Mauricio Pochettino is finally set to take charge of Chelsea this weekend and the players could be in for a major shock.
The former PSG boss is plotting a brutal two-week fitness regime at their training base in Cobham before they head off for their pre-season tour next month. Both the coach and Blues stars will have their work cut out for them.
Chelsea's struggles on and off the pitch have been widely documented throughout this last year culminating in a woeful 12th place finish and their worst ever points tally in the Premier League. Their fitness levels are so poor they could still come as a surprise to the new boss. Just before World Cup, only Crystal Palace had covered less distance than Todd Boehly's high-earning stars.
Just five months later, Frank Lampard made a damning indictment on the team's fitness levels and former coach Graham Potter. Following defeat to Brighton, the club legend admitted "training pitch stuff was all pretty walkthrough and low level because of the [tiredness] in the legs." He went on to insist the players needed "some physical work". And that is exactly what they are in for.
The Argentine took Tottenham from 'Spursy' to Champions League finalists in just a few seasons. They were consistently ranked second for running in the Premier League for four years running, and was the making of Harry Kane. The players may struggle with the new training regime, but the pay off is something Chelsea fans can look forward to in the coming months.
If his time in Paris is anything to go by, Pochettino will be quick to lay down the law at Cobham. During his first training session with PSG's superstars, the boss shouted at his players "Stop laughing. Training!" Leaving his son and fitness coach, Sebastiano, to lead the initial part of the session while he could observe.
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The most daunting trial facing Chelsea's struggling stars is the infamous 'Gacon test', a trying intermittent shuttle run that the ex-Spurs boss and his coaching staff have consistently used to put his players through their paces leaving some 'broken'.
"To start with, the players have 45 seconds to cover 150 metres, with a 15 seconds rest," describes Pochettino in his book Brave New World. "In each subsequent 45-second rep, they have to fun 6.25 metres further, with the intensity steadily increasing."
It's safe to say, Pochettino's former players have not particularly enjoyed all the running in training or his glorified bleep test. At Southampton, Rickie Lambert took it upon himself to speak to the boss on behalf of his teammates about taking it a little easier on Mondays following a match at the weekend. He thought the message was well received. Poch had other ideas.
"I went out [of the office] and went back to the lads made up, thinking, 'yep, just done it for you boys, next Monday gonna be sorted'," the former Saints star said. "So, I played the game, 90 minutes again, come in Monday, not only did we do 12, we did 24 runs – 24 runs and I just knew, I was running around laughing and almost crying and I knew what he was doing, he was breaking me and he did, he broke me."
Another former Southampton star, goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, has hinted at what Chelsea stars will be facing throughout the season on the training pitch. He told FourFourTwo "One session went on for an hour and 15 minutes - a continues half, it didn't stop.
"I remember Morgan Schneiderlin sitting on the floor next to me after he'd tracked a run, saying, 'F***ing hell, I think I'm going to die!' Then he just got up and ran again."
The Ligue 1 winning boss is famed for his physically demanding high-press, positional football and will need more than the next two weeks to turn this Chelsea squad around. He will meet with his new players on July 3rd with the bootcamp beginning the next day, and they should be prepared to "suffer".
The new boss leaves nothing to chance in a bid to transform his team. Danny Rose thrived at Tottenham under Pochettino after "suffering" in those training sessions. He admits that "it’s an enjoyable kind of suffering because I’m benefitting so much. I’m far more tactically aware and more consistent.”
The Blues are due to fly out to America on July 17th where they will play five matches as part of the Premier League Summer series. Including matches against London rivals Fulham, Borussia Dortmund and Ryan Reynolds' outfit Wrexham.
