Chelsea’s Coach Mauricio Pochettino: ‘It’s always difficult against Sheffield United’

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Superb tactician Mauricio Pochettino said yesterday after leading Chelsea in a 2-0 home win over Sheffield United that it was always difficult playing with the club.

Before the victory, however, the coach gave his players leave to enjoy a Christmas party.

‘I gave permission and I think it’s a good thing,’ he had said to Chelsea’s journalists. ‘Of course, after the Everton game, people can say something different, but when you have a young squad and people that arrived from different countries and different cultures, this type of event can put people in the same place and help people know each other in a different environment.

‘In my experience, it’s fantastic and that’s why I didn’t stop them going.

‘Afterwards it was nice, because we were talking about the dinner and they were happy because that was an opportunity to communicate with people they maybe don’t communicate with often.

‘Even when the team are in a difficult situation where people are killing you, maybe you become more together, are ready to protect and fight all together for each other. That is about building a team and team bonding.’

Following the hard-earned victory, he reacted as follows:

‘I am happy because the players deserve the victory. They worked during the week, they reacted. It’s about building our confidence but at the same time we need to realise we need to change if we want to improve.

‘But I’m happy because the three points for us was really important and then because on Tuesday we have a very important game against Newcastle, when going into it from a victory is completely different.

‘Arriving at that game with a good feeling from a victory and confidence that we can go through is really important.

‘It’s always difficult against Sheffield United, you could see that when they played different teams. The first half was difficult because they defended really well and they were ready with a very low block. But I think we started really well, we just couldn’t make chances.

‘The most important thing was that we dominated, and dominated also in the transitions. Sometimes in this kind of game you become frustrated because you cannot score. The team showed big maturity in controlling the transitions and we didn’t give them much opportunity to score.

‘I’m so happy, so pleased, the players deserved after a few defeats to feel victory again.’