Joe Cole says 'too much chaos' to judge Chelsea signings now, wants Mauricio Pochettino to be given time

Joe Cole says now is not the right time to assess the impact of Chelsea’s new signings and says there is "too much chaos" surrounding the club.

Mauricio Pochettino is already coming under scrutiny after seeing his side only muster five points from their first six Premier League fixtures.

A west London derby against Fulham is up next on Monday evening, and the former Blues midfielder highlighted the importance of a statement victory to lift the mood around Stamford Bridge.

“When you're losing games and an influx of players are coming into the club, it's just very, very difficult,” Cole told TNT Sports.

“I feel like the club needs a big result in a big game, a big moment to raise the confidence of the lads.

“I think it's going to be a case where you have to look at things with hindsight in 18 months or two years, because there's too much chaos at the club to judge the players.”

Cole assessed the club’s strategy to hand out long-term contracts to their recent signings, with the likes of Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo being given seven and eight-year contracts respectively, both with the option of a further year.

He believes this risk-reward policy could reap dividends - or leave the club ruing a series of very costly errors.

“It could help them in one perspective, because if a player starts performing at Chelsea and they don’t get into the Champions League, then they can control the asset if the likes of Man City, Real Madrid or Liverpool start sniffing around," he said.

“But then on the flip side, if the player gets injured or isn’t playing, then his value severely depreciates and it's harder to offload him.”

Pochettino has followed Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Frank Lampard in taking the Chelsea hotseat under Todd Boehly, with Cole urging the club’s ownership to give the Argentine more time than his predecessors to turn things around.

“Well, we've seen the new owners get rid of two managers already,” he added.

“I would imagine he [Pochettino] knew the script when he took the Chelsea job, what the demands are, but he's a top manager.

“But I said this with Thomas, Potter and Frank, you need to give him time. I don't understand this hire and fire culture that's going around.

“But judging on what the owners have been like, I would imagine he's looking over his shoulder and he will need some results in the next few weeks.”

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