• After a woeful campaign last season, Chelsea have started slowly again, taking five points from six matches.
• The American, along with Eghbali and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have continued to be regulars in the Chelsea dressing room this season.
Image: Xinhua
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino says he is fine with the club’s owners coming to the team’s dressing room after matches as long as they do not “come for some speech”.
Blues co-owner Behdad Eghbali went into the team’s dressing room on Sunday following the defeat to Aston Villa.
After a woeful campaign last season, Chelsea have started slowly again, taking five points from six matches.
“I like when the owners come,” said Pochettino. “In all my career as a coach, at Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham and Paris St-Germain [it happened].”
Blues co-owner Todd Boehly reportedly told the club’s players their 2022-23 season had been “embarrassing” when he addressed them following a home defeat by Brighton in April.
The American, along with Eghbali and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, have continued to be regulars in the Chelsea dressing room this season.
“I think it’s good that the owners came to the dressing room. It’s in the way that they approach the players that is the most important,” added Pochettino, whose side are 14th in the Premier League table..
“If they are in a good way, I think they’re very welcome. After my press conference on Sunday against Aston Villa they came and shared with us like normal.
“Against Liverpool, first game, then Luton and Nottingham Forest, they came with Paul and Laurence and Behdad, and sometimes with Todd also.
“They share some comment and we talk about the game, always after my [press] duties. I don’t see it in a bad way. For me it’s good always if they share with us, then they can say hello to the players. The difference is if they come for some speech. That is different.
“But in the way they came they are very welcome. They own the club, they can do whatever they want. I think they are in a very good way and we are glad that they came and shared with us — even like happened on Sunday when we didn’t win and we are suffering.”
Chelsea spent more than £380m on 10 players in this transfer window, more than any other side in Europe, but Pochettino does not believe he is under greater pressure from the club’s owners than at former clubs Southampton and Tottenham.
“It’s less hard than when we were in Southampton and Tottenham, trust me,” said the Argentine. “Believe me. The only thing we are missing is scoring goals, because the team is playing, if you see our first few months in Southampton and Tottenham, I think we [Chelsea] are playing much better.
“We are doing much better here, but we are missing the most important [thing] in football - to score. But it’s not harder than the previous experience.”
He added: “[It’s] no more pressure now than in other places.”