Mauricio Pochettino said Chelsea have signed too many young players after his inexperienced side got their league form back on track by beating Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage last night.
Chelsea did not sign a player over the age of 25 during the summer and have made a slow start to the season. Victory over Fulham moved them up to 11th but Pochettino suggested that trying to guide his youthful squad has not been easy.
“It’s about maturity, adaptation,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “We need to understand young people. It’s a massive change to come here and when you arrive in a team it’s not easy to settle because, being honest, too many young players arrived in a team that is not solid. It’s not the cherry on the cake. They need to add something to the team.
“It is to trust these guys, these young talented players. It’s a massive job, step by step but very short steps. Sometimes people don’t have the patience. For us it is about patience. Even when we lose. It is important to keep calm.”
Chelsea cruised after first-half goals from Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja. Mudryk went off at half-time with a minor thigh injury after scoring his first goal since his £88.5m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January. Broja, starting for the first time after a serious knee injury, also departed early and Moisés Caicedo was taken off with a sore knee in stoppage time.
“The performance was very good,” Pochettino said. “I am pleased for Mudryk and Armando. I hope Misha [Mudryk] is not a big issue – he felt something in his quad at the end of the first half. Caicedo was a contusion but hopefully it’s nothing wrong.”
The Fulham manager, Marco Silva, admitted the result was fair. “They started from the first moment, winning some challenges that gave them the boost,” Silva said. “Our start was not aggressive enough on and off the ball. We were too flat and not dynamic enough. Even so the game was balanced until they scored the first goal. They were much more confident from that moment.”
