Mauricio Pochettino admits emotions got the better of him after referee blunder as Chelsea drew 4-4 with Manchester City
When the referee blew the final whistle, Mauricio Pochettino marched towards the officials to confront Anthony Taylor, who once again made a costly mistake in Chelsea’s 4-4 draw with Manchester City.
However, the Argentine later apologised in a post-match conference as he revealed emotions got the better of him. Taylor blew the final whistle when Raheem Sterling was on counter-attack which agitated Pochettino who decided to confront the referee at full time.
There were a total of nine yellow cards in an intense match between two giants of the Premier League, which saw Chelsea come from behind to rescue a point. It was certainly a game for the ages and could serve as a reminder of what is to come for the men in Blue.
However, it appeared Pep Guardiola’s side had won the game when Rodri’s deflected shot fell into the net in the 86th minute. But a penalty for Chelsea in the 95th minute spoiled the party for City. In many ways, it is something Pochettino has gotten accustomed to since his time at Tottenham Hotspur.
Asked about the incident with Anthony Taylor after the game, the former Paris Saint-Germain manager apologised, (h/t Evening Standard), and said:
“I need to apologise to Anthony, the referees, and the fourth official. I said, Why stop in this moment? In this moment, I feel that maybe Raheem [Sterling] can go through and score the fifth, and in this moment, when the game finishes, I turn and say, What the…? You know what’s going on.”
“Then I turned and said, I deserve to be booked. Because I crossed the limit, so I want to apologise because it’s not a good image for me and for football, this type of behaviour.”
Pochettino’s anger was understandable, and if it had been any other manager, he would have acted similarly because, as Sterling proceeded to counter, Taylor suddenly sounded the whistle; we never knew whether that had been a goal. But we should move on and focus on the positive aspects of the match and how we prohibited City from prevailing against us.
Also, it is clearly pointless to argue against the officials. Taylor’s poor calls in the match should not take away from what was an excellent performance from two top teams.
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Pochettino expressed regret for his actions and promised not to repeat them, but occasionally these bad choices during crucial games cause irritation, and a manager loses control and proceeds to confront the referee. Unless the officials roll up their socks, there are likely to be plenty of such occasions propping up.
