Mauricio Pochettino blasts 'disrespectful' Chelsea fans as wild theory angers boss

Mauricio Pochettino took aim at ‘disrespectful’ Chelsea fans blaming him for the club’s injury problems during his press conference on Wednesday. The Blues will go into tonight’s game against Tottenham with 14 players unavailable after Thiago Silva and Axel Disasi were confirmed as the latest additions to the club’s injury list.

The likes of Christopher Nkunku, Reece James and Robert Sanchez have spent extended periods on the sidelines, while Romeo Lavia has barely played since joining Chelsea in the summer. The former Southampton midfielder will be out for the remainder of the season after suffering a setback in his recovery from a thigh injury.

It has been suggested in some quarters that Pochettino’s intense training methods have contributed to Chelsea’s unending injury crisis, but the 52-year-old issued a defiant response to those claims on Wednesday.

“They say Lavia isn’t here because of Pochettino, but I never trained with Lavia,” he said. “When he arrived, he was injured. Then he was re-injured and now he cannot play. We have arrived from a different club, not from Mars to manage footballers. It is disrespectful and from people bored at home using social media.”

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Pochettino is not universally popular among Chelsea fans, given their dire form which has seen them staring down the barrel of another trophyless season. Others are yet to forgive him for his Tottenham past ahead of tonight’s game, which falls on the anniversary of the infamous Battle of the Bridge.

Discussing his relationship with the fans, Pochettino pointed out that what is said on social media does not always reflect the real-life thoughts of supporters, who he feels are warming to him despite Chelsea’s poor season.

“On social media, it can be: ‘Hey, you must do this, do that’, but here, it is the opposite,” he said. “When I am on the street, the people are really good. They appreciate and give us credit for working in a project and process that is so difficult, because the people who understand football know what is going on here.

“The fans sometimes get the image that is not real, that is fake. Maybe sometimes my words are taken or a photograph is taken of me looking sad, but I am not a sad person. I laugh. I smile. I am very positive. I am not acting. Sometimes people get the wrong idea. If you face me on the street, for sure you will become in love. Especially if I have my dog

“Maybe it is because they are scared of my dog, because it is a big dog. Maybe they are nice with me because of that? It’s massive.”