24 September 2023 , 21:58
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Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Todd Boehly and the Chelsea hierarchy are "disappointed" with the club's current plight after they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa.
Pochettino, 51, officially started his role as the Blues new head coach in the summer off the back of a turbulent 2022/23 campaign but has endured a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge. The Londoners have won just once in the Premier League so far this term and are currently mired in the bottom half of the table after Sunday's loss against Villa.
Chelsea had controversially been reduced to 10 men shortly before Ollie Watkins struck the only goal of the match in the 73rd minute. Malo Gusto was shown a straight red for a poorly timed tackle on Lucas Digne, but the decision has divided opinion on social media.
While Pochettino was reluctant to be drawn on that particular incident post-match, the Argentine did give a brutally honest take when he was asked what the club hierarchy have made of Chelsea's poor start to the season.
He said: "Give me time because I didn't see them after the game. They are disappointed, they arrived at the club and are so excited to build a project. Of course they feel disappointed but at the same time they need to support the plan."
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Since Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the club last May, Chelsea have spent over £1billion in the transfer market. Their influx of expensive new signings has failed to translate into success on the pitch, though.
Pochettino has been given the remit of turning things around in West London, and the former Tottenham chief has a vast array of talent at his disposal. While he is likely to be given time to improve things, he will be aware that improved results are needed.
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Mauricio Pochettino has spoken about Chelsea's poor start to the season (Chelsea FC)Disgruntled Chelsea fans booed their team off the pitch on Sunday following Watkins' late winner. The result marked another blank for Chelsea, who developed an unwanted knack of failing to convert their chances last season. But Pochettino is convinced that his side will turn things around.
When he was asked how Chelsea can solve their goalscoring woes, Pochettino added: "Work. Giving trust and then confidence. We have the squad that we have. We cannot change anything. We try to build the confidence and to give them all of the support that they need because they need to perform on the pitch.
"The performance is good, I don't want to say it is excellent, but we are missing being clinical in front of goal. We need to keep going, working. To find a solution, we start tomorrow again for the game Wednesday and build the belief and the confidence and the trust and hope we can score Wednesday."