Chelsea stars 'made token gym appearances & left early' but not under Pochettino
Chelsea players used to put in minimal time and effort into club-mandated gym sessions, according to eye-opening new reports.
The Premier League side were thrown into disarray last summer, with former Russian owner Roman Abramovich forced to sell the club to American tycoon Todd Boehly amid his country's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
Chelsea insisted they would not resort to the fire-and-hire tactics of Abramovich, before dismissing Thomas Tuchel in September, axing Graham Potter in April after just 31 games, and appointing Frank Lampard as interim boss, who lost eight and won just one of his 11 games in charge amid huge off-field turmoil last campaign.
And as reported by The Athletic, the hugely oversized squad and widespread player dissatisfaction resulted in stars making token appearances at the gym when told to, before leaving early.
Overall standards and squad morale were understood to be low. But new manager Mauricio Pochettino, who took over in May, is understood to have dramatically improved standards, physically and otherwise.
Sources close to senior players told the Athletic that this pre-season has been the most physically demanding for a number of years, with overall levels 'significantly higher' than under previous managers.
Argentine Pochettino has introduced double sessions and every session at the Cobham training ground is filmed and monitored closely for those doing particularly well or badly.
It seems players, knowing coaching staff are watching their physical work like a hawk, are carrying out full workouts rather than doing half the job like before.
A threadbare Blues squad jetted off on Tuesday for their pre-season tour of America containing just six midfielders.
More alarmingly, those six midfielders
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