Neville names ‘frantic’ four at Chelsea, picks two stars who could ‘destroy Pochettino’s plans’

Gary Neville thinks that Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino will get the best out of his “frantic” foursome as they are currently “a bit too emotional”.

After watching Chelsea hold Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Neville picked out Mykhailo Mudryk, Ian Maatsen, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson because of the “frantic” nature of their performances.

Neville thinks that those four players need to find some composure in their play this season with the former Manchester United defender confident Pochettino can help them reach their potential.

“There’s a lot to look forward to and Mauricio Pochettino will love this – the frantic nature of Mykhailo Mudryk, Ian Maatsen, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.

“They run offside, they’re too quick in what they play, they’re not cold in the box, they’re actually a bit too emotional and they’re not composed.

“But he will bring that to them I think, in terms of how they work on the training pitch. There’s a lot to work with at Chelsea, a lot of potential and I think they’ve got the right coach to turn that potential into high-quality, good performers.”

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On Chelsea’s overall performance against Liverpool, Neville added: “I was a little worried about them (Chelsea) in the first half-an-hour. It was a change of system which came out of the blue and we weren’t expecting that. But they grew into the game.

“What there was – and it certainly wasn’t there towards the end of last season when they were disgraceful at times – was that they were persistent. They kept going.

“It was summed up no better than Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher, in the end you were looking at one of them to be Man of the Match for Chelsea. They grew into the game and started to dominate it.”

And Neville reckons Chelsea need to keep both Ben Chilwell and Reece James fit this season in order to preserve Pochettino’s plans for the season.

Neville continued: “What we’ve seen [on Sunday] is that Chelsea have fantastic wing-backs but they’ve both gone off, first game of the season.

“That will destroy Pochettino’s plans. If you’re going to play wing-backs, they have to be outstanding players of high quality, who attack like wingers and defend like full-backs, and they have that.

“But the big question mark is if those two can stay fit. Those wing-backs are crucial and if they lose them the whole thing could fall apart a little.