Mauricio Pochettino admits some of Chelsea’s younger players are struggling with the pressure of playing for the club.
The big-spending west London side have floundered in mid-table all season, with their summer overhaul of bringing in young talent from across Europe so far yet to bear fruit.
Chelsea had the chance to claim a trophy last month, but a number of missed opportunities cost them dear as they lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool after extra-time.
And Pochettino believes not all of the club’s signings have settled in as well as star man Cole Palmer, who scored his 11th Premier League goal of the season during the Monday’s 3-2 win over Newcastle.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup quarter-final with Leicester on Sunday, Pochettino said: “One thing we cannot change is to give time to the players to get experience and be more mature.
“In the same time that you ask me about Cole Palmer, not all the players have the same process of settling in at the club or to perform.
“Yes, we are in a process that the main group, the main young players…of course they struggle a little bit to deal with the pressure to play for Chelsea.
“That is the thing we are, of course, aware of and we are focusing on trying to help them in all the areas.
“Because when you have this young squad, it’s not only to help them in training, in the two hours maybe of that. We have spent a lot of time talking with the people that work around these guys, who are important too.”
Chelsea brought in over a dozen new players last summer – as well as coach Pochettino – as they looked to build on a hugely disappointing 2022/23 campaign which saw them finish 12th in the league and suffer early exits from both domestic cup competitions.
One of the newcomers was Nicolas Jackson, who joined the Blues from Villarreal for a reported £29.8 million, and, after a difficult start in England, he took his league tally for the season to nine goals with the opener against Newcastle.
That is one less than former Chelsea star Didier Drogba managed in his first year at Stamford Bridge and Pochettino believes the 22-year-old Senegal international is a player on the rise.
The Chelsea boss said: “You all are now seeing how he is improving. The most difficult thing was to support him when it was tough. I told you I really believe in him.
“I believe he is going to be very successful here.
“He has the quality and the capacity. Now he is doing much better but still needs to improve a lot. The numbers are similar to Drogba in his first season.
“That maybe gives the fans more belief in him and to be a little more patient with him, but always it depends on the circumstances.
“Now I hope people can start to understand he has the condition to be very good.”
Chelsea’s struggles this season sees them down in 11th spot in the table, but with seventh-placed West Ham only four points ahead and having played a game more, there is still a possibility of securing European football for next season.
That may be the Europa Conference League, but Pochettino says Chelsea – Champions League winners in 2012 and 2021 – will respect any competition they are in.
He said: “We need to accept the reality and if we arrive at the end of the season and we qualify for the Conference League, we need to accept and respect the competition and go to try to win the competition.
“We need to accept the reality. I am not going to say nothing, it is an international competition.”
Journeyman Joselu takes long, winding road to Champions League final
Real Madrid striker Joselu was in dreamland after he came on in the dying moments of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday and turned the game on its head with two goals to snatch a stunning victory.
Joselu, whose journeyman career has included spells at clubs such as Hoffenheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Stoke City and Newcastle United, only touched the ball a few times in their 2-1 second-leg win, but it was a night he is likely to remember for a long time.
He pounced on a rare mistake by Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer, stabbing the ball into the net to equalise for Madrid in the 88th minute, and just under three minutes later, he volleyed them into the lead from a cross by Antonio Rudiger.
"I don't know anything about being a hero, but I'm very happy... You can imagine," he said. "It was incredible, something spectacular. This team never gives up, it's in its blood to fight to the end and that's what we've done.
"You always dream of this kind of performance, but not even my most beautiful dreams are as big as what happened today."
On loan from second-division side Espanyol, Joselu's journey to becoming the semi-final hero has been long and winding in a career involving a dozen clubs across Europe.
He began his career at Celta Vigo before being bought in 2009 by Madrid, where he excelled in their B team but rarely made it to the first team.
He was sold to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim in 2012 and then loaned to Eintracht Frankfurt before joining Hannover 96 in 2014.
In 2015, he moved to Premier League side Stoke City, playing 27 times and scoring four goals, before spending two seasons at Newcastle United. He returned to Spain with Alaves, where he scored 36 times in three seasons.
He signed as a free agent with Espanyol in the summer of 2022, and a year later was loaned to Madrid and has scored nine goals in 32 appearances this season in LaLiga.
