‘Nobody can tell me this team is improving!’ - Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea absolutely slammed as FA Cup thrashing of Preston papers over serious cracks

ESPN expert Laurens did not mince his words while criticising Pochettino and his Chelsea players, as he claimed that he is yet to see any improvement in the Blues' side. This is despite the Argentine manager being in charge of the team for over seven months.

Speaking on ESPN (via The Byline) after the Blues' FA Cup third-round win over Preston North End, Laurens said: "Nobody can tell me this team is improving! I don’t see any improvement week after week, game after game. But how long? This is January 2024 now, he’s been here since the 1st of July. I want to see something. The first half literally you and I and Freddie and Kate [fellow ESPN pundits] we could have played because there was no movement, nobody was doing anything and the ball was clearly just, well let's just try to find Sterling somehow, lets maybe wait for a run by Palmer… The fullbacks don’t participate in anything really. Those attacking midfielders don’t do much either."

He added: "They never used him [Mykhailo Mudryk], they never used his pace or his skillset and I just don’t understand where they’re going. I don’t see patterns of play, I don’t see finding the third man, I don’t see anyone running into space. I don’t see much really. We go back to the lack of movement and the lack of identity to this team, if you give Enzo [Fernandez] the ball but around him there’s no movement from either your full-backs or for your wide players, even from your striker to come a bit deeper between the lines, Enzo can’t do anything. He’s very good on the ball but he’s not a magician either."

After a dismal first-half showing against the Championship side - which led to Pochettino giving the "hairdryer treatment" to his players at half-time - Chelsea came back strongly in the second half and scored four times to book a berth in the FA Cup fourth round.

Pochettino's men will now prepare for one more cup competition before they get back to Premier League action. On Tuesday, they face Middlesbrough in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash.