Mauricio Pochettino told Chelsea to grow up after his young side continued their miserable start to the season by losing Malo Gusto to a red card and falling to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea, who lie 14th in the table despite spending £1bn on signings since last year’s takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, looked short of nous as they lost at home for the second consecutive game. Gusto’s red card was avoidable and Pochettino was unhappy with Nicolas Jackson, who picked up his fifth booking of the season after trying to stop Villa from taking a free-kick.
None of Jackson’s bookings have been for a foul and the striker will be suspended when his side visit Fulham a week on Monday. The frustration for Pochettino is that he warned the 22-year-old about his behaviour last week.
“We need to grow up like a team, not only in an individual way,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “I think players like Nico who are so young and feeling the Premier League, they need time.
“In this type of game, we are competing and want to win and football is about winning. But also players, when they are young, need to learn, and experience and make mistakes. That’s why we feel disappointed as there are too many situations like this.”
Pochettino, whose side have gone three games without a goal, did not complain about Gusto’s dismissal when the game was 0-0. The right-back was sent off after a VAR review for a foul on Lucas Digne. “We cannot blame VAR or the referee,” Pochettino said. “We need to act in a different way.”
Villa took advantage of Chelsea going down to 10 men, Ollie Watkins earning them the points when he scored his first league goal of the season. Unai Emery was delighted with a win that moved his side up to sixth place.
“The clean sheet is important,” Villa’s manager said. “We have to feel good defensively and feel comfortable when we try to control possession and the game. These three points are very important for us to try and keep the balance in the Premier League.”
