CAHILL: SOME THINGS DIFFERENT, SOME THE SAME

As our longest-serving player Gary Cahill knows what the required ingredients are to succeed under a new manager, and the defender is expecting the Blues to once again challenge for honours this season with Maurizio Sarri now at the helm.

Since arriving at Stamford Bridge in January 2012, Cahill has won every major domestic club trophy and last season, as captain, he lifted the FA Cup at Wembley. His involvement at the World Cup, and England’s run to the final weekend of it, meant he was not back at Cobham until shortly before the start of the season, but in the time since the difference on and off the pitch has been noticeable.

‘There’s a new manager, we’re taking on some new ideas, a new philosophy definitely in shape and in the way he sees things,’ Cahill exclusively told the club’s official app, the 5th Stand.

It’s time for us to learn again and adapt to that. To learn somebody else’s opinion on football, the way they want to play and how they want to do things is always slightly different, no matter who the manager is.

—Gary Cahill

‘Wherever you’re experienced or not, it’s still a matter of getting your head down, working hard and getting fit when you come back for the start of the season. It’s been strange coming back so late with the World Cup. It’s been staggered with some players having been back for four, five or six weeks, and some two, but there’s going to be plenty of games coming up.’

With the start of our Europa League and Carabao Cup campaigns around the corner, the importance of having a strong squad is not lost on Cahill, who has been part of so many cup-winning teams in the past. He is hoping for more of the same in his seventh full season as a Chelsea player.

‘There are a lot of top international players here, you saw a lot of them on show in the World Cup,’ Cahill, who has announced he is taking a step back from international football, said.

‘There are many strong squads out there. The Premier League is unbelievable at the minute, but we need to be competing at the top of the table. That’s the pressure that’s on this club, that’s the pressure that is on us as players and the manager. We are looking to see if we can deliver this season.’