Everyone has had their say on Mauricio Pochettino’s comments after the game last night – so we may as well join in ourselves.
His Chelsea team were well on top against Liverpool at the end of 90 minutes, with better players on the pitch and more freshness. But in extra time they totally shrank and allowed the Reds back into the game instead of killing them off. Pochettino was asked why this happened.
First, let’s read what he actually said:
“Some players like Gallagher and Chilly started to feel really, really tired and I thought maybe to use different players to go and help. We needed to change Gallagher after five minutes, and then in the start of the second 15 minutes [of extra time], I think Chilwell. The team started to feel that maybe the penalties will be good for us.”
What he’s saying is that the players decided subconsciously to sit deeper and deeper and play for penalties, not that he told them to go and do that, nor even that it was a conscious decision. He’s just expressed himself badly, and journalists have jumped on it.
There is plenty to be frustrated about when it comes to Pochettino – and even these comments in particular. But we don’t need to confect some extra outrage by pretending it was a plan to sit deep and let Liverpool back in the game. The questions to Pochettino should be why these players were more tired than a Liverpool team who played in midweek.
