Mauricio Pochettino: Chelsea owners have stopped messaging me
Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he no longer receives messages of support from the Chelsea co- controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali but has insisted that nothing has changed in terms of the security of his position at the club.
Pochettino’s long-term future as head coach was widely questioned after Chelsea were thrashed by Arsenal on Tuesday but the 52-year-old insists he is not the only one who needs to prove himself in the final six games of the season, beginning with a tough fixture away to Aston Villa on Saturday night.
In February Pochettino disclosed that Boehly and Eghbali sent him messages of encouragement. But when asked about this on Friday he said he now communicated only with Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, the co-sporting directors.
Chelsea co-owners Boehly, left, and Eghbali have even stopped texting Pochettino in the last few weeks
“In the last few months we didn’t cross [paths] or message,” he said of the owners. “We communicated through the sporting directors but nothing has changed. We are not changing my view or my feeling, even though in the last few weeks we are not [exchanging] texts.”
He insisted that the blame for poor performances and results lay not just with himself but also with the players and leadership team, in particular those who signed some of the players now at the club.
“You ask me if the players need to improve, if they deserve to be here?” he said. “Yes. If not, it looks like it’s only me, not the whole organisation. It should be the whole organisation. I don’t say it is only me. It shouldn’t be like this.
“Because of the results, you can say, ‘Yes, it’s just him.’ But I don’t have the key of the club. I don’t take all the decisions here. That is to be made clear.
Palmer is set to return for Chelsea this weekend after missing the thrashing at Arsenal with a back injury
“If you say to me I have the key and this guy is here because it’s my decision, that is one thing. But if this is not my decision you need to judge me and judge him in his job. Because [recruitment is] not my direct responsibility.”
Pochettino’s mantra throughout the season has been that a young squad needs time to become consistent and that prolonged injury issues have hampered him. Asked if Stewart and Winstanley saw it the same way, Pochettino said: “I don’t know. It’s a good question for them but not for me. But it is the reality. OK, that is a point that if we are responsible, we are responsible. Maybe we are not responsible in this situation. I cannot answer the question because, to be honest, I don’t know the way that they are thinking. But I accept the game, I accept the rules and that it is not in my hands.”
Cole Palmer, the league’s top scorer, is expected to return from the back injury that ruled him out of the Arsenal match but Pochettino will be without 12 senior players at Villa Park, including Enzo Fernández, whose season has been ended by groin surgery.
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Premier League
Saturday, 8pm
TV Sky Sports