Mauricio Pochettino tells Chelsea to respect Middlesbrough
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was bombarded with questions when he faced the media ahead of the second-leg game against Middlesbrough in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge.
The Championship side heads into the return leg with a goal advantage and will be looking to cause another upset to opposition fans. Either a draw or a win will secure their place at Wembley for the final.
However, seeing their form in the Championship, Chelsea currently leads the word ‘favourite’ tag, and much pressure will be on the Argentine manager and his players to turn the deficit around.
However, he has asked his side to respect the opponent because they will be as motivated as the Blues to win the game. (h/t Football.London), Here is what Pochettino further said:
“We need respect. We will respect the opponent; they are going to be tough. But it’s a massive chance for us. We have the possibility to go to the final and fight for a title.”
Football is an unpredictable game, therefore you have to respect your opponents no matter where they are in the league. We witnessed what happened in the first leg, so everything is possible. We were the favourites to win the game, but an unforeseen event caused us to lose, and now we will have a lot of pressure to win it back.
With all of the uncertainty around him and the regular injuries to his first squad this season, Pochettino will be looking to make a major statement if he can secure a spot in the final. There will be a lot of expectation on us to rally, but since we are only down one goal and should easily overcome the gap at home
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Hopefully, we will be at our clinical best and make use of every chance, as we cannot make the same mistakes we did in the first leg because our wastefulness is the reason why we haven’t been making strides at a rapid pace.