Former Chelsea forward Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has stressed the need for Mauricio Pochettino to be given time but knows not all of the club’s big-money signings will handle the pressure.
The Blues are without a win after two matches of this season’s Premier League after an encouraging 1-1 draw at home to Liverpool was followed up by Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham.
Chelsea have spent more than £350million on transfers this summer, which has taken their overall outlay under Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium to nearly £1billion since he completed his takeover at the end of the 2021-22 season.
Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Mykhailo Mudryk are among the club’s biggest buys but while Pochettino insisted in July there is “no patience” in football, Hasselbaink has called for calm.
LiveScore ambassador Hasselbaink told the PA news agency: “Look, it is a project. Chelsea is a project and it will take time.
“You need to give time. They have a lot of players, a lot of talented players but they need to gel and that takes time. It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at it.
“The only way they will learn is by playing and having that pressure. You will see some of them will make it and be able to handle it, but some, as always is the case, they won’t handle the pressure. That is the nature of the beast.
“I do think Chelsea have bought well, really well with a lot of young players and the most important thing now is to trim the squad because there is still a lot of players.
“Then mould it and everyone can get to know each other.”
Hasselbaink reflected on Chelsea’s stuttering start to the season after being put through his paces by youngsters during a session put on by Bloomsbury Football, a grassroots charity who provide weekly football sessions for young people in London.
Bloomsbury Football are set to receive a £5,000 donation from LiveScore, who have launched a Life-changing Goals campaign to mark their 25th anniversary.
LiveScore will donate £25 to charity for every goal scored in the world’s top 25 leagues on the weekend of September 2-3, while goals scored at grassroots level and shared with the global sports media brand on social media will also trigger a donation.
An overall total of £25,000 is set to be donated by LiveScore with £20,000 going to a mental health charity partner.
Chelsea will host Nottingham Forest on September 2, after they entertain Luton this Friday, and Hasselbaink suggested a top-five finish, which should be enough to secure qualification for UEFA’s new-look Champions League format from 2024 given England’s coefficient rating, would be success this season.
“I think to get in the Champions League this year it is the top five isn’t it, so look without getting ahead of everything, it is a project,” Hasselbaink added.
“There are a lot of things that have changed in the last two years at Chelsea. It is not the Chelsea any more that we had, but they are building to that again.
“It is different and what you really want as soon as possible is to get a win behind your belt because from there you try to get momentum, which will get people confidence.
“The Liverpool game showed they can compete with the best but second half against West Ham you can see there are a lot of things to work at.
“It will not change overnight, that is just a fact and everybody in football knows that but I think they have a lot and they are on the right track.
“With all due respect to everyone who was there last year, I think they look a lot better than last year.”
:: To get involved with LiveScore’s Life-changing Goals campaign, head to LiveScore’s official social media channels to find out how you can share your goal with #LiveScore25 and #LifeChangingGoals.
