Mauricio Pochettino disclosed that an unspecified event affected his Chelsea players before their Saturday triumph against Fulham but declined to provide details.
Despite a midweek Carabao Cup setback to Middlesbrough, the Blues rebounded with a 1-0 win over their west London rivals, securing their third consecutive Premier League victory.
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With few chances in the initial half, the deadlock was ultimately broken during stoppage time when Raheem Sterling was fouled in the box, resulting in Cole Palmer converting the subsequent penalty.
Chelsea didn’t display much conviction in the game, especially in the first 45 minutes, and Fulham had opportunities to equalize. Pochettino has now disclosed that his team was influenced by something leading up to the match.
Asked at his post-match press conference if he was satisfied with his team’s display, Pochettino said: ‘Well of course the first half wasn’t the first half that we thought or we planned.
‘Something happened before the game, but I’m not going to explain.
‘But I think that affected the team a little bit [in the first half].
‘But I think we started the second half really, really good. I think we played really good football, for 30 minutes we played really, really well and we should score another goal – or one or two – and kill the game.
‘But when the game is open like this, and you do not kill the game, always in the last few minutes we concede a few actions, set-pieces, wide free-kicks, corners and they have good potential in all these situations.
‘We defended well though and I think it was good for us to suffer a little bit at the end, but I think this type of game helps us grow and builds the confidence in the way that we are working.’
Later asked if he could elaborate on what happened before the match, Pochettino said: ‘No, no, no, nothing. I think I was… no, nothing. Nothing, nothing, sorry.’
When confronted with the suggestion that it was inappropriate to bring up a matter and then adopt a reserved attitude, the Argentine said: ‘No, no, it’s nothing big.
‘It’s nothing big, small details sometimes affect the team.
‘You need to know only that something affected the performance, in my opinion, but it’s not important for you [journalists] or for our fans to know. Sorry, sorry.’
