Spurs insider gives lowdown on Pochettino's plans to get Chelsea back on track
Mauricio Pochettino will jet in to England on Sunday ready to assume his new role as Chelsea's head coach on Monday.
And according to a man he worked closely with at Tottenham, Spurs’ former director of football Steve Hitchen, every single member of the Blues squad will fly under the Argentinian providing they buy into his methods.
Hitchen said: “If the players are willing to suffer a little bit and to be coached and improved, then every player will flourish.
“This is Mauricio’s way.
“As long as his players are willing to give everything, he’s the perfect coach.
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“First of all, Chelsea ’s players can expect amazing human qualities.
“The way he’ll embrace them, the way he will interact with them on a human level both individually and collectively is probably the best of those qualities.
“He can really get into the players quite early and get a feel for them, and one of his greatest attributes is his intuition with players and the connection and feel for them.
“That will be the first aspect and then, obviously, they have to get down to work.”
Poch will be assisted at Chelsea by his loyal backroom team of assistant manager Jesus Perez, goalkeeping coach Toni Jimenez, first-team coach Miguel D’Agostino and his sports scientist son, Sebastiano.
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Steve Hitchen worked with Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham (FIFA via Getty Images)
Hitchen added: “Mauricio has the most talented group of coaching staff I’ve experienced, and between them they cover most of the key things any club would need.
“Training is hard, so physically the players will be pushed.
“But they are also clever enough to realise not to go ridiculously hard until they know a player himself and how much you should push that player.
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“So it’s all intelligence, but they take it to the extremes of getting the players prepared physically for the season ahead.
“Chelsea is perfectly set up for him in terms of the players will want to improve and he is very good at improving players.
“But he also has aspirations to win as well and this is Chelsea — they have a rich history of winning.
“He is going there to win, and combined with the age of the group and the bigger picture of trying to improve players and get there in a different way, that is also something he is very good at.”
Pochettino has been confirmed as Chelsea's new manager (Getty Images)Pochettino became one of the most popular managers in the Premier League during his days at Southampton and Spurs, the latter of whom he took to an unlikely Champions League final in 2019, which they lost to Liverpool.
Soon after, he left Tottenham as a division grew between the manager and his chairman, Daniel Levy, over their visions for the club’s direction of travel.
His first job post-Spurs was as manager of Paris Saint-Germain, with whom he won Ligue 1 in 2021-22.
And having left the French capital a year ago, he will now walk into Stamford Bridge and the club’s Cobham training centre ready to win over not just Chelsea’s players and fans but everyone working behind the scenes as well.
Pochettino's son Sebastiano has become part of his team (David Winter/REX/Shutterstock)Hitchen said: “You have the perception of Mauricio from outside and the initial thing when I went to Spurs, which was around a year-and-a-half into his time there, was that his English wasn’t great because he wasn’t doing so many interviews in English at the time.
“But once you get past that initial few weeks where everybody is feeling each other out, he’s so welcoming and so humble, such a nice person, him and all his staff, it makes your life so easy.
“He’s definitely as good at managing up as he is at managing down.
“Obviously, the relationships are all different the more you go up, but in terms of giving people time, giving people the understanding of his methods, he was very good with the owner of Tottenham and they had a good relationship for a long period of time.
“He was the longest-serving under Daniel so in terms of that it was a good relationship.
“The same human qualities he gives to the tea lady, he gives to the owner.”
Jesus Perez will return as Pochettino's assistant (Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I)Poch’s staff
Hitchen worked closely with Mauricio Pochettino and his backroom team during their days together at Tottenham.
And here he gives an insight into the roles they will play at Chelsea when Poch kicks off his reign tomorrow.
JESUS PEREZ
Assistant manager
JESUS is somebody who covers the wide aspect of things, he’s the general.
He’s the one who underneath Mauricio drives the majority of things.
He’s very good with medical, very good with sports science and also very good on the training pitch
He has an unbelievable energy, like you can’t believe.
He’s also very strong in his character, very strong opinions, but he is also humble and the manager is No.1.
They get on so well because Mauricio gives Jesus the license to get on with things but Jesus always respects that he’s No.2, and that’s why he works so well.
MIGUEL D’AGOSTINO
First-team coach
Miguel D'Agostino has worked with his compatriot at several clubs (PSG via Getty Images)
Miguel does a lot of the analysis. He will be on the training pitch as well.
Miguel is a friend of Mauricio's from when he was young and they have a special bond. He's a very calm and nice person. He will be out on the pitch but also does a lot of work on the opposition and is a good link to the analysis department.
TONI JIMENEZ
Goalkeeping coach
Toni is like a goalkeeper, so he’s crazy.
He’s fantastic, especially in the way he pushes the keepers and the relationships he generates with them.
I saw it with Hugo Lloris, I saw it with Michel Vorm, he pushed them like you can’t believe every day but they had so much respect for him.
SEBASTIANO POCHETTINO
Sports scientist
Sebastiano works with the sports science department.
He’s there to give the sports science team inside the club an explanation of how his dad likes to operate and they all work on this basis.
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