Mauricio Pochettino admits his Chelsea players lack competitiveness (Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino admits his Chelsea players are ‘so far away’ from reaching their targets set before the start of the season and are ‘bottom’ in the Premier League for their competitiveness.
Chelsea currently sit 11th in the Premier League ahead of their clash against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Pochettino’s side have registered just 22 points from 18 games and are already 14 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
And when asked how far away Chelsea are from their pre-season targets, Pochettino replied: ‘We’re so far away.
‘Our target was to be on the top, even if no one believed us. But in the circumstance, we are fighting for different things.
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‘We are Chelsea, because our history demands us to be at the top. But at the moment, being realistic, we need to increase in the way that we compete if we want to win more games.
‘We need to compete better than today [against Wolves]. I think the performance from the beginning of the season is not been bad. We can say it’s very good.
‘But I think in terms of competing we are in the bottom. That’s why we are not in a better position in the table.
‘In football you need to have the knowledge, the quality, the set-up. But at some point in football during 90 minutes, you need to compete. You need to show in the way you play football. We need to improve there, and that’s about having all the players [available], spending time with them together.
‘We need to finish well, winning the [Palace] game, then to go to Luton and then start the new year with different feelings.’
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