Mauricio Pochettino believes a lack of confidence was to blame for Chelsea not killing off the game sooner against nine-man Tottenham and admits his side could not have played the way their opponents did with nine men.
The Blues won 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but did not manage to take the lead until 75 minutes, despite playing against ten men from the 33rd minute and then nine men from 55 minutes onwards.
Cristian Romero was sent off for a reckless lunge on international team-mate Enzo Fernandez in the box which allowed Cole Palmer to equalise from the spot before Destiny Udogie received a second yellow in the second half.
And Nicolas Jackson scored a late hat-trick as Chelsea’s persistence finally paid off against the high line of Tottenham, despite their numerical disadvantage.
And Pochettino admits he was not surprised by Tottenham’s approach with nine men.
“No. Look, when you are at the top of the table, you can try anything,” he told Sky Sports after the game.
“When the confidence is there, it’s about trying. If us, we want to do something like this, for sure in every single action, for sure you concede.
“But that is the momentum of the team. I think they were so confident and tried this type of thing.
“I think with more calm and with more confidence, we are in maybe a different situation and maybe a different position, with the space we can find in behind the defensive line and we can score more than four goals.”
Pochettino has endured a difficult start to life as Chelsea boss but the victory over their rivals sees them climb into the top half of the Premier League table.
But the former Tottenham boss says the game shows his team still needs to grow in confidence if they are to improve.
“You saw the defensive line was so high when we build from the back and I think we didn’t have the patience to build, to put the ball from one side to another and find the right moment,” he said.
“I think the runs were always at the wrong time. We were very disappointed at half-time, not to expose the space that they gave us.
“When the team is not full of confidence, like we were, we arrive in this game with too many doubts about the confidence.
“When you play a team like Totttenham that was unbeaten and playing really well, always you need to make more effort, double effort. We didn’t find the moment to kill.
“But for us the most important thing is the three points to improve in the table and of course to build our confidence because it’s a team that is young and we need to feel confident if we want to perform and go higher.”
