Mauricio Pochettino has insisted Chelsea’s young squad will be better next season, despite another disappointing campaign for the Blues.
Chelsea sit ninth in the table with just five games remaining, and are five points behind Newcastle in seventh, which as things stand is currently the last available spot for European football.
The Argentine hasn’t had an easy job trying to gel together a squad of talented but inexperienced players, and that task has been made even harder by a lack of experienced heads in the dressing room.
Pochettino insists young squad will be better next season
Chelsea’s recruitment policy has drastically shifted following the takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital nearly two years ago, with the club now focused on signing the best youngsters from Europe and around the world.
Whilst in theory this sounds like an excellent strategy the reality has proven to be very different, and on numerous occasions this season a lack of leadership, experience and know how has cost the Blues dearly.
Ahead of the London derby with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino has been speaking on the challenges of working with such a young squad, and he again highlighted how a lack of experience has made things more difficult.
“The most important thing we are going to have is all the conversations with the young players”, Pochettino told The Guardian.
“We cannot judge them because of mistakes, you need to try to provide them with good tools.
“They can make a mistake, but you cannot judge like an end product.
“You cannot say he is an experienced player, 30 years old, that really knows what he is doing, it is not to judge in the same way as players who are mature and the complete, finished product.
“We need them to make mistakes, the most important thing is for a coaching staff like us, that we have the energy and knowledge to have conversations with these guys.
“That you learn from this experience, that is easier when you have one or two or three young kids in the squad.
“Experienced players can help you also, they can be a mirror to see and learn.”
Chelsea’s squad is set to become even less experienced when Thiago Silva leaves at the end of the season, but Pochettino believes he is developing players in the right way and there will be progress next season.
“I think it is about the way we can help as a coaching staff, we are helping and, for sure, they are going to be better and more mature next season.”
