Mauricio Pochettino wants his side to be ‘naughtier’ (Picture: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino insists his Chelsea players must be ‘naughtier’ and learn how to deploy the dark arts in matches.
The Blues have made a mixed start to life under the Argentina, earning just four points from their first four matches.
That’s despite a favourable start against the likes of Luton, West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
It was a defeat to Forest before the international break that left Pochettino fuming.
While Pochettino says Forest deserved their victory, he was angry that Anthony Elanga was allowed to score after a mistake in midfield.
Elanga scored Forest’s winner(Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Pochettino feels his side should have committed a foul earlier in the build-up to avoid the goal.
And he says his side must learn to be ‘naughtier’ if they’re to challenge for the Premier League.
‘If you watch the Forest game, they won and deserved it,’ he said.
‘But the way that we concede the goal… a team that is going to be involved in European competitions or play to win the Premier League, we cannot concede this type of goal.’
‘We need to be more aggressive in this type of situation.’
Questioned on if he was a master of the dark arts as a player, Pochettino said: ‘(I was) really naughty, the worst. I was the most competitive but without the quality that we have in this team. They are much better than me about quality but here (taps head) I was stronger than them.
‘I need to translate this idea. It’s a joke, always we joke about that. Always with the coaches we think we are better than everyone.
‘That comes with time. The perfection only arrives when you have time, the players know each other and confidence and trust is high and the level of competition is really high.
‘We need to set principles on how we play from the back and press, the evolution of the system. The dynamic of playing with two defenders or three, how many in the middle and how we’re going to attack in the right areas.’
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