POCH: EU CAN’T COMPARE MY BLUES
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has played down Chelsea’s title prospects for next season – even if they don’t have European football.
Antonio Conte fired the
Blues to Premier League glory in 2017, and Brendan Rodgers came agonisingly close to ending Liverpool’s gruelling wait for the title in 2014, both after missing out on Europe. When asked if his Chelsea could follow suit, Pochettino said: “You can ask me if we were in the same philosophy or the same project, but now it’s completely different. You cannot compare our situation to Conte or Brendan Rodgers.
“It’s not fair because this is a very different Chelsea today.”
Pochettino is refusing to say that Chelsea are striving to bag European football for next season for fear his players will crumble under the pressure.
He added: “I told you before, the conversation is always to win the next game. The most important thing is to win the next and then the next and then see which position we arrive.
“It is always good to have targets, but when you have them, it’s about having all the elements on the right side. We need to keep winning, not to put objectives in front of us that cause us to get frustrated when we don’t win some games that we were supposed to win.”
Chelsea could be without 11 first-team stars for tomorrow’s clash with relegation-battling Everton.
Enzo Fernandez and Axel Disasi are the latest to join the club’s lengthy injury list, while Raheem Sterling is ill.
When asked if missing out on Europe – as opposed to qualifying for the Europa Conference League with its extra travel and games – could prove to be a blessing in disguise, Pochettino insisted the club must learn from the troubles they have encountered this season.
He said: “Can you imagine playing in Europe this season with all the circumstances? Oh my God. It’s always between eight and 10 players out – every single game. If you add more matches, you will struggle a lot.
“Now it’s about experience and having all the information to try and help the club avoid things like this happening again next season.
“For us, it’s our main focus to try and devise a squad that can be fit and to have more than 80 percent availability because now we have under this.”