We Lost To Arsenal Because The Team “Gave Up” – Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino declined to place the blame on his players while acknowledging that his team “gave up” after Chelsea’s 5-0 thumping by Arsenal.

Leandro Trossard’s early strike got between Djordje Petrovic’s knees to put Chelsea under only 1-0 at the interval, but they were mercilessly dismantled in the second half. Martin Odegaard put Kai Havertz through for a goal against his former team, and Ben White then scored from a loose ball after a corner.

Minutes later, Havertz discovered the bottom corner through the inside of the post, and White added salt to the wounds by cushioning an intended cross into the upper corner. A one-on-one shot from Gabriel Martinelli to Petrovic would have made it 6-0.

“I feel disappointed, I feel really bad. I don’t feel great. The performance wasn’t good. I think we conceded the first goal so easily, we made things easy for Arsenal,” Pochettino said. “We were talking at half-time, saying it’s not possible to start the game like this, but we start in a bad way again, conceded two goals and, in this moment, I think the team give up and we were not in the game.

“I feel disappointed, I feel really bad. I don’t feel great. The performance wasn’t good. I think we conceded the first goal so easily, we made things easy for Arsenal,” Pochettino said. “We were talking at half-time, saying it’s not possible to start the game like this, but we start in a bad way again, conceded two goals and, in this moment, I think the team give up and we were not in the game.

Pochettino admitted that nobody stepped up to fill the shoes of Palmer, but stopped short of pointing fingers. “But it is true, we didn’t compete. I cannot blame the players,” he said.

“I think we make a team, we are showing this inconsistency and that is why we are where we are, because we are capable of having an amazing performance and then three days later we show that we are in extremes. When we have bad days we are so bad and then when we are good we are capable of anything.”

Asked if he felt embarrassed, Pochettino added: “I think we cannot blame the players. I’m not going to. The circumstances are bigger than the performances of the players. We cannot blame young guys that came here. We cannot be unfair with our players. It is true that we are disappointed with the performance, but I’m not going to use a word that is unfair to describe our team.” [CONTINUE READING HERE]