Pochettino showers accolades on one player after Arsenal clash

Mauricio Pochettino has used his time at Chelsea to integrate a lot of players who were struggling lat season, and his project so far has largely been one of reclamation.

One of those players coming back into the picture is Marc Cucurella, who couldn’t get a game at the start of the season, and in fact almost left, but is increasingly an important figure.

After yesterday’s game, where Cucurella played left back and matched up well with Bukayo Saka, Pochettino spoke glowingly about his charge:

“I didn’t know the past, I can only choose the players that we believe can perform. Marc and the club decide to stay in the last transfer window,” the coach responded when he was asked about his thoughts on how close the Catalan came to leaving the club at the end of August.

“He is training really well, that is why he playing like today, against a very good player like Saka.

“That is him, he deserves the credit because in the last few months he has worked hard and was able to play on the right side, yes, in this way, only what can happen is the team will be better.”

Most fans would rather see Ian Maatsen at left back while Ben Chilwell is out, let’s be honest. But that’s our mindset, and Pochettino is doing his best to win every game, and you’ve got to respect his decisions given he’s seeing the players up close every day.