Chelsea 0–0 Aston Villa: Blues fail at Stamford Bridge

Mauricio Pochettino must have been disappointed along with Chelsea fans after Blues’ FA Cup match with Aston Villa at Chelsea’s home, Stamford Bridge, ended in a goalless draw.

Ahead of the match, the West Londoners were energized, still coming from their 6–1 home win against Middlesbrough. A victory that booked them a spot in the Carabao Cup final set to take off at Wembley Stadium on February 25.

Everyone knows that Coach Pochettino is building a new team at Chelsea. Even Aston Villa’s manager Unai Emery believed the team was getting better before their match.

Having watched his boys lose to Villa at a Premier League game months ago, Pochettino said the following to Chelseafc.com about the team’s progress:

‘Yesterday in our meeting before training, we were talking over details with the squad.

‘And after also individually talking with them, I was really happy and positive. I could see things moving on.

‘Then talking as a coaching staff, with Jesus [Perez], we realise it’s time. It’s time for the players to realise, time to understand, time for them to live the experience.

‘Some of the players who arrived are so young, they believe they are ‘the king of the world’ – and I say that in a good way, to have a [youthful] arrogance.

‘But then it’s been not so good, up and down, and now is the moment the players start to realise many important things. These are things you have to think about to be a real team and compete for big things. So I think the players are starting to realise little by little.

‘But it is a process – and a process we can’t push too much. If you do that, you can go down. But if you don’t push, you won’t move forward. So there is a right moment to push, and a moment where you need to stay away.

‘It’s a massive process. If you have kids or children – and today with a new generation of young guys – it is so important. Like with our kids, sometimes you can push and you put too much pressure. Sometimes you need to give them freedom to realise it is difficult to progress in a certain way.

‘And sometimes you need to make them believe they can manage their own decisions. It’s a very important psychological plan and strategy.’

He said specifically that the loss affected the team’s confidence adversely.

‘The way that we lost the game against Aston Villa, it had a big impact because I think we deserved [more].

‘With 10 men, we were pressing high, we created two big chances, and we didn’t score. We conceded in a chance that was unbelievable because the team were trying to score and press.

‘That was a massive impact on our confidence because if rather than conceding, we score with 10 men against a team like Aston Villa, then it’s a big boost for us.

‘If we had rather won the game with 10 men, then maybe we are in a different position, but you can’t guess in football. The reality is our reality. We need to be critical that we didn’t compete in the way that we should’ve competed in many details.’

Now they have failed to overcome Aston Villa again after an impressive comeback against Middlesbrough, it is likely that the moods are low once again at Stamford Bridge.

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