Chelsea defender Axel Disasi has shared what Mauricio Pochettino told the Blues at half-time in their fiery London derby with Tottenham Hotspur last night.
Chelsea went into the break with a man advantage and the score level at 1-1.
And Axel Disasi told football.london and the rest of the media after the game that Mauricio Pochettino made it clear to the team that they had to punish Spurs after Cristian Romero’s sending off.
Once play resumed, Chelsea did just that, with Nicolas Jackson scoring a second-half hat-trick.
Mauricio Pochettino told Chelsea they needed to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Tottenham
Disasi says Pochettino told the team to remain patient before going in for the 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 against his former side.
Speaking to football.london and other outlets, the Frenchman said: “The coach said at half time to be patient and to keep the ball and when we have the opportunity to score that we must 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 them.”
Mauricio Pochettino will be pleased with Nicolas Jackson
Chelsea did not make things easy for themselves, with their winning goal not coming until the 75th minute despite Tottenham being down to nine men.
Nevertheless, they got the job done in the end thanks to Jackson and that is all Pochettino asked for.
Therefore, you would expect him to be pleased with both the Senegal international and the rest of the Chelsea team.
After all, the game could have ended so much differently after Spurs took the lead early in the match.
The Blues deserve a bit of fortune, though, with nothing having really gone in their favour before that London derby.
So many of their players have picked up injuries this season, including Christopher Nkunku, though he is expected to be back soon.
The 25-year-old was brought in to score goals but is yet to play a game for his new club after picking up an injury at the end of pre-season. Maybe it would have been a more comfortable victory if he were available last night.