Mauricio Pochettino admits Levi Colwill ‘lost focus’ during Chelsea’s win vs Tottenham
Levi Colwill was involved in a heated exchange with Pape Matar Sarr shortly before half time (MB Media/Getty) Mauricio Pochettino believes Levi Colwill ‘lost his focus’ in Chelsea’s 4-1 victory over Tottenham on Monday evening. Chelsea were punished for a poor start to the game as Dejan Kulusevski put Spurs ahead in the sixth minute but Ange Postecoglou’s side were reduced to 10 men before the break when Cristian Romero was sent off for a reckless challenge on Enzo Fernandez inside his own penalty area. Cole Palmer stepped up to pull Chelsea level but the visitors also avoided a potential red-card situation in first-half added time when Colwill was pulled away from a heated exchange with Pape Matar Sarr. Colwill, who was given a yellow card for the clash, was then substituted by Pochettino at the break with Marc Cucurella playing the second half at left-back. When asked about his decision to replace Colwill at half time, Pochettino said after the game: ‘Yes, because I think after the yellow card he lose a little bit his focus and it is too much risk. ‘Marc [Cucurella] is doing well also so I thought not to take a risk. ‘We wanted to avoid the problem for different things, to get another yellow card was going to be a risk for us.’ Nicolas Jackson’s hat-trick sealed Chelsea’s 4-1 win against nine-man Spurs (Getty) Spurs were then reduced to nine men in the 55th minute when Destiny Udogie was given his second yellow card for a foul on Raheem Sterling. Chelsea then went on to secure three points as Nicolas Jackson took advantage of Spurs’ high line to score a hat-trick. When asked in his post-match press conference if he was please by his side’s discipline in such a high-tempered game, Pochettino said: ‘Thank you for the good question because that a team that arrives like Chelsea, that is a very new team, it’s a thing that we are still far away from what we want, we are building something there, but we need time and to come to the leader against a team that was full of confidence and after to concede because we really, we started the game really bad, very sloppy and we cannot connect, we were very nervous and then how reacts the team. More: TrendingPaul Merson makes hugely controversial prediction for Tottenham vs ChelseaMarcel Sabitzer reveals Man Utd's three 'leaders' inside the dressing roomNew camera angle reveals whether ball crossed the line for Newcastle's goal v Arsenal ‘They deserve all of the credit the players, of course, and the team and I think we were calm after because we start to create chances and force them to make the mistake and then we get the goal and I think after the control was there. ‘It’s true that we concede some chances that we cannot concede that, I agree with you. Maybe we can assess the performance and to see the goal of Dier or this type of situation or Son, that we lose the ball and we allow them to run, of course, we need to control better. ‘But that is about, you know, the situation. It’s about that we are building our confidence and when you need to be more relaxed in the way that we play and you need to have more the capacity. ‘It’s not about the quality it’s more about the emotional moment and when you see that you can win the game, sometimes you take wrong decision, but that is about with the time we are going to improve, we have the capacity and we have the quality.’ For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Mauricio Pochettino believes Levi Colwill ‘lost his focus’ in Chelsea’s 4-1 victory over Tottenham on Monday evening.
Chelsea were punished for a poor start to the game as Dejan Kulusevski put Spurs ahead in the sixth minute but Ange Postecoglou’s side were reduced to 10 men before the break when Cristian Romero was sent off for a reckless challenge on Enzo Fernandez inside his own penalty area. Cole Palmer stepped up to pull Chelsea level but the visitors also avoided a potential red-card situation in first-half added time when Colwill was pulled away from a heated exchange with Pape Matar Sarr.
Colwill, who was given a yellow card for the clash, was then substituted by Pochettino at the break with Marc Cucurella playing the second half at left-back.
When asked about his decision to replace Colwill at half time, Pochettino said after the game: ‘Yes, because I think after the yellow card he lose a little bit his focus and it is too much risk.
‘Marc [Cucurella] is doing well also so I thought not to take a risk.
‘We wanted to avoid the problem for different things, to get another yellow card was going to be a risk for us.’
Spurs were then reduced to nine men in the 55th minute when Destiny Udogie was given his second yellow card for a foul on Raheem Sterling. Chelsea then went on to secure three points as Nicolas Jackson took advantage of Spurs’ high line to score a hat-trick.
When asked in his post-match press conference if he was please by his side’s discipline in such a high-tempered game, Pochettino said: ‘Thank you for the good question because that a team that arrives like Chelsea, that is a very new team, it’s a thing that we are still far away from what we want, we are building something there, but we need time and to come to the leader against a team that was full of confidence and after to concede because we really, we started the game really bad, very sloppy and we cannot connect, we were very nervous and then how reacts the team.
‘They deserve all of the credit the players, of course, and the team and I think we were calm after because we start to create chances and force them to make the mistake and then we get the goal and I think after the control was there.
‘It’s true that we concede some chances that we cannot concede that, I agree with you. Maybe we can assess the performance and to see the goal of Dier or this type of situation or Son, that we lose the ball and we allow them to run, of course, we need to control better.
‘But that is about, you know, the situation. It’s about that we are building our confidence and when you need to be more relaxed in the way that we play and you need to have more the capacity.
‘It’s not about the quality it’s more about the emotional moment and when you see that you can win the game, sometimes you take wrong decision, but that is about with the time we are going to improve, we have the capacity and we have the quality.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
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