Ahead of their crucial clash with Brighton & Hove Albion, the Chelsea manager faced the media via their YouTube channel and spoke openly about injuries, poor results, and the pressure to turn things around.
It comes at a difficult time for the Blues, who recently suffered a narrow defeat to Manchester United a result that confirmed United completed a league double over them and were also comfortably beaten by Manchester City, further exposing their struggles this season, softfootball reported.
On team news, the manager gave updates on key players, highlighting both positives and setbacks heading into the Brighton game.
João will be a late call… he was out on the pitch today and we’ll decide tomorrow morning. That’s positive because he’ll be back soon. Estevão is definitely out, which is a real shame, and we’re still assessing his injury. Enzo is absolutely fine.
He then addressed the bigger picture, admitting Chelsea have made things difficult for themselves in the race for European places, while insisting the fight is not over.
We’ve made it very difficult for ourselves, we have to be honest about that. But what we can’t do is give up. We have to keep fighting and make sure we go to Brighton with the right energy and intensity. We didn’t take our chances recently and we weren’t clinical enough.
Despite strong underlying numbers, including creating plenty of chances, he stressed that results not data are what matter now.
As a coach you work with data and process because you believe it works, but in this moment we need to win. That’s the fundamental. The most important statistic is the result and we have to go after that.
On defensive issues, he made it clear that conceding goals has been a major concern and must be fixed quickly.
If you want to win games, you have to keep clean sheets. We have outstanding players who can score, but what’s disappointed me is the goals we’ve conceded. We have to give ourselves a platform in games.
He also spoke about the support from the club’s hierarchy and the long term vision, while balancing that with the immediate need for results.
They’ve been very supportive, we speak daily and we’re aligned. But we know we need to win games now. That doesn’t go against the long term plan it’s about delivering success both now and in the future.
Finally, the manager admitted responsibility for the recent poor run and emphasised the importance of winning to satisfy both the club and its fans.
We have to win, that’s what this club demands. The fans expect it. We haven’t done well enough recently and that has to change. That’s on my shoulders as the head coach.
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With pressure mounting and the season entering a decisive stage, Chelsea now face a tough test against Brighton, knowing that anything less than a win could further damage their hopes of finishing strongly.
