Former Southampton player Rickie Lambert has opened up on the brutal nature of Mauricio Pochettino's training methods with a do-or-die warning for Chelsea's stars this summer.
The ex-Saints boss is expected to be announced as the new manager in the coming days ahead of taking over the squad for pre-season. He will replace interim head coach Frank Lampard and has a big task on his hands to oversee a major turnaround in personnel and attitudes at Cobham.
Due to the mixed group of young stars, overpaid and disappointing squad players and senior professionals in their last days at the club it is far from an ideal situation to come into. Pochettino has previous in circumstances like this, though.
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His Tottenham side were far from set-up to compete at the top of the league in his first year in London but were quickly transformed into challengers way above their wage bill suggested. His demanding nature as a coach has been well documented in recent weeks but given the current state at Cobham it is even more intriguing to imagine how it might work out.
Lambert, who was managed by Pochettino at Southampton, has revealed just how the 51-year-old is likely to get the best out of the Chelsea players.
"One of the things the players are going to have to get used to is how fit he wants to get the players," he told the Byline Podcast. "He will push the players more than they've ever been pushed. He likes to call it the Superman syndrome so he likes to push you during the week harder than how the game is going to be like on a Saturday so when the game comes it feels easier to you.
"That all sounds good and proper but it's how you get there that is the difficult stage. With the type of squad that Chelsea have got I think they'll be more than capable of doing what he wants.
"How does he implement the Superman syndrome, he came in halfway through the season at Southampton and because we weren't in Europe and out of the cups it was mainly Saturday to Saturday so he has you in every day.
"There's days off but he calls them days in when you're not doing very much. On Sunday you're in and then on Monday you're in and we used to do 12 horseshoes. That's one corner flag all the way round to the other corner flag in 45 seconds.
"To most professional footballers, especially Premier League footballers, that's a three quarter pace. On a Monday it's hard but for me it was a full blown sprint. On the last three or four I wasn't making the time, that's how hard it was.
"We were all looking at each other and thinking 'what on Earth is going on?' "
Pochettino has also become famed for his Gacon running tests which put immense strain on the players but is deemed totally necessary in order to carry out his on-field orders which include relentless high-pressing. Pochettino is also keen on winning over his players and showing them who is in charge.
This is set to be a crucial part of the pre-season clearout expected at Chelsea and Lambert has a message for those who ride it out and head into the new campaign as part of Pochettino's trusted group.
"We went into his room and said, 'boss, can we have a word please?' and the way he works is that it's four of them, him, Jesus [Perez], Miki [Miguel D'Agostino], the goalkeeping coach, and they all sit together in a room when you're having a meeting. You're in the middle, it's intimidating.
"I'm sat in the room and say, 'boss, listen, you've got to calm down on Mondays. We're not used to it. We feel like you've just got it wrong and need to calm it down.' So he said, 'right, okay, does everyone feel like that?' We said yes, all the lads feel like it, we'd come to a decision and I'm the spokesperson, I'm the one going to speak.
"He said: 'I really appreciate you letting me know how you feel, I will look after it.' All the lads were buzzing, made up and we played the next Saturday and came in the following Monday and instead of doing 12 runs we did 24 runs. 24 runs in 45 seconds. On the second lot, when we did 12 and he said to get back on the line I just burst out laughing.
"I knew exactly what he was doing and he's going to have a moment with the Chelsea lads where he's either going to lose them or he'll get them on board. It might be a moment like that where he pushes them beyond what they think they're capable of and they will either throw him under the bus or they'll do what we did and jump on it with him.
"If you do, I reckon they'll be a force to be reckoned with in a couple of years."
Chelsea's struggle to co-ordinate this season has led some to doubt whether or not Pochettino will be able to take this tough stance with the group but the rewards for such loyalty have already been shown.
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