Report: What academy staff in football think is really unusual about Chelsea's first-team squad this season
It’s no secret that Chelsea are working with an incredibly young squad during this 2023/24 season.
Blues head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who’s renowned for nurturing rising stars, is in charge of a group stacked with youngsters.
Remarkably, Thiago Silva and Marcus Bettinelli are the only players in the first-team group aged over 30.
It’s refreshing to watch so many exciting talents step on the pitch in Chelsea colours, but more than once this season the side has been crying out for more leadership and experience.
The inconsistency means they enter this weekend sitting 10th in the Premier League table.
The Independent has now shared what the general view from academy staff in football is towards Chelsea’s approach this campaign.
Apparently, many feel like the current first-team group at Stamford Bridge is “not a usual team to coach”.
Also, there’s a sense that many youngsters in the senior Blues squad would still have been in Under-21s football if you rewind five years ago.
We’re inclined to agree with that, too!
The first example of that could be someone like Lesley Ugochukwu, who’s made 13 first-team appearances for Chelsea this season following his summer arrival from Rennes. However, the 19-year-old midfielder’s looked pretty raw when he’s played and is perhaps not ready yet.
Elsewhere, Deivid Washington has spent a big chunk of the season so far on the bench during a match day. The 18-year-old young forward surely needs to be playing consistently in the youth team, though.
Everyone seems to be very much learning on the job with this new strategy from Chelsea’s owners, but it does just feel like over the course of a long season you’ll need to lean on your experience in patches. Therefore, it could still be one or two more years before this squad is battle-hardened and ready to compete anywhere near the top.
from Breaking Chelsea News and Updates - The Chelsea Chronicle https://ift.tt/iRW6IXA
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