Mauricio Pochettino said after today’s game that his players had accepted in the end that they were happy to play for penalties.
Shaka Hislop called this explanation “inexcusable” in a spicy rant on his ESPN show.
He, along with many people online, have been absolutely stunned by these comments from the coach..
As the team point out in the clip, all the momentum was with Chelsea at the end of regular, and there was no fatigue at the end of 90 minutes. They just bottled it.
Ale Morena went a step further and said Pochettino had shown a “loser’s attitude” by admitting Chelsea had allowed themselves to play for penalties.
You can see the pundits breaking it down in the clip embedded here:
So, tell me this, how does Gallagher blow two gilt-edged chances in the late going if he’s not absolutely shattered? His legs looked heavy as lead, as did most of the starters and it’s not the manager’s job to try and paper over this FACT. All of this noise from pundits and the obnoxious wing of the supporters represented by SuperFrank is just that—noise. And it ignores the fact that anyone watching the match with any objectivity surely noticed: Our boys were dead tired by the end of regulation. They gave a monumental effort trying to win the game in those final 15 minutes of regular time (when we were the clear-cut better team), but they began to flag in the first half of ET and simply couldn’t sustain it for the second period. That’s not Poch making excuses or expressing a losing mentality. That’s just inescapable fact.
And the bottom line is this: Our boys gave it their best—a performance that seemed unimaginable a month ago. In the end we were beaten by the thinnest of margins— a margin provided by the most experienced player on the pitch. In that decisive moment it had nothing to do with effort or mentality or the manager’s tactics and everything to do with experience vs inexperience. So, to come along now and rail at the players or the manager out of misplaced frustration is simply infantile.
Same number of players, same number of fresh legs… our academy boys spanked you. No history, no class, no excuse.
Chelsea lack basics, zero tactics and I want to say that even if Pochettino stays a hundred years he won’t deliver. These Chelsea players lack killer passes always passing behind and playing safe, Caicedo a Very brilliant player can’t be compared with Endo of Liverpool, their paases are safe not tactics, no system.
Chelsea is done! We can’t go to the heights we’re on if we still keep hold of loser coaches.
We’re tired and bleeding on the same time
I beg to disagree.
Poch’s words speak to the mentality of the group. Not just this game, few games in the past. Yes I blame the players for missing the big chances, but Ive always known that would cost Chelsea. They’ve been missing chances all season. But Poch’s post match words aren’t firing up these guys.