I’m happy with the results-we play a very good and technic game, but I’m not happy with the few player on the pitch in the first half because there error bring on the pressure on us
Mauricio Pochettino hopes that he can fall in love with Chelsea and remain with the club until he dies but conceded that he does not yet have the bond with the Blues that he earned in his five-and-a-half years at Tottenham. The 51-year-old coach has spoken at length about his relationship with Spurs in the build up to Chelsea’s trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and returns for the first time since he was sacked in November 2019.
Pochettino took the Lilywhites to the Champions League final but notably oversaw a period of progress in difficult circumstances as Monday’s host built their new stadium. However, the Blues boss will make no mistake in making his way to the correct dugout, having helped in it’s design.
“I know the layout very well because I designed where it all was,” explained Pochettino. “The local dressing room and the away. The local is on the right and the away dressing room on the left. I know that very well.”
The former PSG head coach admitted it was difficult to know whether he could form a relationship with a club, like he did with Tottenham. It is too soon for that bond to have been formed with his current club
He said: “After four months? I cannot lie. I hope we can arrive on the same level that I had at Tottenham. Because then it would mean we are doing really well here. Of course, I expect one day to be on the same level but I cannot lie, at the moment no. It is a tough situation.”
Having arrived at Stamford Bridge, the relationship between Tottenham and Pochettino has become complicated for many, while some of a Chelsea persuasion have been surprised with how explicit their boss has been with regard to his affection for his former club.
Pochettino was however, less definitive in whether he would now return to Tottenham before the end of his career.
“Who knows? Who knows?” said the Chelsea chief. “It’s a club like Southampton or Espanyol or Newell’s Old Boys…Another day we were talking and a guy asked me to maybe come back to Argentina to manage Newell’s Old Boys, because it would be an emotional way to end your career. Who knows? It’s like life, you never know what is going to happen tomorrow. We need to enjoy today and I think now 51, I am thinking more about that and enjoy today and not look too much in the future, in the long term. But, why not?”
Does being in charge of Chelsea complicate things? “Why? Hopefully, I can stay here until I die! 20 or 25 years, but you never know in football. It’s a club, for sure if I’m not working, maybe if they want me one day…Why not?”
Does being in charge of Chelsea complicate things? “Why? Hopefully, I can stay here until I die! 20 or 25 years, but you never know in football. It’s a club, for sure if I’m not working, maybe if they want me one day…Why not?”
The Blues boss is clear that he wants to win however. Any past association does not diminish his desire for three points.
Pochettino does not intend to replicate the toned down celebrations that former players often employ but noted that as a coach, he does not usually invest too much into celebrating a goal, with a match still to be won.
I want to win I want to beat them [Spurs],” Pochettino said. “When I play with my kids I want to beat them of course, or my dad or my brothers or my friends – I try to kill them. But I want to win because we are competitive. And then it is not a special thing. I don’t want to go there and think it is about revenge.
“You are asking me if I am going to be special if we score or if we beat them. For me it will be important if we win because Chelsea need a win because we need the points not because of the game at Tottenham.
“For me it is a little different as a player. When you are a player and you score you need to celebrate. For you and for your team not because you are telling some people look what you are missing.
“I am a coach and it is different. If you score a goal you need to celebrate. Even if you spend your whole life at another club. It is happiness to score goals, it is not disrespectful. People sometimes get confused. But I am not a person to celebrate goals.”
With plenty of talk of ex-girlfriends in Tottenham and Chelsea press conferences this week, and some praise of Spurs having been on the agenda, does Pochettino need to reassure his current team?
Pochettino said: “I don’t believe we need to show something special. We need to be natural – that is the most important thing – not to be fake. I am not going to say things that are very nice. I don’t want to be a hypocrite and say something I do not feel or we are still in the process of creating.
People are clever – you shouldn’t underestimate the fans, either the Chelsea or the Spurs ones. If I repeat here something like the Champions League run and the Battle of the Bridge and then hide the emotion – come on! I cannot just say I have forgotten all those things. That would look stupid. I am just going to be natural and enjoy a great game. I want to win – that is my competitive side. But at the same time, I want to enjoy it, to enjoy being a part of a process. We did something special there, but I am really calm and want to enjoy it, and hopefully get a win for us.”
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