Chelsea’s coach Mauricio Pochettino reveals how public opinion can influence a coach
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Following the return of two American players to Stamford Bridge after a short time away serving their countries in preparation for the World Cup, Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino was placed in a hard situation that could be likened to being between Scylla and Charybdis in a sense. The coach explained how that felt, thereby bringing a rare insight.
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After the return of new player Moises Caicedo, and Enzo Fernandez from national service, Coach Pochettino was placed between the fangs of the media and the owners of Stamford Bridge. It is clear that newsreaders are always likely to give wrong impressions about things when it largely has to do with why a person took a particular decision. Also, if Chelsea lost a match after the exclusion of such good players from the team that played, a coach likely would not hear the end of it.
Though Pochettino included the players in the team that later played, the result was not what was expected by Chelsea fans, but Pochettino had this to say:
‘We didn’t have the facility to have all our squad available and then to pick the starting 11. That is another thing you need to put in your analysis. Then look at the form of the players that we had because they came from injuries. Reece James had 15-20 minutes and now he needs time recover his best.
‘Maybe one criticism of us was maybe we need to take better decisions in 77 minutes not to concede in the way that we did. We gave our opponent the confidence, momentum and the belief to say ‘come on, go’ because it’s was possible with only one goal difference. The situation is to live together and improve together and for sure the team has the talent to do that.’
Concerning his decision to include the two costly players so soon in a match, the tactician gave the following reason:
‘Today Caceido and Enzo arrived after two games in America and they were not fresh. But they are important players for us. So now we are going to have a week to work [until Brentford] and for sure they are going to be better and improve.’
‘It’s crazy for players to come back from America on Wednesday and play on Saturday. But if I say ‘OK, I’m going to give them a rest’ you will kill me, for sure if they don’t play. And the owner also! It’s really tough to arrive like that. I hope now they can recover and train and in one week be at their best.’
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