John Terry has thrown his full support behind Mauricio Pochettino, urging the Chelsea hierarchy to keep him on as manager next season.
It has been a testing first season for the Argentine at Stamford Bridge, dealing with a huge amount of injuries while trying to knit together a team from a young, rapidly put together and inexperienced squad.
The Blues sit seventh in the table and will not pick up any silverware this season, so it cannot be seen as a successful season, but there have been good signs of late.
A 2-0 win over Tottenham was followed by a 5-0 thrashing of West Ham and Blues chairman Todd Boehly spoke positively of what he saw in those contests.
There have been questions over the manager’s future, but Terry feels Pochettino has handed a tricky situation well this season and wants to see him stay on.
‘I think Poch has done well,’ Terry told the Mirror. ‘It was always going to be difficult right from the outset – we were a very young group of players from the outset.
‘There were a lot of signings and a big clearout in the summer of not only players but staff as well. There was a big turnaround and obviously Poch is new in the door.’
Terry is back at Chelsea and working with a number of age range teams in the academy, taking opportunities to watch Pochettino work when he can and liking what he sees.
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‘I have seen him work, I love the way he works, I love the way he is with the players,’ said the Blues legend. ‘He certainly needs a bit of time.
‘I think we have seen that in the last couple of weeks, the better performances we have seen, the players growing into their roles and feeling like they belong at Chelsea as well. That is also going to take time and I just think we need to be patient. I think every club needs stability.
‘We have been very lucky at Chelsea. For 20 years we have had success year after year after year.
‘We have got a young squad and we look like we have got some really good players at the moment that can grow into their roles. Hopefully next season will be better.’
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