Chelsea showed promising signs in their win over Newcastle, but still lacked consistency in their game to see the tie off. It meant the hosts had to be focused until the very end after Jacob Murphy’s wondergoal in the 90th minute made for a nervy six minutes of stoppage time.
It might be inevitable, given the many new and young players in the team, that it takes time before they are fully adjusted to each other and the system. Pochettino reiterated after the game to media that they are trying to build something different, despite enduring a challenging few weeks prior to yesterday’s win.
“We need to keep believing, even when it is in a tough situation, a tough circumstance, like when we were playing in the [Carabao Cup] final for 120 minutes and after three days we play FA Cup and then against Brentford. In six days we play three very tough games and with all of the circumstances, nearly with the same team and [that] was really tough.”
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Pochettino says that the challenge and critics are not affecting his squad. “We keep believing. I think winning the game [vs Newcastle] is important for us and for our fans to be a little bit more calm. But if we don’t win the next game then it is going to be again a problem, but that is Chelsea and the most important thing is to try to translate the reality, and that is the reality.”
The Argentinian manager admitted his side needs to be more mature at times. “The team needs to play altogether, more time together. I think today the defensive line played together for the first time – Malo Gusto, Axel Disasi, Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella. And look, they were good, yes, [but] we made some mistakes because of this situation that they didn’t play together before.
“But that is not an excuse,” continued Pochettino. “That is a fact, that is a reality. The most important thing is to keep moving because we are not going to give up, we are going to be strong, and we all agree the fans are right to complain, of course. But we have no right to give up and to say: okay, we don’t work, we don’t believe. No, no, in this moment it’s to show the character and the capacity to deal with this type of situation and keep moving.”
It was all smiles afterwards and the owners popped in afterwards, too. “Yes, he [Todd Boehly] came with his son, and I think Behdad [Eghbali],” said Pochettino. “All of the owners were there. Yes, it was a nice chat, only a few minutes because I needed to come for the interview and the press conference. Yes, it was good, the relationship is good.”
Pochettino finished his briefing by speaking about Cole Palmer, once again vital for The Blues as he capped another impressive performance with a goal and an assist.
“Today he was doing fantastic. I think he arrived in the last day of the transfer window and it was so easy for him to adapt to the team and the demands of the coaching staff. He is showing his quality and of course it is good to have him in the team, because he is doing things that maybe before was a little bit our concern, to not have a player that can link the game. He is getting more mature every day and of course, I think he still needs to improve but I think he is doing a very good job.”
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