Mauricio Pochettino is assured he retains the backing of Chelsea’s homeowners however conceded his future was out of his fingers after defeat within the Carabao Cup ultimate elevated scrutiny of his place.
The under-fire Argentinian stated he had supportive conversations with the membership’s co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali following Sunday’s 1-0 extra-time loss to Liverpool.
Defeat at Wembley sparked additional criticism of Pochettino and his expensively-assembled squad – together with scathing feedback from Gary Neville – as they failed to beat inexperienced rivals who had been lacking a number of star names.
Chelsea, who’re languishing in eleventh place within the Premier League and sit nearer to the relegation zone than the highest 4, return to motion on Wednesday night at dwelling to Championship membership Leeds within the FA Cup fifth spherical.
“I said hello to the owners when I saw them in the stadium and after (the final) I met Behdad and we were talking,” stated Blues boss Pochettino, who has misplaced ahead Christopher Nkunku to a different damage.
“We were sharing our opinions about the game and the opportunity we missed to win a trophy because I think we played really well during the 90 minutes.
“We created the best chances, we were not clinical enough but that is what has happened since the beginning of the season.
“They (the owners) showed their support and after the game, Todd sent a nice message.”
Asked if he can be given time to show issues round, Pochettino replied: “It’s not in my hands. We have a very good relationship with the owners, with the sporting director.
“It’s up to them to trust or not. It’s not the coach’s decision.”
Sky Sports pundit Neville labelled Chelsea “blue billion pound bottle jobs” following their cup ultimate failure.
Pochettino believes the criticism is unfair however insists he respects the opinions of the media and former professionals.
The 51-year-old has been inspired by the response of his under-performing gamers as they search to maintain alive their final probability of lifting silverware this season.
“I think we are all tired because always when you lose a final, it’s not easy to recover,” he stated.
“But I am so happy because they are really focused and they move forward.
“If you ask all the players if they want to be involved tomorrow in the game, they spoke revenge.
“Of course (I am) disappointed because we cannot win the Carabao Cup but we need to move on because we need to compete tomorrow.
“It wasn’t difficult (to lift the players) because we cannot wait. Now we need to get the spirits up and move on and be ready for tomorrow because it’s another competition where we want to go until the end.”
France worldwide Nkunku, who missed Chelsea’s first 17 top-flight fixtures this time period on account of a knee difficulty, is about for as much as a month on the sidelines with an unspecified damage sustained on the weekend.
“We need to see and evaluate every day but at the moment, it’s three or four weeks maybe he’s out, we hope no more,” Pochettino stated of the 26-year-old summer season signing from RB Leipzig.
Marc Cucurella, Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Carney Chukwuemeka, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu may also be absent for Leeds’ go to to Stamford Bridge.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk