Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea are lacking a specific type of player (Picture: Getty Images)
Chelsea may have spent £1 billion on new signings under their current owners, but Mauricio Pochettino says they still need to bring someone in who can take set-pieces.
The Blues were limp in a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday night, a loss which left them 10th in the Premier League table and hopes of qualifying for European football looking poor.
There has been incredible change at Stamford Bridge over the last year, with Pochettino having to gel an almost entirely new team together and struggling to do so.
The Argentine says that the squad is certainly not complete yet, saying that he needs someone who is reliably excellent at taking set-pieces.
The former Spurs boss says the team work hard on delivery from set-pieces in training, but without the right player to take them, success if limited.
‘We work a lot on set-pieces,’ Pochettino told a press conference. ‘We have specialists. We are a coaching staff in charge of everything. We have a group of analysts for set-pieces.
‘After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don’t have a specialist. Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good in the delivery, but we don’t have a specialist after that.
Ben Chilwell has struggled with injuries again this season (Picture: Getty Images)
‘If you want to be good in set-pieces, we work a lot. But then you need good takers. When you have good takers, and of course, Wolves have good takers, and like Manchester City have, or other clubs.
‘It is not down to the work. We work similarly, but the problem is to have good takers.
‘Look before at West Ham, and after. What changed? After and before? It’s not the same. The taker is [James] Ward-Prowse.
‘For sure, you can work, like West Ham were working. But now, you add a player like him, you increase the percentage. That is football. Football belongs to the players. Not to the specialists.’
Chelsea are back in Premier League action on Sunday against Wolves at Stamford Bridge.
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