Malo Gusto claims he have a plan, Jackson talks about Drogba comparison and more of Pochettino Press conference.

 🗣 Malo Gusto on competition with Reece James: “I’m not stupid or crazy. I knew before coming that Reece James is one of the best players in his position. We get on very well. He talks to me a lot. We are in a big club, there must be good players in each position. The reason I chose Chelsea is because I have a plan. I know what I’m doing.”

Malo Gusto on how he plans to be a full back at the highest level and the quality of the Premier League: “I learned to love defending. A full back is above all that. I’ve looked a lot at how Daniel Alves, Kyle Walker, and Trent Alexander-Arnold approach the position. However, I don’t want to imitate them. My identity is to add intensity, to chain offensive and therefore defensive races, to be complete. Being a full back is that for me.”

 Malo Gusto was asked about deciding to join Chelsea: “There’s nothing that told me: no, it’s not possible. There was a voice that said to me, you can, so why would you say no? Is there a great player in your place? Yes, but you can be a great player too. It’s a challenge. It’s a healthy battle.”

Nicolas Jackson: "It was my dream from when I was young to play in the Premier League and now, I’m here. People may not understand but it feels normal to me. I always believed in myself." "It is an amazing group with the coach and my teammates. I hope [Chelsea] can do amazing things this year."

"[Didier] Drogba is a legend; I am nobody here. I’ve just started, so let’s wait. When I finish with football, then people can talk."

Nicolas Jackson's agent Joe Kamara: "Nicolas Jackson did well, we had many offers for him. We were close to signing with AC Milan, then Chelsea arrived, and he moved there."

Mauricio Pochettino: "At Chelsea the expectation is always massive. 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... We need to know that they're young and need to adapt... and stay calm. It is not fair to assess after one, two, three games and say he's not performing." I use the same example: Real Madrid paid 70, 80, 100 million - I don’t know - for one player. The name was Zinedine Zidane. He was an amazing player, and after six months you can ask the fans of Real Madrid and they say, ‘what have we bought?’. And he started to perform after seven, eight months. Zinedine Zidane was 26, 27 years old - when you bring a player [that is] 18, 19, 20, 21 - be careful. They are not machines; they need to settle with all the circumstances that have happened in the last few months. That’s why it can maybe affect the results..."

Pochettino: "We are happy in the process and the way that the team is showing the way we are wanting to play," "he claimed, "because we were better than Liverpool, better than West Ham. In five games, I think we deserved [wins]. If today we are talking about 12 points and we are qualified for the next round of the Carabao Cup, you say ‘oh fantastic, what a job’. Maybe we are hiding something: one thing is the bad feeling because of the results, another is the process [and] that I think we are in a good way." "Sterling being booed against Bournemouth last season? Maybe Sunday, he’ll change these boos for (claps).”

Mauricio Pochettino claims Asmir Begovic's comments on Chelsea are unfair: "It’s a different project."

"We are talking about a different Chelsea than the one I saw when I was at Tottenham and Southampton. Better or worse, we cannot say, but it’s a different project in different circumstances. We cannot compare ourselves with the past. I don’t think that’s fair."

Pochettino on Sterling: "During the international break we were at the training ground every day and some days we were suffering a little bit. He was doing really, really well and you can feel that he’s fit, ready to compete, to get to his level and improving. The last two weeks were important for him also moving forwards."

Pochettino on why bids were accepted on deadline day for Matsen and Chalobah: "What I can tell you is that there is there are two sides [to the situation]. If an offer appears, it is because another part of the club accepted that they move, or they were trying to find a solution for a player that wanted to leave.

You cannot only blame the club, if an offer appears for Jesus [Perez, my assistant], it is because Jesus was open to receiving the offer, no? Come on, we need to also be clever. Did you receive an offer, Jesus?! No, but it is always easy to blame the club. In the same way, maybe the player was thinking in pre-season or before the season to move in one direction."

It is difficult for me because I am in a position where I don’t know the past but, from now on, I can tell you that I am going to be involved. If someone is going to communicate to you about whether a player is in our plan or not: that person is me."

Pochettino in response to Begovic’s concerns: “They were (once) young also, John Terry was young, Frank Lampard was young, (Didier) Drogba was young.” 

“I cannot give my opinion about what (Begovic) said because I didn’t hear. But it’s obvious that at the moment, if you’re talking about a name like John Terry or Lampard or Drogba… come on.”

Mauricio Pochettino admitted that the dark arts are part of what his team need to add — but only after other qualities: "The perfection only arrives when you have time, the players know each other, and confidence and trust is high, and the level of competition is really high."

We need to set principles on how we play from the back and press, the evolution of the system. The dynamic of playing with two defenders or three, how many in the middle and how we’re going to attack in the right areas."

Mauricio Pochettino: “We cannot compare with the past. It’s not fair. It’s a different Chelsea. What I want to translate is the fans want to win because in the past for Chelsea is to win. We need to accelerate the process… we want to win.”

“I understand that the process is completely different to in the past. Because we have a different approach to the game and the philosophy and the ideas, [it means] we have a young squad of course.”

“[We have] very talented players that need time to perform. But for sure we have one of the best squads of young players with the project. We need time. We need to be careful about how we evolve and how we develop these ideas.”

“In the past, Chelsea was about to sign [big] players, like Drogba. Now the idea is to buy young people to have the possibility to develop and to build a team. We are in the process of building a team. Today maybe we have the potential of Lampard or Terry or Drogba, but they are young. They need to prove that they can be one of these guys.”