Mauricio Pochettino was very spiky with ITV when interviewed before the game. The immense pressure was showing.
But it got a good performance from the players, and after a 3-1 win he was able to admit to the same broadcaster that he had been feeling it.
“It’s not easy” he confessed to Mark Pougatch.
These results mean a lot, and this buys him a lot of time which he desperately needed. But you’re only as good as your last few results, as he knows better than most.
You can see the coach speaking in the clip embedded here:
"We need to show that we are a team" 🖇️
"It's not easy to manage all these things [expectations]"🗣️Mauricio Pochettino joins @markpougatch, Roy Keane, and Karen Carney to discuss Chelsea's victory against Aston Villa 💬#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/fwQRzUCPwW
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) February 7, 2024
The performances against Liverpool and Wolves were poor (even if we were stung by some bad luck in the latter), but this convincing away victory against a very good side just goes to show how off base the calls for Poch’s job were.
There’s a contingent among the supporters that gets hysterical far too easily after a couple of bad results and fails to recognize that inconsistency is going to be the norm with such a young squad. And, by the same token, this young squad can turn around and turn in a fairly brilliant performance like tonight. Finding greater consistency is all part of the maturation process, but it won’t happen overnight. Indeed, it won’t happen AT ALL if we keep chucking the manager every 9 months!