Poch: I’m like doctor on the hunt for cure
MAURICIO POCHETTINO claims his post-mortem into Chelsea’s debacle at Newcastle was like a trip to hospital.
Having ripped into his side’s pathetic performance immediately after the 4-1 St James’ Park hammering eight days ago, the Blues boss then spent most of last week trying to discover exactly what the problem is – and what might fix it.
Ahead of today’s home clash against Brighton, Pochettino said: “It’s like when you go to the doctor because you have got some pain in your body.
“You arrive at the hospital because you don’t feel well. First of all, the doctor needs to do some analysis, see you and detect the problem. Then, they give the medicine or the solution.
“With us, it is the same. We analyse to identify why. And when you find out why it happened, you attack the problem.
“We already know that this is a young team that needs to be more mature and consistent, and this up-and-down can happen.
“Now we need to realise why – and then emphasise in different areas how to anticipate these types of situations.”
So will the medicine work? And how does he ensure it sinks into Chelsea’s inexperienced squad? Pochettino added: “You approach it like you are the professor teaching at a university. “Sometimes, you need to accept it is not a bad intention – and that sometimes they didn’t perform because they didn’t understand our message. “That’s for us to analyse, ourselves, and then put our ideas forward in a different way.
“And they need to learn that when they are on the pitch they must make decisions for themselves.”