Mauricio Pochettino said he is in the dark over his future as Chelsea boss and questioned the performances of some of their big-name players earlier in the season following the 2-0 win over Tottenham; Gary Neville: "I think it would be madness to change the coach"
Friday 3 May 2024 15:24, UK
Mauricio Pochettino admitted he is unsure whether he will get the time he needs to turn Chelsea back into Premier League contenders after their impressive 2-0 win over Tottenham.
Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson were on target at Stamford Bridge as the Blues boosted their hopes of European qualification and inflicted a huge blow on Spurs' top-four ambitions.
Chelsea secured the victory despite missing 14 first-team players through injury, but Pochettino's future as head coach remains the subject of speculation after a difficult campaign.
He insisted he is in the dark as to whether he has the confidence of the club's owners going forward and also claimed the win over Spurs showed the importance of team spirit over big names.
"I think enough is enough," he said to Sky Sports when asked about the continuing speculation surrounding his future.
"All the managers need time to translate their ideas and their philosophy. More when the team is like this squad is. We need to have time. It's not my decision.
"It's difficult to see every single week that I'm under scrutiny and I'm under judgement. But it's not my decision to be here or not to be here.
"If we want the history of Chelsea, I think it's a lot of work to do. We will see if we have time to be in this way.
"My feeling is that I'm so, so proud that all these guys, all the squad we have, 25-27 players. We want the best for them and until the last day we're going to try to help them."
Chelsea's injury problems were such that they had to name a string of little-known young players and academy graduates on their bench, with 17-year-old Josh Acheampong making his senior debut as a substitute and Jimi Tauriainen also coming on for his first Premier League appearance.
"We trust in our players and even with the circumstances we were in today, we really believed it's an opportunity to show we believe in what we're doing, in our ideas, in our philosophy," added Pochettino.
"Facing a team like Tottenham is never easy. We understand it's a derby. Full credit to the players. The way they approached the game, the first half, the way we defended and the way we tried to play, was fantastic.
"I think it's my first time in the season that I feel so happy because it's the moment that, after 10 months, the team started to realise that we need to compete. And today we competed really well.
"I don't know if it's the best performance, but the most important thing is the feeling.
"With all the negative circumstances, it showed we are doing things well. But the click was not just to compete better, but how? Be connected with the game, the whole team in both phases was connected and that is what we want.
"A few weeks ago, and the whole season, we were saying, 'What happened here?' We only wanted to play into the feet with the ball. It was unbalanced, the situation.
"The standards were so, so, so low. We were always saying that process was about time, and some luck, to have this kind of result to show the players that this is the way."
Looking back on Chelsea's dismal start to the campaign, Pochettino added: "People believe that because a player is a name, he should play, even if he is not in form or at his best.
"I think the team, from the beginning of the season, suffered too many problems, that sometimes the names were there, but not in our best form.
"We never really got the belief that we needed to play in this way. There were too many individual targets or objectives before the team.
"Today was an easy team selection for us, but at the same time, we showed to everyone that football is not about names. It's about being competitive, about behaving like a team.
"Even if you have big players, big names, if they don't play like today, trying to help the team in a defensive situation or when we have the ball to believe in every single offensive action we can score, then it's impossible because the Premier League is so competitive."
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville insisted Chelsea would be making a mistake by changing their head coach this summer.
"There was talk of Pochettino being under pressure a month or so ago," he said. "But I think it would be madness to change the coach whose quality of work with these types of player is renowned.
"Making sure you have stability through another transfer window seems more critical than the idea someone else would come in and do a better job. That doesn't feel right here.
"He's a proven coach. One of the great coaches in the Premier League in the last five, six, seven years.
"Pochettino has had some up and down moments this season. But this is a good one."
Jamie Redknapp agreed with Neville and talked up the significance of the victory over his former side for Pochettino.
"That was a statement win for him," said Redknapp on Sky Sports.
"A massive, massive effort from Chelsea considering they were decimated by injuries.
"They were fabulous from minute one today, they wanted it more than Tottenham, they got after them, won individual battles and obviously set-pieces were a massive part of the game.
"Players we weren't sure they were good enough for Chelsea are showing their true potential now. An exceptional team performance.
"Who knows what happens next year. But it's unprecedented what we've seen at this club.
"I look at it and think when you're trying to build a young team - in the summer they're going to need to bring in some experienced heads to help them because they're going to lose Thiago Silva - you need continuity on the bench.
"The last thing they need to be doing right now is changing the manager. For a number of reasons.
"One, there aren't many candidates out there. I've always been a big fan of him, especially with young players. I like what I saw there [in his interview]. I saw anger in him. There have been times this year when he's been a little bit passive, trying to be everyone's friend. He wasn't like that as a player and he wasn't like that in his Tottenham days.
"I think they would be crazy to get rid of him."
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