Gallagher says sorry to Blues fans
CHELSEA midfielder Conor Gallagher has apologised to Blues fans for the 5-0 humiliation at Arsenal and admitted there was no excuse for their dire display.
TV cameras showed a young Chelsea fan holding up a sign which read, “I don’t want your shirt, I want you to fight for yours”. Gallagher admitted the players must heed that message.
Chelsea’s stand-in skipper said: “We are really upset and disappointed. It was nowhere near good enough. We just want to say sorry to our fans who came to watch that.
“We can’t make any excuses or blame anything. We just have to look at ourselves as individuals and as a team. We know we can be better than that. We might be tired but that’s still not an excuse. We started too slow.
“There were too many mistakes, it was too lethargic as a collective and we weren’t at it.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino signed a two-year contract last July, with a club option of a further year, and he is safe for now even with Jose Mourinho available.
But he cannot afford more performances like the one against Arsenal if he wants to stay in the job next season.
Pochettino said: “I am not going to blame the players. The circumstances are bigger than the performance of the players.”
The former Tottenham manager has called for more experience in his side, although profit and sustainability rules mean it will be difficult for Chelsea to splash the cash again in the summer.
Pochettino said: “The strategy for the future should be better, and in our analysis we must try to be very clinical in our decisions to help not to be in this situation in the future.”