Chelsea enjoyed a strong finish to the Premier League season with five straight victories, despite the opening months under Mauricio Pochettino being far from plain sailing.
At the halfway stage, Chelsea had managed just seven wins in the league, drawing four and losing eight. The pressure was mounting under Pochettino, though the Argentine managed to turn things around - in the second half of the season, the Blues lost just three games and stormed to a spot in the Europa League.
Goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic proved an integral part to that turnaround, and the Serbian explains to FourFourTwo the moment where Chelsea recovered their mojo.
“I can’t explain what happened exactly, but maybe we can say the second half against Aston Villa was a game where we changed,” Petrovic explains. “We knew before we could play at a high level, but something happened there, the energy from the whole team and everyone on the bench. We played the second half against Aston Villa amazing and after that we continued the next five games.”
The goalkeeper doesn’t know why it took a bit before their season really got going, either, but, when asked about the leaders in the squad, Petrovic emphasises everyone has that leader’s mentality. Three of his team-mates have stood out in particular, though.
“I don’t have exactly an answer to that, but I think we had some good games before, where we didn’t win, but we’ve always been together to support each other, that is [a] type of leadership [we showed within] the team.
“Before the game, or at half-time, everyone always says something. But if I need to say some guys, I’ll say Conor [Gallagher], Reece [James] is always with us, when we play at home and he supports us and Thiago [Silva]. But everyone has that in himself, like a leadership [mindset], where everyone tries to help.”
Having broken into the first team following Robert Sanchez's injury, Petrovic is grateful for the opportunity. Highlighting how he pleased he is with his overall performance, the 24-year-old also recognises the benefit of having Pochettino and his coaching staff.
“I didn’t expect to play this number of games. I can improve and I want to be a more complete goalkeeper; there were games where maybe I could have done a better job, but in the end I can be happy.
“They [Pochettino and his staff] believed in me and they gave me the chance; from the start from my first game and [also] before that when I didn’t play. They support me a lot and they have a relationship with the players were everyone is important, so that is a good way for everyone. If you have 25 players with the same qualities, sometimes it’s difficult to manage [that] with everyone, but he [Pochettino] is doing that very well. Everyone believes [in] him, we are happy to have him as a coach.”
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