Mauricio Pochettino said it is unrealistic to expect Chelsea’s summer recruits to be playing their best football for the club already, despite upwards of £350million having been spent so far this transfer window.
The team is winless after the manager’s first two games in charge with one point on the board in the nascent Premier League table, with flashes of good play having been punctuated by inconsistency as was the case in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to West Ham.
Their plight has been worsened by injuries to goalscorer Carney Chukwuemeka, who was forced off at half-time having equalised for his side and is expected to miss six weeks, and winger Mykhailo Mudryk who will also miss Friday’s meeting with Luton at Stamford Bridge.
The pair join summer signing Christopher Nkunku and defender Wesley Fofana as long-term injury absentees whilst none of Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Armando Broja or Trevoh Chalobah are ready to return.
On Thursday the club confirmed the £17m signing of Brazilian forward Deivid Washington from Santos, though the 18-year-old may be sent out on loan rather than join the first team straight away.
It leaves Pochettino relying on new faces finding their feet quickly as the team look to win for just the sixth time in their last 32 league matches when newly promoted Luton visit west London.
But after record buy Moises Caicedo, signed from Brighton for a fee likely to rise to £115m, became the latest player to endure a torrid time in blue when he conceded a penalty on his debut at the London Stadium, the manager called for perspective on the pace of change taking place at Chelsea.
“(It’s unrealistic) if we expect today the best of Caicedo, (Romeo) Lavia, (Axel) Disasi, all the players that arrived in the last moments, with only a few days working with us and starting to compete,” he said.
“Of course, if we see the perception of these players and we expect the best of them, yes we should win every single game.
“But at the moment the form of them, we need to provide the tools to improve every day. The way that we are playing, the platform and the structure of the team, gives us the signal that we are in a good way. It’s only a matter of time to put it all together and start to perform.
“With the situation (with transfers) in and out, next week when the transfer window has closed it’s going to be easier also to put it all together. I have no doubt about the quality of the squad.”
With an average age of 23.7 years Pochettino has the Premier League’s youngest squad, following the club’s policy of signing promising players of relatively little experience and tying them to long contracts – in Caicedo’s case up to nine years.
The manager admitted he still needs to sign a goalkeeper, after Kepa Arrizabalaga joined Real Madrid on a season-long loan, and another forward player, but he insisted that any further buys should not bar the path of academy graduates and other young players to the first team.
Albania international Broja, who has been at the club since he was 12, is expected to play a part as a number nine when he is fit to return.
“We need to wait with Armando,” said Pochettino. “He’s close but sometimes the last step is always difficult after the injury that he suffered. He’s training well and we have hope.
“It’s easy to say we need another offensive player. We have offensive players, they need to recover. If you bring in a player that maybe is not fit or needs to adapt to the Premier League, you’re going to spend the same time you need to wait for Broja or Nkunku or for Carney. You’re going to create a mess in the squad.
“We will win, we will succeed in the way that the players will buy into the ideas and the philosophy and the way that we play, it’s only a matter of time. (But) it’s a process we cannot force to go quick. I think it’s about working on the confidence.”
The manager added that nothing has changed regarding Romelu Lukaku’s situation, with the striker still training away from the first team and keen to leave before the transfer deadline, but he refused to fully close the door on a possible return.
“Things can change. This is football. I saw (Jurgen) Klopp said ‘I will not be in the business (if Liverpool spend £100m)’ and then they offered £100m (for Caicedo) and he says, oh I made a mistake, and something changed.”
Caicedo is expected to make his full debut against Luton but fellow new signing Lavia “needs a few more weeks to assess”.
Keane doubts Man Utd will crack top four under Amorim this season
Roy Keane does not believe Manchester United will get back into the Premier League's top four under Ruben Amorim this season due to a "real lack of quality".
The Red Devils legend was speaking after United started life under the Portuguese with a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town, as Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Marcus Rashford's second-minute opener.
Keane acknowledged Amorim has to be given time to turn things around at Old Trafford, but does not see United cracking the top four this season.
