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Mauricio Pochettino ‘not worried’ by Man Utd defeat and says tired Chelsea ‘didn’t match the energy
Mauricio Pochettino conceded that his Chelsea squad was not as good as Manchester United’s in the match, but he expressed no concern about the outcome.
Scott McTominay’s double on either side of a Cole Palmer goal gave Erik Ten Hag’s team a 2-1 victory. The Blues manager expressed his lack of concern at the defeat, claiming that his team just did not have the same intensity as Manchester United. The Argentine stated that his squad was worn out from playing Brighton last weekend with just 10 players after captain Conor Gallagher was sent off.
In the post-match press conference, the Argentine said: “I’m not worried because there’s too many circumstances which need to explain why we didn’t perform, to play with Brighton with one less for so long may have affected the energy, and we need to recover too many players from injury, to have different options and be more competitive.
“That’s not an excuse, only that they were better. In which percentage? Maybe 10 per cent, but we need to be focused, recover the players and get ready for Sunday. We miss players, we played nearly with the same players we faced Brighton with, and we were a man down for 60 minutes. Manchester United had a day more to prepare, and we had many young players on our bench. It’s not an excuse, but that’s the reality.”
“I’m not disappointed because we gave everything, but we didn’t match the energy or aggressiveness. We created chances, maybe enough to draw the game.”
Chelsea is presently just one point above the relegation zone and one point ahead of the Champions League berths this season despite having already lost more games than they have won. The previous five games have seen the Blues win 4-1 against Tottenham Hotspur, tie 4-4 with Manchester City, and win 3-2 against Brighton, but they have also lost to Newcastle United and the Red Devils. Their results have been quite inconsistent.
With their next match against Everton on Sunday, December 10, Pochettino’s team won’t have much time to relax as they aim to maintain their position in the top 10.