Mauricio Pochettino has warned his Chelsea side they must “have the balls to win” particularly against struggling teams.
Pochettino wasn’t happy with the ease in which Sheffield United had won a number of challenges in the build up to Oli McBurnie’s stoppage time equaliser in the 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane eight days ago.
The Blues host another struggling side in Everton at Stamford Bridge tonight and lost the reverse fixture 2-0 at Goodsion Park in December.
The Argentine will be looking for an improvement in performance from his players, having dropped points to the bottom two sides over the last three games.
“We have enough talent to win games” , the 52 year old said in quotes picked up by Mail Sport.
“But the difficult thing in the Premier League is another phase, when you don’t have the ball.
“When you don’t have the ball, you need to have the balls. Understand? To have the balls to recover the ball.”
During his playing days Pochettino certainly showed the desire to compete, but said he couldn’t be on the pitch to do it for his players.
“I think it’s about training and trying to show the way we need to compete and then they need to deliver on the pitch”, he said.
“It’s a process to be very competitive, very tough. I think the way we drew the game against Sheffield United, we need to all to feel very disappointed because did you see the McBurnie goal?
“We lose one challenge. We lose the second, the third and the fourth and the fifth. And then we concede in the same action. And that was the last minute of the game.
“It’s about having the capacity to go there and to say, ‘We are a winner, I’m going to win this challenge, I’m going to be strong, I’m going to defend, I’m going to not concede a goal.’
“That is nothing more than mentality and all being together.”
Chelsea have been blessed with strong personalities in the past with the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, but in this current squad it’s hard to identify many other than skipper Reece James and veteran Thiago Silva.
The Blues host Everton tonight at Stamford Bridge and could be without as many as 11 players for a game they must win to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for European competition next season.
