Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino believes Wednesday’s dramatic victory over Leeds United proved it was unfair to label the Blues “bottlejobs”.
Gary Neville sent social media into a frenzy when he described Chelsea as “blue billion-pound bottlejobs” after they failed to beat a youthful Liverpool side in the Carabao Cup final – prompting a disappointed response from Pochettino.
With the pressure back on, Pochettino’s side needed a 90th-minute winner to secure a 3-2 victory over Leeds United in Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round clash, and the boss insisted the latest performance only highlighted why Neville was wrong to criticise his squad.
“It is not fair to use this type of word for a team that is so brave,” Pochettino said. “What can we do? Only with this type of performance, show that we are brave. Why we lost the game against Liverpool is nothing to do with this.
“We know we are brave, that we are working really hard, and, look, if people want to be around and around and around this comment, for us it is not important.
“It is only, ‘Sorry, you were wrong’, but look, nothing to say. I respect his opinion and that’s it and we won.”
Pochettino acknowledged that Chelsea did not reach expectations against Leeds but urged the Blues to use this as yet another turning point in their frustrating season.
“We needed this result,” he continued. “It wasn’t a great performance. We created too little because it is a team full of confidence – a very, very, very strong team.
“When you concede after a few minutes, the character we showed after this situation, it is a thing to learn from the team.”
Chelsea’s reward for the victory was a quarter-final clash with Championship leaders Leicester City on March 16.
