Mauricio Pochettino criticises Chelsea supporters who booed his team off in draw with Bournemouth and suggests fortunes will improve when players are back from injury
- Mauricio Pochettino was unhappy that some Chelsea fans booed the team off
- Left back Ben Chilwell held his hands up to supporters but was met with abuse
- Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’
Mauricio Pochettino hit back at Chelsea supporters who booed his team off the pitch after his side dropped more points in a 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.
Ben Chilwell appeared to hold his hands up in apology as he went over to the away end at full-time, but the defender was met with abusive language and loud boos from a number of angry and dissatisfied fans.
Pochettino was without 12 first team players due to injury and suggested supporters’ expectations were too high as the manager questioned what he was supposed to do in the circumstances.
‘If you invest money there is expectation,’ Pochettino said. ‘If you don’t win, it’s normal the fans are not happy.
‘But what I can tell the fans is the circumstances, we cannot change. The reality we cannot change. We have too many players [injured]. We are a team that will be strong if we are all together. With all the squad fit, we can compete for everything.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino criticised supporters who booed his team off
Ben Chilwell held his hands up to the Chelsea supporters but was met with abuse
Pochettino’s side were disappointing as they failed to score in the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth
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‘Why is it different for us? It’s because we don’t have all the squad available from the beginning of the season. What can we do?
‘For me, there’s nothing to say. The fans can do whatever they want. We know what we need to do. We are strong in our belief, but we have 12 [players] injured today. Then we have three or four young guys on the bench. I’m going to cry? I’m going to complain? I need to accept this, the challenge, and keep being positive.
‘We are not going to change. We have our opinion, we have our reality. We assess our team under our opinion, under our reality and with all the circumstances. We are doing very good things, more than the people can expect. But Chelsea’s expectation is always to win.
‘I can understand the emotion, the emotion is of course to complain because we want to win. The fans for sure are going to help the team Sunday to win the game at Aston Villa.’
Chelsea have taken just five points from their first five games, with their only victory coming against newly promoted Luton.
‘What can I do?’ Pochettino said when asked if he was concerned. ‘I need to keep believing.
‘If you say to me we have all of our players, our signings, no injured players and maybe we cannot win this game, okay maybe I can say “yes maybe we need to think in a different way”, but with all the circumstances I think we cannot lie to the people.
‘Of course we are Chelsea but this squad is new and needs to first of all understand and feel what it means to be a player of Chelsea. If you create expectation and then you do not achieve it’s normal that we find different excuses.’
Pochettino suggested that Chelsea will improve when they get players back from injury
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