Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that his players need to run a lot more if they want to beat teams like Burnley in the Premier League.
The Blues only managed a draw against 10-men Burnley, who also had their own manager sent off and away from he dugout.
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Pochettino believes that his players need to treat games like that as if they are lining up against Manchester United or Real Madrid, and they need to chase the players as if they are chasing players from United or Madrid.
He says that Chelsea cannot be an exhibition team, in quotes picked up by The Daily Mail from yesterday’s press conference for tonight’s match against Manchester United, ironically.
‘Never be in a comfort zone,’ Pochettino said. ‘If you in a comfort zone, you drop your level, you drop your standards.
‘You cannot draw a game like this (against Burnley) if you are Chelsea.
‘If you want to win games, it is not only to play well with the ball. We cannot be an exhibition team to enjoy.
‘We need to chase the Burnley players like Manchester United players or like Real Madrid players. We need to respect the aspects of the game.’
Ahead of Wednesday’s fixtures this week, a Premier League table for first halves placed Chelsea fifth whereas one for second halves had them 18th.
Pochettino joked his team-talks must be ’s***’ when told that statistic but the Argentine added there are other factors at play, such as the injuries which have plagued their season.
Pochettino does not want to provide the club’s paying punters with a repeat of the performance against Burnley.
That stat about first halves and second halves is really interesting. It suggests we’re actually quite a strong team, but one that does not know how to “close.” Lo and behold, this is exactly what happened against Burnley when we came out asleep after half-time, and then fell asleep again after re-taking the lead.
Poch didn’t say it, but the word I’d use is “hunger.” The best teams manage to play with it for 90 minutes—regardless of the score. And it’s typical for young and/or inexperienced teams to have trouble sustaining the focus required to play with real hunger over an entire match. I don’t doubt that this group is capable of it, but we have yet to see it consistently. I’m glad that Poch has publicly called it out. Now it’s up to the players to show they can bring it.