Chelsea’s penalty row overshadowed their win over Everton on Monday (Picture: Getty)
Mauricio Pochettino says it’s time to ‘move on’ from the penalty incident that overshadowed Chelsea’s victory over Everton, though believes the row between his players showed the ‘character and personality’ within the squad.
Chelsea stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to eight games with a thumping 6-0 defeat of Everton on Monday evening, with Cole Palmer scoring a second hat-trick in three matches at Stamford Bridge.
However, the argument leading up the Blues’ 64th-minute spot-kick, involving Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson, proved the major talking point of the one-sided encounter in west London.
Madueke and Jackson clashed over penalty duties before Chelsea’s regular taker, Palmer – now the league’s joint-top goalscorer – grabbed the ball and converted past England colleague Jordan Pickford to make it five on the night.
It’s not the first time Chelsea players have argued over penalties this season, with Raheem Sterling pulling rank and denying Palmer an effort from the spot against Leicester in the FA Cup last month – only to miss from 12 yards.
Speaking after Chelsea’s win over the Toffees, a less-than-impressed Pochettino made it clear such behaviour would not be tolerated going forward and the Argentine echoed those comments as he faced the media this afternoon.
‘We were talking a lot after Monday. We have been practicing penalties and we were also talking [laughs],’ Pochettino told reporters ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final with holders Manchester City.
Palmer scored four against Everton to go level with Haaland in the Premier League goalscoring charts (Picture: Getty)
‘I think it’s clear. I made clear after the game, we had a meeting with all the players and staff and the sporting directors were involved, Paul [Winstanley] and Laurence [Stewart], and I explained my feelings and the way that I will act in the future if something like this happens again.
‘It was really clear, the message, which I tried to translate in my post-match press conference and all my interviews.
‘Now we need to move on. It’s about being clever. They are clever and understood the situation.’
Pochettino’s side face Manchester City for a place in the FA Cup final this weekend (Picture: Getty)
According to Pochettino, if there is one positive to take away from the penalty row it is that Palmer, Madueke and Jackson were all ready to step up and ‘take responsibility’ rather than shying away from the pressure.
‘In one way, it was not an image that we did not like, but in another way, it was good if the players want to take and take responsibility and take the penalty.’ Pochettino added.
‘It shows the character and the personality of the team and the players. But they need to respect the rules.
‘Discipline is so important and in the way that they approach, or they wanted, to do the things, or they did, was in a very wrong way. That’s why it is very important for them to learn and for us to apply the common sense, the discipline and to act in a different way in the future.’
City will be hurting after their Champions League elimination in midweek (Picture: Getty)
Pochettino is happy with the way his players have trained in the wake of their demolition job on Everton and hopes to see this translate onto the pitch at Wembley tomorrow evening.
‘Now we need to move on because all is clear and, yes, I’m happy in the way we’ve been training and the way that we played against Everton. It was an amazing game,’ he continued.
‘We need to translate that tomorrow in a game that is going to be really, really difficult, another final. It’s a semi-final but it’s a final because you need to go through if we want to be in the final.
‘Of course, we are going with all the energy and the capacity to fight.’
Pochettino has prepared his squad for the possibility of a shootout against a City side looking to make amends after being dumped out of the Champions League on penalties by Real Madrid in midweek.
‘We are ready. Penalties are penalties,’ he said.
‘Look what happened in the last few days in different competitions. You never know.
‘We have practiced and you never know, we have a clear idea but in the end that is difficult to guess what is going to happen, but I think we are ready.’
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