sportbible homepage
sportbible homepage
  • Home
  • Football
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • World Cup
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Manchester United
    • Liverpool
    • Arsenal
    • Real Madrid
    • Barcelona
  • Formula 1
    • Red Bull
    • Ferrari
    • McLaren
    • Mercedes
    • Max Verstappen
    • Lewis Hamilton
    • Lando Norris
    • George Russell
    • Charles Leclerc
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • More Sport
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • NBA
    • NFL
    • Darts
    • Athletics
    • Rugby
    • Wrestling
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Snapchat
TikTok
Threads
YouTube
Submit Your Content Here
  • GAMINGbible
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • LADbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • UNILAD Tech
Chelsea players will be introduced to Mauricio Pochettino's 'Gacon Test'
Home>Football
Published 17:23 15 May 2023 GMT+1

Chelsea players will be introduced to Mauricio Pochettino's 'Gacon Test'

Pochettino's training test has not always gone down well but Chelsea players better get used to a lot of running on Mondays.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

Mauricio Pochettino's expected arrival at Chelsea may be very popular with fans but some players won't be as pleased to be doing the training.

Tottenham Hotspur are pretty desperate for a new manager, after their whole season went so wrong that even their interim manager was sacked.

Pochettino has been linked with a return to the club ever since he left them in November 2019, once was sacked just five months after reaching the Champions League final.

However it's not Spurs fans who will be seeing the Argentinian manager arrive this summer as instead he looks set to turn up in west London for Chelsea, with even Domino's mocking the side from north London.

Advert

The Blues have been in even more disaray than their London rivals this season, although they haven't actually sacked interim manager Frank Lampard just yet.

Their draw with Nottingham Forest at the weekend means Lampard has just one win in his eight games since returning to Stamford Bridge.

Fortunately for them it'll be Pochettino in charge at Stamford Bridge for the next campaign rather than the club's all time top goalscorer, although it's not been confirmed yet.

That change will likely be an excellent one but it means that players will have to go through the Gacon test that Poch likes to put his players through.

The test, which Poch runs every week after a game, sees players given 45 seconds to cover 150 metres with 15 seconds to rest and each subsequent 45 seconds sees players run an extra 6.25 meters, as he explained in his book.

It has not gone down too well with players in the past, with former Southampton striker Rickie Lambert revealing he approached the manager about relaxing the intensity, after struggling with the test on the Monday after games.

"I went out [of the office] and went back to the lads made up, thinking, ‘yep, just done it for you boys, next Monday gonna be sorted’," the former England international explained to the Telegraph about his chat with the boss going well.

"So, I played the game [the next weekend], 90 minutes again, come in Monday, not only did we do 12, we did 24 runs – 24 runs and I just knew, I was running around laughing and almost crying and I knew what he was doing, he was breaking me and he did, he broke me."

Lambert isn't the only one to have complained about it, with Harry Winks also revealing his dislike of the test in 2017, "It’s a killer," the midfielder said, “An absolute killer. You can imagine, after 13 or so runs, you get knackered.

"You get two warnings, if you miss the time, then you’re out. But I did really well, I was one of the last to finish. I think I got to level 20. I really pushed myself to the limit and luckily enough I did well.”

The test gets its name from Georges Gacon who devised it whilst he was the French National Team Manager of middle-distance race runners.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Football, Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino, Premier League

Ryan Sidle
Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

X

@Sidler28

Recommended reads

'I wanted to give back to the sport that gave me everything' - Ashley Cole is finding himself in first manager jobGettyAn interview with Ben Stokes: 'English cricket doesn't lack talent... there are quite a few names'Getty ImagesMichael Bisping suggests radical eye poke rule change ahead of Tom Aspinall comebackGetty ImagesAndrea Pirlo interview: 'Football has changed and unfortunately we've been left behind' Getty Images

Advert

Choose your content:

2 mins ago
an hour ago
2 hours ago
  • Getty Images
    2 mins ago

    Arsenal 'make approach' for PSG star as battle with Barcelona begins

    The Gunners are working on their summer transfer plans with a view to retaining the Premier League title

    Football
  • Getty Images
    an hour ago

    Iran issue furious statement against US days before World Cup opener

    The Middle Eastern nation will face Egypt, New Zealand and Belgium in Group G.

    Football
  • Getty Images
    an hour ago

    Liverpool and Man Utd move for 'wonderkid' hijacked by European giants despite 'discussions' on transfer

    Bitter rivals set to go head-to-head for talented youngster but a third club has thrown doubt on a Premier League move

    Football
  • Getty Images
    2 hours ago

    Rio Ngumoha's Bayern move collapse could impact Man Utd and Arsenal target in nightmare scenario

    The Liverpool teenager was reported to be Bayern's main target in the summer transfer window.

    Football
  • The four players Mauricio Pochettino wants to sign for Chelsea in summer transfer window
  • Neymar has already named four Premier League clubs he would sign for amid PSG exit speculation
  • The top-valued players at every Premier League club have been named
  • Chelsea 'offered' to exchange two players to secure Rafael Leao transfer