Chelsea hadn’t lost in the league for exactly two months and initially they were on course to maintain that unbeaten streak without much trouble as they were cruising 2-0 inside 20 minutes. But then Manchester United stepped up a gear and found themselves back in the game by half-time.
Shortly after United even took the lead via the impressive Alejandro Garnacho, who scored his second on the night. And just when everybody thought that the game was over, Chelsea came back deep in stoppage time when two goals from Cole Palmer. The scenes of players, staff and fans celebrating were huge – and perhaps it can give Chelsea momentum going into the latter stages of the season.
“It was amazing because overall I think we deserved it,” Pochettino told FourFourTwo afterwards. “We were the better team today. It was fair that we scored in the last minute.
“I think if you see everything, we started the game really well. The game was under control at 2-0 but then we made a big mistake. We suffered a big impact emotionally, an impact that was not easy to deal with. But in the second half, we controlled the game. We conceded in transition. Of course, I’m disappointed with the way we conceded three goals because I think we should be better in this type of situation.
“But if you analyse the game, I think it’s a fair result. Three points for us and I think it’s an important finish at the end, creating the connection with our fans, the fans and the players.”
When Chelsea were on the losing side going into stoppage time, Pochettino explains how they kept the faith.
“In the end, I kept believing. We were talking to our players, ‘There’s still two minutes’. We believed we could score the winning goal. For us it was a must-win game to reduce the gap to the teams ahead of us. It was so, so, so important, the three points today.
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Cole Palmer scored a hat-trick for Chelsea last night. (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Football is about entertainment, a spectacle that is about to score goals, feel the passion and to build the passion when you play. The team needs to translate to the fans. Of course the fans will connect with the team when we start like that today, the way we wanted to always [start]. When you play Manchester United, when you play Burnley, when you play in every single game.
“But yes, I like to score goals, I don’t like to concede goals like today, but this is the normal process. We are one of the youngest teams in Europe, but we can learn from this experience. We need to grow and to improve.”
With three goals, Palmer was instrumental for Chelsea again. Pochettino was full of praise, also about how he deals with everything on a personal level.
“One of his best skills is his mentality, his capacity to deal with the pressure. He’s young, I think it’s his first season playing very consistently. I think it’s amazing the way he deals with the pressure. He can be a very good player.
“If we talk today, it’s impossible to not say he’s a top player, no? But he can still do things to improve.”
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