Mauricio Pochettino has reacted to former Manchester United defender Gary Neville’s ‘blue billion-pound bottle jobs’ comment for Chelsea after they lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool in extra time on Sunday. Chelsea, who put up a good fight in the regulation time, failed to match Liverpool’s intensity in the extra time as Neville who was doing the comentating job for Sky Sports took a sly dig at the Blues.
Virgil van Dijk scored the late winner as an inexperienced Liverpool side pipped Pochettino’s Chelsea to lift their first trophy for the season.
Since Toddy Boehly took over the charge of the over, Chelsea have spent a whopping £1 billion ($1.5 billion) to recruit new players but it didn’t help the West London club as they failed to qualify for European competitions last season. The situation remains the same for the Blues with their current standing – 11th on the Premier League points table.
Pochettino has come in support of his players and owners as he called the “blue billion-pound bottle jobs” tag unfair and annoying.
The Chelsea boss told reporters on Tuesday: “The problem is so annoying when after eight months always people talk about one billion.
“I feel that’s a little bit unfair. The new owners arrived with the right intention and they want to build something that is different from the past.
“For me the players have an amazing quality, they only need time. It’s not an excuse for me because if I am here or not, it’s not dependent on me. I think we are doing an amazing job.”
Chelsea are languishing in 11th place in the Premier League and have been booed off by their frustrated fans several times this season.
Pochettino is the third manager to take over Chelsea’s managerial duties since Boehly’s takeover as Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter got sacked last season.
The Argentine manager is adamant that Chelsea will improve with time as there are several quality young players in the squad.
“We cannot see maybe great results. But I think with time we are going to have an amazing team. We are young, we are learning. People that work here for many years say they start to feel in a different way how the club is. But unfortunately, we cannot relate in points. Always this type of process needs time,” Pochettino said.
Asked if he expects the club’s ownership to remain patient, Pochettino replied: “Why not? I am confident until they tell me something.
“I feel the support from them. When I go up (to receive his runners-up medal at Wembley), I was so upset, nearly crying when I arrived there.
“And then Todd sent a very, very nice text to me, and then I met (co owner) Behdad (Eghbali) and he was really good.”
