Pochettino blamed for injuries by Chelsea chiefs as players speak out over ‘primitive’ but brutal training

pochettino blamed for injuries by chelsea chiefs as players speak out over ‘primitive’ but brutal training

Mauricio Pochettino blows out his cheeks during a Premier League match

Mauricio Pochettino was blamed by the Chelsea hierarchy for the high number of injury problems, while his ‘primitive’ training methods, the lack of structure in the team and his in-game management also contributed to the ‘soft’ manager’s departure.

Pochettino left Chelsea by mutual consent on Wednesday, with a report suggesting his ‘antiquated’ training and inability to make more of the a very expensively assembled squad were among the reasons for his departure.

The Athletic have gone into more detail, claiming that Pochettino was also deemed culpable for the club’s extensive injury problems, which became one of the manager’s biggest excuses for their issues, along with the inexperience of the squad.

Injuries a ‘collective concern’?

Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Christopher Nkunku missed a big chunk of the campaign, summer signing Romeo Lavia played just over 30 minutes in total and Wesley Fofana was absent for the whole season.

The report claims the club chiefs ‘considered the issue a collective concern’ with improvements overseen by Bryce Kavanagh, the head of performance, who watched over training sessions.

Pochettino pushed back against suggestions his training methods contributed to the problem – “We (the staff) arrived from a different club, not from Mars, to manage footballers,” he said earlier this month – but some claimed the ‘Chelsea players were overworked and tasked with excessive amounts of high-intensity running’.

The report adds:

‘The demanding nature of the sessions was a talking point among the players; how there were so many drills, whether they be one-vs-one, two-vs-two and so on, with the onus forever on pressing and winning the ball back. As one source close to a senior player told The Athletic: “There was no let-up. Everything had to be at 100 per cent.”

‘It is also claimed that a tendency to bring recovering players back into full rather than adapted training too quickly resulted in re-injuries.’

MORE ON POCHETTINO AND CHELSEA ON F365

Ranking Todd Boehly mistakes at Chelsea: Sacking Pochettino storms to top spot of 17

Chelsea: Underwhelming contenders to replace Mauricio Pochettino headed by McKenna

Pochettino sacked as Chelsea brains trust choose the path of unsalvageable stupidity

‘Tactically primitive’ training

The training was brutal but ‘regarded as tactically primitive by some players’, who were reportedly given ‘relatively few detailed instructions issued and improvisation encouraged’.

It’s claimed the ‘scattergun selection of academy players caused a stir’ while on one particular occasion ‘a member of the first-team squad was picked in a role he had never played or trained in before and was notified only when Pochettino announced his starting XI to the squad a few hours beffore a match’.

‘The lack of a clear structure’ led to the view among the club bosses that the team ‘lacked a discernible identity or pattern of play’ and the drop off in the second halves of games ‘painted a deeply unflattering picture of the Argentine’s in-game management’.

There was also a concern that Pochettino was ‘generally being too soft on his squad’ after the incident which saw Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson attempt to take the penalty away from Cole Palmer against Everton, with the manager ‘ultimately responsible for not setting out a clear penalty-taking hierarchy’.

The Athletic also revealed that Pochettino’s doubts over Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, and his public crticism of the sporting directors were other factors in his departure, and you can read all about that here: Pochettino had doubts over £220m duo as Chelsea chiefs took criticism of sporting directors ‘extremely poorly’

OTHER NEWS

4 hrs ago

Celtics' Kristaps Porzingis to have surgery, miss Olympics

4 hrs ago

European shares fall as Airbus hammers aerospace shares, tech slips

4 hrs ago

Stocks mostly rise with Nvidia; dollar inches up vs yen

4 hrs ago

TWFG Insurance makes US IPO filing public

4 hrs ago

Protestors Gain Entry Into Parliament, Eat Buffet From Restaurant

4 hrs ago

European Investment Bank steps up multi-billion euro defence investments

4 hrs ago

Analysis-Engine maker's Boeing dilemma seen weighing on Airbus output revision

4 hrs ago

Lithuanian conscription: fortifying NATO's flank?

5 hrs ago

Exclusive-Doordash held talks with UK's Deliveroo on takeover, sources say

5 hrs ago

Will MicroStrategy Be a Trillion-Dollar Stock by 2030?

5 hrs ago

#CHIVIDO2024: Stars align as Davido, Chioma tie the Knot

5 hrs ago

Tinubu’s student loan, coastal highway project were my ideas – Sowore

5 hrs ago

Watch me run across the narrowest 3-country salient in the world (First person to EVER document)

5 hrs ago

President Ruto expected to address the nation at 9pm

5 hrs ago

Obi preaches reconciliation as NLC disrupts Abure’s NWC meeting

5 hrs ago

New Attenborough portrait by Jonathan Yeo unveiled

5 hrs ago

Fed's Cook: 'At some point' it will be time to cut interest rates

5 hrs ago

Njeri Maina, Kirinyaga Woman Rep, Criticizes Pressure to Back Finance Bill

5 hrs ago

FTSE 100 slides as investors wary ahead of data and election

5 hrs ago

Nike set for weak quarterly sales growth as On, Hoka chip away market share

5 hrs ago

Nasdaq, S&P 500 open higher as Nvidia firms after selloff

5 hrs ago

Transfer: Cesc Fabregas to sign Chelsea player for Como

5 hrs ago

VIDEO: Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh's Family Killed By Israeli Warplanes In a Dramatic Gaza Blitz

5 hrs ago

Crazy Town singer Shifty Shellshock dies aged 49

5 hrs ago

EPL: Details of Ten Hag’s new Man Utd contract emerge

6 hrs ago

Central banks must prepare for profound impact of AI, BIS says

6 hrs ago

China urges EU to revoke sanctions on Chinese firms over Russian links

6 hrs ago

Ogier withdraws from WRC Rally Poland after reconnaissance crash

6 hrs ago

ECB could take action against firms in bond portfolio in climate fight

6 hrs ago

Mark Cuban: Why Curiosity Makes You More Money

6 hrs ago

Sri Lanka likely to sign bilateral debt agreements on Wednesday, foreign minister says

6 hrs ago

Don’t use Nnamdi Kanu’s detention for economic gain – Deputy Speaker, Kalu warns

6 hrs ago

Eleventh-hour push for deal on ‘radical’ GMO deregulation

6 hrs ago

Carbon price for homes and cars could prove ‘very controversial’, senior EU official admits

6 hrs ago

Mining giant Rio Tinto promises "radical transparency" in Serbia

6 hrs ago

Don't sign Finance Bill to law - Catholic Bishops tell Ruto

6 hrs ago

UNESCO proposes putting Stonehenge on 'danger' list

7 hrs ago

Rivers Crisis: Intervene, end it now – Clark to Tinubu

7 hrs ago

Machakos county assembly set on fire

7 hrs ago

European shares fall as Airbus leads aerospace sell-off