Joselu, born in Stuttgart, Germany, made his debut for Spain aged 33, coming off the bench against Norway to score twice in two minutes in March 2023.
"I don’t think Joselu will be sleeping much tonight, he’ll be useless in training tomorrow!" team-mate Jude Bellingham said. "He deserves it all, he’s been an amazing member of the squad all season, and it’s his night."
Tuchel: Champions League semi-final defeat 'tough to accept'
Thomas Tuchel reflects on "tough to accept" defeat after Real Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 and knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League on Wednesday.
After a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the semi-final at the Allianz Arena, Bayern took the lead in the 68th minute through Alphonso Davies.
However, Joselu came off the bench to score twice in three minutes to send the LaLiga champions to the Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern.
"It hurts. It’ll take a while to recover, but on the one hand, it’s a loss where we left it all out on the pitch,” Tuchel told DAZN after the game.
"Of course, it’s tough to accept. It’s part of reality. No regrets. But on the other, there were too many injuries, a few too many substitutions, too many cramps.
"We started with a front four and by the end they were all off the pitch. And then Manu, who had been exceptional in saving us all night, made a mistake he wouldn’t make in another 100 years."
In stoppage time, Matthijs de Ligt had the ball in the back of the net, but the referee had already blown his whistle after the linesman raised his flag, so VAR could not intervene.
The replays showed that the original decision was closer than first thought, and Tuchel was frustrated with how the situation was handled.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Tuchel said: "We are almost through, it's almost there and there was a very unusual mistake from our best player for the equaliser, then we conceded the second one in stoppage time.
"Then we scored one and there was a disastrous decision from the linesman and the referee. It feels like a betrayal in the end. There was a huge fight, we left everything on the pitch, and we were almost there. Now we say congratulations to Real Madrid.
"The linesman says sorry, but that does not help. To raise the flag in a moment like this... The referee sees we get the second ball, and we get the shot - it's a very, very bad decision. It's against the rules. It's a disaster. It's hard to swallow, but that's the way it is."
Manuel Neuer made five saves in the game and looked equal to Madrid’s threat until he spilled the ball in the build-up to Joselu’s first goal.
"Anyone who’s ever played football knows how I’m feeling right now," he told DAZN.
"That we’ve been knocked out in the closing stages, having led 1-0 until the 88th minute, it’s extremely bitter.
"We’d taken one step to London; we saw ourselves in the final, and now I’m lost for words."
Super-sub Joselu strikes again as comeback kings Madrid pounce
Joselu was the hero for Real Madrid as he scored twice off the bench to send them through to the Champions League final.
The Spaniard’s late brace secured Madrid’s comeback after Alphonso Davies had given the German side the lead, securing a 2-1 victory on the night, and a 4-3 win on aggregate to set up a meeting with Borussia Dortmund on June 1.
With only 10 minutes plus stoppage time to make an impact, Joselu made his time on the pitch count.
He scored with both his shots, becoming the oldest substitute to score a brace in a knockout game in the Champions League.
The forward is Madrid’s highest scorer in the competition this season with five goals, netting three of those after coming off the bench.
It is also the second time he has scored a double against a German team in the Champions League this campaign, getting his other against Union Berlin in the group stages.
Bayern were left to rue a late lapse in concentration that saw them concede twice in the space of two minutes and 44 seconds.
After Davies, who has been heavily linked with Los Blancos, became the first Canadian player to score in the knockout stages of the Champions League, with what was his maiden goal in the competition, it was a mistake that led to Madrid's equaliser.
It is the first time since April 2021 against Paris Saint-Germain that Manuel Neuer made an error leading to an opposition goal in the competition.
Bayern have now lost 11 Champions League matches against Madrid, the most one side has lost against another in the competition’s history.
It was always going to be a tough game for Thomas Tuchel’s side even after taking the lead – Madrid have won four matches despite conceding first in the Champions League this season, the most by a side in a single campaign since they won the trophy in 2016-17 (five).
Los Blancos have reached an 18th final in the European Cup/Champions League, but this is the first time they will play the showcase game at Wembley or in England altogether.
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti has reached his sixth Champions League final, two more than any other coach in the history of the competition.
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