Mauricio Pochettino has praised Chelsea for growing and starting to become a team rather than a group of expensively brought together individuals.
Noni Madueke admitted Chelsea have been “selfless” for the first time this week, in their two derby wins over Tottenham and West Ham.
The Blues defeated the Hammers 5-0 at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, with Madueke putting the first of Jackson’s two goals on a plate for the Senegalese striker.
Madueke and Jackson were practically fighting on the pitch just three weeks ago, in the penalty shootout that got out of control in the 6-0 rout of Everton.
Cole Palmer eventually got rid of the petulant pair to convert the penalty as the Blues’ designated penalty, with boss Pochettino furious at the childish antics.
Jackson struck twice, with Madueke, Conor Gallagher and Cole Palmer also on target as Chelsea trampled a miserable West Ham side.
And afterwards, Pochettino was left to praise his players for finally starting to show some much-needed maturity.
“I think this is for Noni and Jackson to show that we learn, that we are intelligent,” Pochettino said.
“The situation with the penalty, if you remember against Everton, we received too much criticism, but a young team always needs to make the mistake.
“You always have to feel this situation to be able to improve.
“And we can improve, because we are smart, intelligent people.
“I think today was a great action for Noni to see how the group begins to live and how it begins to feel.
“It is always a process that takes time. You never know if it will take a month, six months or a year.
“But the most important thing is that they begin to establish the principles, to feel and live as a group of players who are creating all the links to compete. Because that is the reality.
“I am very happy about that, because we are part of this process, helping them grow, mature and improve in all aspects.
“That is just the first step, a huge step, but a step we wanted to achieve.
“From now on we only have to evolve in all aspects, for the installation to advance tactically and we can improve from there.
“But without principles or without things that we begin to demonstrate to be competitive in this sense, it is impossible to evolve in other aspects.”
Pochettino finally appears to have settled on a system that brings out the best in his Chelsea players.
Marc Cucurella has impressed as an inverted winger in recent weeks, alongside a double pivot that has created real stability.
Pochettino insisted it has been difficult to provide this Chelsea team with a solid enough foundation to begin incorporating any tactical sophistication.
Now the former Spurs boss believes he can start adding details to his Chelsea structure, hinting at hope he can continue his work next season.
“We can implement this role in the future, but before it was because we needed to have the faith, the confidence, the team needs to compete,” Pochettino said.
“In all the tactical evolution that we, the coaching staff, have in mind, we need to apply it in the future.
“You can’t sit if you don’t have a chair, you have to build the chair first.
“In football, even if you don’t have a team, you expect to behave like a team.
“It’s like an engineer who is going to build a building and says, ‘I want to quickly see the nice furniture and the apartment.’
“But first of all, we need to build the structure and everything.
“That’s why sometimes we make mistakes when we change the work of the people, the coaching staff, and also with young players we always say to be careful with the way we change.
“Because the most important thing is to see where we are at, what type of team, all of that has to be made clear.”
