by Mauricio Pochettino threatened to cancel the day off for his Chelsea players, and he was furious and disappointed when they crashed out at St James’ Park.
Watching from the directors’ box as he served his ban, Pochettino saw his defense lose its shape and players lose control. The mini-revival of the last month is over.
It was acceptable to concede four against Manchester City before the international break, even if it exposed some of his weaknesses. Four here all felt different. Pochettino did not hold back from criticizing his players, calling them “soft” and lacking in maturity. It’s a concern that he hasn’t seen enough fight from them.
Alexander Isak, Jamaal Lascelles, Joelinton and Anthony Gordon were on the scoresheet in one of Newcastle United’s best evenings of the season, although their goals were also gift-wrapped, with Chelsea’s backline guilty of lapses in concentration. The errors came at the back, but Pochettino’s entire team was to blame. Their captain Reece James was sacked much to the anger of the manager.
“We were talking in the dressing room after the game, we should go straight to the hotel and sleep, and start training early in the morning and not have a day off,” said Pochettino. “We shouldn’t just blame the players, we have to blame the whole and this is the process of learning and understanding that we want to compete at the level that people think we should be competing at. We have a very talented squad but the competition is not the same as the play.”
It’s back to the Cobham training grounds this week for Pochettino. Those results against Arsenal, Tottenham and City raised hopes of turning a corner but that was a huge blow. He was suspended from the technical area for his yellow card against City and could only watch as the evening progressed.
The work has to start with the backline, as they seemed to concede whenever Newcastle attacked. Thiago Silva, as glittering as his career has been, looked 39 years old when he gifted Joelinton’s goal. Benoît Badiashile’s position had a hand in two of the goals.
“I am disappointed and angry. It’s normal to blame yourself after this kind of performance and we have to blame ourselves,” said Pochettino. “We conceded so easily, that’s why I’m so disappointed but it’s not just our defensive line. It was our worst game of the season and we have ourselves to blame.
“I’m not talking about mistakes, I’m talking about energy and we weren’t prepared in the best way to compete today, that’s my concern. We were so soft in every single challenge. We didn’t show that we were playing for something important.
“It’s about showing personality and character. We have to be firmer in this idea that my team will help me if I made a mistake. We have to be ready to compete. We can all play football but to be ready to finish, we were not ready. Against Manchester City we were focused and we fought until the end. The big teams perform like this every three days and that’s what we have to do.”
The first signs that Chelsea’s backline was out of shape came in the 13th minute when Isak opened the scoring on his return to action following a groin problem. Newcastle worked the ball around the penalty area until Isak broke free, assisted by Badashile on one occasion and Marc Cucurella on another.
With Isak playing on the flank, Lewis Miley found a neat pass between an out-of-post Chelsea defender, with Isak finishing confidently. Miley, 17, was making his Premier League debut at St James’ Park.
As they needed to do against City, Chelsea launched a counter-attack and got themselves back into the game through Raheem Sterling’s equaliser. He won the free kick from which he scored, racing towards the penalty and getting a goal from Kieran Trippier. “It’s falling off,” Trippier could be seen telling referee Simon Hooper. Sterling took full advantage, curling his set piece over the wall and into the top corner.
With the game in the balance, it came down to those concentrated legs that meant Chelsea fell in such spectacular fashion. Newcastle worked another free kick past Pochettino’s defence, getting Gordon on the ball. Lascelles was left unmarked in passing time and headed past Robert Sanchez.
Thiago’s mistake created the third goal. There wasn’t much pressure on him when Joelinton walked in on him, but one slip and his fellow Brazilian was through, and the goal was full as Sanchez had no time to position himself.
James received his second yellow card of the afternoon when he pulled back Gordon after a mistake saw the Newcastle winger in a dangerous position. And it was Gordon who added the fourth, carrying the ball into the penalty area and getting around Badashile again before finishing.
The only negative for Newcastle was the fact that Joe Willock has suffered a recurrence of his Achilles injury, adding to the injury problems for Eddie Howe, whose squad is so stretched that he named three goalkeepers on the bench.
“It was such an important win for us in the situation we’re in and the resources are under pressure,” Howe said. “It speaks volumes about the character of the team and facing what’s in front of us.”