"You have to give the man a chance," Keane told Sky Sports. "But the threat going forward, it's a huge problem for Man Utd. It's not good enough.
"Do I believe they have the quality to get them back to top four? Absolutely not. The evidence is not there. It's the same old stuff. Predictable and a real lack of quality."
United created 0.9 xG compared to Ipswich's 1.75 and had fewer shots on target (four) compared to Ipswich (six) at Portman Road.
They did have more touches in the opposition box (16 to 11) but had fewer final-third entries (48 to 61) and big chances created (two to three).
Ipswich were extremely resilient opponents after their early setback, and Tractor Boys boss Kieran McKenna praised his side, particularly Hutchinson after he grabbed his first Premier League goal.
"I thought he (Hutchinson) was a big threat first half, naturally more a winger, but most teams are going to press us high and in the spaces in the middle of the pitch having a dribbler in the middle of the pitch who's elusive and hard to pick up can be a big threat," he told Sky Sports.
"I think it's his first goal in the Premier League he'll be happy to have that of his back and he's improving."
"The first half, it's a blow to concede the early goal but I thought as the half went on we grew in the ascendancy, and the intensity of pressing and work on the ball.
"I thought we were the dominant team in the first half and deserved to be going in at least level. Second half in fairness, Man Utd had more control. It was difficult, we had to defend with real discipline on shape."
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappe and Bellingham score as Blancos close on Barcelona
Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham were both on target as Real Madrid moved to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes.
Federico Valverde also scored for Carlo Ancelotti's side, who still have a game in hand on leaders Barca, who were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Mbappe ended a goal drought of over 400 minutes after being teed up by Vinicius Junior shortly before half-time, moments after Leganes had surrendered possession near the edge of their own area.
Madrid dominated possession throughout the second half and doubled their advantage in the 66th minute, Valverde drilling a low effort home from a free-kick won by Bellingham.
Bellingham later got in on the act with a header on the rebound after substitute Brahim Diaz rattled the crossbar, as Madrid cruised to back-to-back league wins.
Data Debrief: Dirty work pays off for Madrid
Mbappe's opener, scored at a vital time shortly before the interval, set Madrid on their way to victory on Sunday.
Eduardo Camavinga and Bellingham both pressed high to help the visitors recover possession in the build-up, and Madrid have now scored five goals resulting from high turnovers in LaLiga this season – the most of any team across Europe's top five leagues.
This was the first time Ancelotti had faced Leganes in LaLiga, and he has now beaten all 28 different opponents he has come up against in the competition.
Napoli 1-0 Roma: Lukaku downs former club on Ranieri's return
Claudio Ranieri's Roma return was spoilt by Romelu Lukaku, whose goal against his old club sealed a 1-0 win for Napoli.
Ranieri was appointed Roma boss over the international break, with the 73-year-old coming out of retirement to take charge of the club for a third time.
Yet it was ex-Roma striker Lukaku who decided Sunday's contest at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with his 54th-minute effort sending Antonio Conte's team back to the top of Serie A.
Lukaku was well-placed to convert from Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback, bringing up his fifth Serie A goal of the campaign.
Roma, who had just two attempts and managed only 0.07 expected goals (xG) in the first half, woke up after Lukaku's goal, with Artem Dovbyk powering a header off the woodwork from a free-kick minutes later, but the visitors' comeback attempts proved fruitless.
Ranieri's next task is to rally his troops for a Europa League clash with Tottenham on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Ranieri's underwhelming return
There was no sign of an immediate upturn for 12th-place Roma, if they were hoping for a new-coach bounce.
Roma ended the first half with fewer than 70 successful passes (68). It is the first time they have had so few successful passes in the opening half of a league game since 2004-05.
With only three wins to their name in the league, they have won fewer than four matches in their opening 13 Serie A games for the first time since the 1978-79 campaign (also three).
And of course, it had to be Lukaku, who was leading their line last season, that delivered the hammer blow. The Belgium international has been involved in nine goals in Serie A this term (five goals, four assists). Only his former Everton club-mate Ademola Lookman, now a star at Atalanta, has contributed to more goals in the competition (seven goals, four assists).
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