's assistant Jesús Pérez (right) has spent the past month researching and analyzing all available data on Chelsea players. Photo: Getty Images
Chelsea players may be surprised when they begin their first pre-season training under manager Mauricio Pochettino next week.
Pochettino will start work at Chelsea's Cobham training ground on Monday. players returning from Tuesday, depending on the extent of international football they have been playing since the end of the Premier League in May.
At the very least, all Pochettino first-team players must now fit in the same dressing room after how the club correctly decided that clearing the team, rather than installing additional lockers, was the wisest way to spend most of the offseason.
Those who have prepared for Pochettino will be ready for what Kyle Walker once called «terrible» when he was at Tottenham Hotspur and Raheem Sterling was trying to make a first impression this week. posting photos on social media of him training alone.
Running, running and more running is what many Chelsea players are looking forward to, and yet in the first two weeks before the team is relegated to the United States for the pre-season tour, Pochettino's new players can gain just a few miles. p>
Pochettino's assistant, Jesús Pérez, a fitness and conditioning specialist who many of those who have worked with him call a «genius,» has spent the last month poring over and analyzing all available data. about the Chelsea players.
Pérez found the numbers indicated that Chelsea were not in a position to be told to run before they could walk and he would likely focus on building player strength during the first two weeks of pre-season.
Perez worked with Pochettino at Tottenham during the Argentine's five-year stay in north London. Credit: Reuters/Paul Childs
This is not to say that life will be easy at the beginning of the Pochettino era, but it may well be different from what the players of his old clubs warned about, and a «terrible» flight may come later, when Pérez is more self-confident. will not lead to a breakdown.
It will be recognized that too much too soon can lead to a number of injuries, and Pochettino and Perez are expected to adapt their approaches accordingly, perhaps keeping in mind that the US tour is longer than would be ideal.
Graham Potter led a team that complained to him that the last pre-season was one of the worst of their careers and that they simply didn't prepare properly for the campaign. He also had to deal with the displeasure of Chelsea's last owners, who sacked a number of the club's longtime and popular medical staff.
complained that the latest pre-season, the first under American businessman Todd Boley, was one of the worst of their careers. Photo: Getty Images/Darren Walsh
During a mid-season training camp in Abu Dhabi, Potter spent almost as much time assuring staff that they were not next in line for a layoff than he spent on the few players available to him for training and tactical work.
There was a sense at the club that the advice given by the medical department was influenced by paranoia about their own position when Chelsea were losing at home to Southampton. that five of his first team players risk serious injury if they start.
As for Perez, Pochettino has a man he trusts implicitly with regard to having players, and the Spaniard takes personal circumstances as well as physical condition into account when evaluating his ability.
Perez usually arrives at the training ground at 7 :30 am, and after breakfast and a meeting with Pochettino at 9:00, he will hold a medical meeting in his office, where plans for each player are discussed and adjusted every day. Programs are never developed for a group, but for each individual.
Pochettino immediately begins to develop a culture
While building fitness will be largely the responsibility of Pérez, Pochettino should immediately begin to develop the culture, and those who have worked with the Argentine believe that this is one of his main qualities.
Handshakes and hugs quickly will become commonplace at Cobham and Pochettino likes to take a personal interest in each of his players and club staff. Those who work in the canteen at the range are just as likely to be asked how their children are doing as those who give away big money.
Anyone showing disrespect to another member of the staff can expect to be read the Pochettino Act of Riot, while the 51-year-old will demand high standards from both his team and them, and Chelsea better hope that he would like the hotels the club had booked for the tour.
On a pre-season trip to the United States with Tottenham, Pochettino and his team stayed in Nashville, a highlight of the tour for staff to get out and enjoy the city.
But those who were familiar with the complaints Pochettino on the construction work that was going on nearby, and on some objects, remember this a little differently.
Böli and Egbali have to balance on a fine line between participation and interference
Chelsea. Co-owners Todd Boly and Behdad Egbali made regular trips to Cobham to watch training last season and the players were upset when Boeli addressed the team in the dressing room after the loss to Brighton, calling Chelsea's plight «embarrassing». /p>
There is a fine line between interaction and interference that Boeli and Egbali will have to tread carefully, while the desire to have daily meetings with their Chelsea coaches may need to be tempered.
Pochettino attaches great importance to the positive energy that was unfortunately lacking at Chelsea last year and creating the right atmosphere will be key. This is where the hard work begins.
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