Mauricio Pochettino makes Zinedine Zidane comparison with new Chelsea signings

Mauricio Pochettino has called on Chelsea fans to be patient with new signings and insists even Zinedine Zidane endured a tough start at Real Madrid.

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Chelsea have registered just one win from their opening four Premier League games ahead of their clash against Bournemouth on Sunday.

Since the club’s takeover last year, Chelsea have spent over £1 billion on new signings, but supporters have voiced concerns over a lack of progress on the pitch.

Pochettino insists his players are ‘not machines’ and believes his younger signings will need time to adapt.

‘At Chelsea the expectation is always massive,’ Pochettino said.

‘When you arrive at Chelsea as a player or coaching staff, the people expect to win, lift some trophies, perform and score.

‘We now have a really young squad, players that are good investments for the club. We need to know that they are young and need to adapt and the circumstances and stay calm. It is not fair to assess after one games, two games, three games and say he is not performing.

‘I always use the same example… Real Madrid paid 70 or 80 million for a player named Zinedine Zidane. He was an amazing player but after six months, you can ask the fans at the Bernabeu and they were saying; ‘oh, what have we bought?’

‘He started to perform after seven or eight months. Zinedine Zidane was 26 or 27. When you buy players who are 20 or 21 you have to be careful.

‘They are not machines. They need to settle with all the circumstances that happened in the last few months. We need to give time.

‘That’s why it can maybe effect the results that didn’t arrive but we are happy with the process and the way that the team is showing the way we want to play.

‘We were better than Liverpool and West Ham. I think we deserved [more]. After five games if we are talking about 12 points and through to the next round of the Carabao Cup, you say ‘fantastic, what a job’ but maybe it hides something.

‘No, there’s a bad feeling because of the result and another feeling because the process is in a good way. We need to recover the injured players and then for sure we will be in a good way and it will be tough to play against us.’

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