Every word Mauricio Pochettino said on Chelsea loss, penalty controversy, Cole Palmer fitness
Mauricio Pochettino cut a frustrated figure after Chelsea's heartbreaking FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City.
The Blues were beaten once again at Wembley Stadium thanks to an 84th minute goal from Bernardo Silva. A host of missed chances left Chelsea highly frustrated at the national stadium and they had a massive appeal for a penalty in the second-half.
Jack Grealish saw the ball strike his arm inside the box but referee Michael Oliver waved away appeals. The VAR briefly checked but the decision of no penalty remained.
Pochettino was asked about the controversy and a number of other things in his post-match press conference. You can read the full transcript from the Chelsea head coach below.
Frustrating because you were the better team?
“Yeah, but in football the most important thing is to be clinical and to not concede. We competed well, I cannot say we were the better side because that in football is difficult to measure. The most important thing is we competed. Competing in this way, we need to take positives from the game. This type of group of players needs this type of moments in games. Now it’s about to take the positive things and try to build in the things that we need, the areas we need to improve. Now is the time to finish the season in the best way and then to speak about how we can be better next season.”
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Do you think you should have had a penalty?
“I don’t know. I think you had a better view. From the touchline, it was difficult to see if it was a penalty. I was talking [to the referee] because after Jesus [Perez] and my staff said it was a penalty. I only said to him, ‘Why not go and check the penalty on the TV?’. I think from what I saw, [he nods his head to say it was a penalty], but move on.”
You dominated Man City…
"Tactically, it is not a problem. You cannot today be good and then the last eight months you didn't know how to manage the tactical situation. It's about the whole things. We need time to improve as a team. We need to assess after nearly 10 months, in the way we are going to assess the group, the squad and then make the decision on how we can improve in different areas to be strong and compete better and better and better. And then we need to reduce the gap to Manchester City because it is clear they are one of the best teams in the world.”
Did you see enough from your players that this can still be a good season?
“Now we are going to play on Tuesday against another very good team in Arsenal. We need to be ready. With the circumstances that have happened, maybe we cannot change too much but I think like Manchester City, they had no time to recover and feel 100 per cent, and the same for us on Tuesday. But I feel happy with the way we are evolving. Of course I feel disappointed because we need to split two things, we think only in the history of Chelsea and the team are not matching the history of the club. We need to accept the team in a different way, not to compare it with Chelsea’s history. The evolution is good with all the circumstances. We need to be ambitious and think how we can be better next season. We need to finish well and strong this season.”
How is Cole Palmer, he looked to have a knock?
“It’s normal. He’s tired. But I don’t believe he has a problem. We need to check tomorrow but I hope there’s nothing more wrong than him being tired.”