Pochettino in reality check on Chelsea's trophy hopes despite statement win
Mauricio Pochettino has warned fans Chelsea are not the same team which won 21 major trophies under Roman Abramovich and that it could take years for them to get back to the top.
Abramovich bought the club back in 2003 and oversaw a period of great success, before selling Chelsea in 2022 to a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital after he was sanctioned by the UK government over his reported close ties Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Under the new ownership, Chelsea have continued to invest heavily in players, with over £1billion already spent on new signings, but without anywhere near the same success. Chelsea finished 12th in the Premier League last season, their worst finish since 1994, and currently sit 11th this season.
They have reached this month's Carabao Cup final, though, and progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup after securing a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday. However, Pochettino has moved to dampen the silverware expectations of Blues fans, stating after the win: "We need to stop thinking we are Chelsea from the last 20 years because we are not any more this type of Chelsea that people believe.
"Now we need to move on and all together, we need to create this project and provide the team, the youngest team in the Premier League, the possibility to perform, to find the balance, to be consistent, not only to play good today and tomorrow. Okay, we are young or we made a mistake, or we believe that we are there at the level that everyone wants.
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"That makes me sad because people need to realise that this is not anymore. We need to move on, move on, move on. I don't care if the people are happy with my speech, it's only that I care for the club, I care for my players, I want to help the players.
"We as a coaching staff care a lot and want the best for the players and the club. We are going to fight. I don't care what the people say, or what the people is going to make noise to try to tackle in this way to build something.
Pochettino was speaking after Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the FA Cup (Getty Images)"I am not talking because we won the game today and it's easy to talk. No, I was talking about this in the same way yesterday. I am not more sad or happy about today after the win than after Wolverhampton because we already know, because we have experience, that this type of project needs time and it needs trust.
"We cannot build a team that is able to challenge others fighting for big things in a few months because you need to fix too many things, because you need to observe, you need to analyse, you need to compete, you need to compete and see how complete this team is with another formation, another player, different names.
"We are building a project that is maybe going to be one years, two years, three years. But in the moment, we are at the start of the project and it is going to be completely different and after it is going to be different. But that is so important how we translate the message and yes, because we want to succeed."
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