Mauricio Pochettino fears Chelsea’s downfall could be that their mega-money stars are too comfortable, having delivered a speech to his squad this week about slipping standards ahead of Premier League showdown with Manchester United.
Pochettino warned on Wednesday that they have to ‘behave like Chelsea’ and not an ‘exhibition team’ there to enjoy themselves, claiming they blew two leads in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Burnley at Stamford Bridge because they shirked the hard yards.
Concerned by that costly surrender, Pochettino told his players in an address that he could have fallen into a comfort zone upon taking over as Chelsea manager but that his swollen bank balance has not made him want to do the ‘minimum effort’.
'I am going to explain what I explained to them,’ Pochettino said. ‘When I was at Espanyol, my first experience as a coach, I was at the training ground at 7am every morning. Then when I moved to Southampton: 6.30am. Then Tottenham: 7am. Then PSG: the same, 6am in the morning. Now, again: 6.45am. You can ask the guy at security.
'It is not going to change. After 15 years, my passion is here, my motivation is football. After 15 years of working, your salary increases, your bank account. But that cannot put me in a very comfortable zone to say, “Now I arrive at 9am and leave at 2pm." I need to keep pushing myself, to keep pushing my team and my coaching staff, because we want to win and want to be competitive.’
Fearful of players believing their own hype after arriving on significant fees to substantial fanfare, Pochettino continued: ‘What do I need to do? It is to arrive early. It is too work more. It is to run more. It is to be more focused.
'It is not now to arrive to Chelsea (slaps hands together) and I am so
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