Mauricio Pochettino has rejected suggestions he said Chelsea’s players are not good enough, claiming his words following Sunday’s defeat by Wolves were taken out of context.
Immediately after the 4-2 loss at Stamford Bridge that left his team in the bottom half of the Premier League table, the Argentinian appeared to say he did not have the squad to significantly remedy the club’s plight.
Chelsea were booed off at half-time and again at the final whistle, with audible anger directed against both the players and Pochettino personally, while the name of former owner Roman Abramovich could also be heard being sung.
A visibly emotional Pochettino said at the time he understood supporters’ fury in the aftermath of a 10th league defeat in the 23 games of his tenure, and intimated neither he nor the team have been good enough this season.
He has now, before Wednesday’s FA Cup replay at Aston Villa, moved to clarify his position, criticising reports which he felt deliberately took his words not in the spirit in which they were meant.
“Now (when) I’m watching TV and media, some guys take advantage of some situations to take my words out of context,” he said. “That question came from my post-match press conference – are the players good enough to be in the top four or top six? I said, ‘today, we were not good enough, and me the first’.
“Then they said, ‘Pochettino said the players aren’t good enough’. What? It’s taking it out of context, my words. In that game, we were not good enough. I don’t want to hide the reality.
“Be careful. Some people take advantage, when we lose a game, to say things that never appeared in my mouth. That upset me a little bit.
“The most difficult thing is to explain to my wife. ‘Why did you say the players are not good enough?’ I never said that. You know what I had to do last time? To show her the press conference. That is not a joke. It is the reality we live in.”
Pochettino also defended Ben Chilwell, who captained the side in Sunday’s defeat, after he appeared to suggest in a post-match interview that Wolves had shown more desire for the victory than Chelsea.
The defender told Sky Sports: “I think they probably showed that they wanted it more than us.”
However, Pochettino contested that Chilwell intended to question his team-mates’ will to win.
“He said, ‘we didn’t win the 50-50 duels’. That was my interpretation. The result we suffered against Wolves, we are Chelsea and everything is bigger than normal. I was talking with him and it was never his intention to say we didn’t show desire.”
Pochettino added that Thiago Silva had met with him privately to discuss a post sent by the defender’s wife on social media on Sunday that appeared to call for the manager to be sacked.
“He came today to talk with me. I’m not going to talk about (what we said). He came and wanted to talk with me.
“That was private. That’s it.”
Vardy eyes 100-point season after Leicester's title win
Jamie Vardy has challenged his Leicester City team-mates to reach 100 points after sealing the Championship title with one game to spare.
The Foxes were promoted back to the Premier League without kicking a ball after Leeds United’s 4-0 defeat to QPR on Friday, but they needed to win on Monday to earn top spot.
Enzo Maresca’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory over Preston through Vardy’s brace and Kasey McAteer’s header, moving them to 97 points.
With one last milestone in their reach, Vardy wants to make sure they end an already successful season on a high.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “We can celebrate it tonight, but now we have another target which is 100 points.
“We are over the moon. It has gone by quick but it's a graft. Not many days off, I'll tell you that.
“The lads - they've given it all. Thoroughly deserved, and I'm glad we've had 5000 to come and celebrate with us. It's not like it's 20 minutes up the road."
After a run of just three victories from nine games in the league between mid-February and April, Leicester have now won each of their last three outings.
Maresca has praised his players for their hard work in what he labelled a “tough season”.
“Fantastic, it's been a fantastic season. The Championship is a tough season and very intense, but I'm very happy," said Maresca.
"Now it's time to enjoy the work of the season to bring this special club back to the Premier League. We deserve it.
“The last two days they have been fantastic. We got promoted, but it was difficult in game preparation. But we used all of today to prepare for the game, the morning and afternoon. It was good.”
Barcelona 4-2 Valencia: Lewandowski hat-trick leads Barca to 4-2 win over 10-man Valencia
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski scored a second-half hat-trick to help his side fight back to claim a hard-fought 4-2 win over Valencia, who were leading 2-1 when they were reduced to 10 men just before the break.
Fermin Lopez's header from a Raphinha cross put Barca in front after 22 minutes, but Valencia's Hugo Duro struck in the 27th and Pepelu scored from the spot after a foul by Ronald Araujo 11 minutes later to give the visitors the lead.
But after Valencia keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili saw red for a handball outside the box before the break, Xavi's side dominated and Lewandowski scored with two headers from corners in the 49th and 82nd minutes before getting his treble with a free-kick in added time.
The win postponed Real Madrid's almost inevitable LaLiga title celebrations for a couple of weeks as Carlo Ancelotti's side sit atop the standings on 84 points.
Barcelona moved back to second in LaLiga on Monday with 73 points as they leapfrogged surprise package Girona, who are third with 71. Those two teams will meet in a Catalonia derby on Saturday.
Data debrief
Barcelona conceded two goals in the first half of a home game for the second time this season, after also doing so against Girona in LaLiga in December 2023.
However, Lewandowski's goals have been invaluable to La Blaugrana this season as he's earned 17 points with his 16 goals in the league.
Kimmich ready to open Bayern Munich talks amid Barcelona speculation
Joshua Kimmich is ready to open talks with Bayern Munich over his future at the club amid speculation linking him with Barcelona.
The Germany international has spent nine years at the Allianz Arena, but he is due to become a free agent at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
Barca have been repeatedly linked with Kimmich in recent transfer windows and are said to retain an interest ahead of next season.
Speaking to Spanish outlet AS, the midfielder talked up Barca - as well as fierce rivals Real Madrid - but fell short of saying he is open to a move.
"I want to talk to Bayern. When I do that, I won't go out and talk to the press about it," he said.
"I'm not thinking about this. I will speak to Bayern first. But of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid are amazing clubs with an amazing history."
Kimmich has played 37 times in all competitions this season for Bayern, whose last remaining hope of silverware is in the Champions League.
Bayern will face Real Madrid over two legs for a place in the final, with the first match in that double-header taking place in Bavaria on Tuesday.
Thomas Tuchel will depart the dethroned Bundesliga champions at the end of the season, with Ralf Rangnick the favourite to succeed him.
The managerial uncertainty is not helping with regards to the Kimmich rumours, but he insists that will not be a deciding factor on his future.
"It's not the most important thing right now," he said. "I know that when you sign a contract you don't sign it with the coach.
"You sign it with the club. For me, the most important thing is the club, not just the coach.
"But it's also important to know what the coach thinks about you and the team. Other people in the club can worry about choosing the coach."
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