Chelsea were defeated by relegation-threatened Everton on Sunday, with Mauricio Pochettino dealt two more injury blows in the loss to the Toffees as his job shows no sign of getting easier
Mauricio Pochettino has issued a worrying update about the injuries to Robert Sanchez and Marc Cucurrella, with the Chelsea boss admitting he is praying they are not serious.
Both players had to be brought off six minutes from time during the Blues’ defeat to Everton on Saturday. Sanchez has become Pochettino’s number one keeper this season after arriving from Brighton, while Cucurrella started at left-back for the visitors.
They were replaced late on by Djordje Petrovic and Ian Maatsen respectively though as Pochettino’s side suffered a dismal defeat. And the Blues boss admitted after the loss that he is now left hoping that the two injuries are not serious, with Reece James also having been forced off early.
“Robert Sanchez suffered a problem at Manchester United, it was an issue with his knee. He felt something during the second half, that is why he asked for the change. We must hope it is not a big issue,” Pochettino said.
“That is the same for Marc Cucurella, who twisted his ankle. We hope that these issues are not big. These are the circumstances we have been dealing with since the start and it is too much for a young team that needs to have all the elements together if we want to build something solid.
“Reece felt something in his hamstring. For sure he’s injured, but we don’t know how serious it is. Of course for us he is an important player, one of the best full-backs in the world. It is really disappointing because after 15 or 20 minutes we were playing well.
“We hadn’t given away many chances and then you need to move things to make some changes. Even when Reece went off the team was pushing and playing well. We go back and assess again in the next few days what is going on with his hamstring.”
While Chelsea dominated the game, enjoying an astonishing 72 percent of the possession and having 16 shots, the visitors went home with no points. Despite that disappointment, Pochettino was keen to look on the positive side.
“I think we dominated the game, we were the better side, but if you don’t score goals it is difficult to win the games. We were not aggressive enough in the last third. We have been showing promise with it, but today we showed a lack of positivity,” he said.
“We had too many approaches into the last third but then if you are not aggressive enough or compete with quality there it is difficult to win the game. In the end, a lack of concentration and we concede one goal, but we should have scored before.
“We need to score if we want to win the game and be in a different position in the table. It’s not only about playing well, because the team did play well, dominated the game, against a very difficult team like Everton.
“I think we deserved full credit because we were much better than them, but in the end you need to score, because if not you build the confidence of the opponent. Then it’s impossible to play 97 minutes and not make a mistake.”
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