The optimism that once surrounded the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as the Chelsea manager is quickly fading away and he must adjust to alleviate the pressure. Pochettino has just managed five points out of his opening five games of the League with his most recent fixture against relegation-strugglers Bournemouth ending in a stalemate as he failed to capture the expected three points. The Argentine tactician is also contending with significant extenuating circumstances, with almost half of the first-team players that he was hoping to call upon this season already out injured for varying lengths of time. The staggering start of the Blues to this Premier League season has failed to inspire confidence that their fortunes are going to change quickly.

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It is the work of Pochettino to guide Chelsea through the storm that they are currently in but it is uncertain of whether he is following the correct course as things stand at the present. After the Bournemouth stalemate, the Argentine pointed to his ever-growing injury list and to be fair, one can hardly blame him for the current state of performance of the Blues. Pochettino said: "What I can tell the fans are the circumstances, which we cannot change. The reality we cannot change. There are too many players not available. We will be strong when we have a full team. Any team in normal circumstances with all the team fit can compete. But what can we do? We have extraordinary belief but bad luck because we have 12 injured players. Am I going to cry or complain? No. I need to accept this challenge and keep being positive." Being positive is one thing but performance and results are another. Pochettino must adapt to get the best out of the limited players currently at his disposal. He now needs to use his squad more wisely to play to each player's individual strengths. 

Pochettino gave his own assessment of Chelsea's current reality and said: "Given all the circumstances, I think we are doing very good things, more than people can expect. But Chelsea’s expectation is always to win. We are creating something that we need to believe in. There are young guys who need to feel what it means to be a Chelsea player and what it means to play in the Premier League." Chelsea are making slow progress under the Argentine tutelage and their inability to get the ball at the back of the net is now becoming a huge hindrance to that progress. They are yet to build early season momentum understandably so because of their untimely injuries but it is such a terrible time for them to have this sort of crisis. Christopher Nkunku being out with an injury has dealt the team a major blow in particular as he is both a prolific goalscorer and a creative force to reckon with on the pitch. It might take longer than expected for things to click for Pochettino's Chelsea but with his philosophy and artistic mastery of the game which has cut him out as a very brilliant tactician, they will get there. 

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