As Mauricio Pochettino pointed first to his heart and then to his head, he wanted everyone listening to understand that a lack of personality, hunger and basic defensive instincts was key to Chelsea twice throwing away the lead before sinking to a costly draw with 10-man Burnley.
“When we go forward we create many chances,” Chelsea’s head coach said, his rage building as he homed in on his young side’s inability to manage the situation during a wretched second half.
“But we didn’t show the energy, the hunger, not the minimum to compete in the Premier League. In the defensive phase we concede too much. I am so upset and disappointed. It is more here [pointing to his heart] and here [pointing to his head]. It is more about being strong as a team. We are so slow evolving in this area. That is the key today.
“The team played well, yes. The team showed energy, yes. But when we don’t have the ball we don’t show the same energy.
“We need to have the capacity to recover the ball. That is tactics? That is to have hunger, to compete. It is difficult to accept not winning. It is a must-win game.”
The monologue over, Pochettino would later take a question on whether his youngsters realise that their careers at the highest level could slip away if they do not show more commitment.
It was clear that the Argentinian agreed with the sentiment, although he steered clear of saying too much. He did not want to completely bury his players before Chelsea, who remain in 11th place after failing to make the most of Cole Palmer’s brilliance, host Manchester United on Thursday.
Pochettino said enough. He was not alone in struggling to understand how Chelsea, who were a goal and a man up at half-time, threw two points away.
Burnley, their numbers reduced after Lorenz Assignon saw red when conceding the penalty for the first of Palmer’s two goals, should never have been allowed to maintain their survival hopes thanks to goals from Josh Cullen and Dara O’Shea.
Yet there is an emptiness to Chelsea in difficult moments. It is hard to know how much stock to place in data suggesting that they should be higher in the table.
After all, the number crunchers could also dwell on another set piece concession from Chelsea, whose shaky defence has been breached twice in each of their past five games. But this is also about having a feel for the game.
It was interesting that Pochettino looked so perplexed when Palmer conceded a needless free-kick moments after restoring Chelsea’s lead with a clinical shot from Raheem Sterling’s flick. Did he simply not trust a centre-back pairing of Axel Disasi and Benoît Badiashile to hold firm? Was he worried about Chelsea’s lack of height?
Burnley had already broken through once, Cullen volleying in from the edge of the area after Chelsea, without 10 injured players, fell asleep at a throw-in two minutes after half-time. Now, with a 2-1 lead to protect, the onus was on the hosts to deal with one last barrage from Vincent Kompany’s side.
It was beyond them. The free-kick led to a corner. Cullen delivered from the right and nobody made an attempt to stop O’Shea from darting in front of Enzo Fernández at the near post. The centre-back was unchallenged and his header slipped through Djordje Petrovic’s hands.
Could the goalkeeper have done better? The same could be asked of most of his teammates. They floundered for much of the second half, Palmer alone in accepting responsibility, and Pochettino cut a muted figure in his technical area.
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Burnley, whose manager, Kompany, was sent off for protesting after Assignon earned a second booking for fouling Mykhailo Mudryk, even could have snatched the points. Petrovic made a stunning save from Lyle Foster at 1-1 and Jay Rodriguez headed against the bar at 2-2.
Burnley deserved their reward. Over £1bn has been spent on putting this Chelsea team together, but to what end? Nobody seems to know. But Pochettino, who would see Sterling miss a glaring chance in the dying stages, sounds like a man who is done trying to cover for everyone else’s mistakes.
