MAURICIO POCHETTINO is suffering dog abuse as Chelsea manager this season.
From being booed by his own fans in the stands to being mercilessly chased, from a safe distance, by internet fanatics, accusing him of destroying the club from within.
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Interestingly, the story is different when Chelsea’s head coach comes face to face with punters while walking his dog in the little free time he has to try to build a team capable of chasing consistent titles.
Pochettino said: “Maybe it’s because they’re afraid of my dog – because it’s a big dog.
“It’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It is huge. Maybe they are nice to me because of this?
“I spend an hour, maybe an hour and a half with my dog and sometimes I meet fans in different places and they ask me things. I can tell them the truth.
“Fans sometimes get an image that is not real. This is false.
“Maybe sometimes my words are taken or a photograph of me looking sad, but I’m not a sad person. I laugh a lot, I smile.
“I am very positive. I’m not acting. I try not to act.
“Sometimes people get the wrong idea. And if you face me on the street you will fall in love – especially if I have my dog.
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“When I walk every day with my dog in different places I feel the thanks of the fans.
“On social media it can be, ‘Hey, you have to do this, do that,’ but here it’s the opposite.
“When I’m on the street, people are very good.
“They value us and give us credit for working on such a difficult project and process, because anyone who understands football knows what is happening here.
“They appreciate our commitment, the way we behave and how we believe in and support all the decisions that were made before we arrived.
“All we want is to help and add our knowledge and experience to be more competitive and help the team win games. That’s the most important.”
Poch’s scary-sounding dog, Sansa, is named after a Game of Thrones character, Sansa Stark.
This so-called captive queen apparently starts out with a naïve view of the world, but she becomes a “more hardened individual after suffering one betrayal and cruelty after another.”
After almost 15 years as a manager, more than five of them spent at bitter Thursday night opponents Tottenham, there may be more to the dog’s name than we realize.
Pochettino certainly needs his Chelsea players to be dogs of war on Thursday night – eight years after the infamous Battle of the Bridge.
That was when Tottenham’s dreams of a first Premier League title were shattered by a surprisingly lively Blues side facing their worst season in two decades.
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Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele was suspended for six games after being sent off for violent conduct.
Pochettino, 52, was on the bench that eventful night and football’s man of peace even got caught in the scrums as the game spiraled out of control with 12 yellow cards – nine for his Spurs.
Anger took over football when Spurs handed the title to Leicester and the game was used as a reference for learning purposes.
Poch said: “We use this game many times, many times, to talk and look and review and reuse to try to learn from this game.
“Players like Eric Dier were young and out of control. He became more mature after this game. We use all this experience to be better and better.
“Son, Dele Alli, different players involved in this game.
“We were playing well, but we missed how to control our emotions when you compete for big things.
“That was the point that made us mature and start the season after believing.
“Then different things happened, circumstances that affected the team’s situation.
We have to be careful with how we judge young players because it’s about them making mistakes and how they learn and improve.
Mauricio Pochettino
“We realized that with this group we could fight for great things. It was difficult, but at that moment the team showed great character.
“I don’t remember their position in the table. I think they were mid-table like we are now.
“But we were talking about great players. . . Hazard, John Terry, Costa, Willian, Matic, Azpilicueta, Cahill.
“We have to be careful how we judge young players because it’s about them making mistakes and how they learn and improve – and then maybe they can perform better.
“But we decide in our heads what we need to do next season.”
Whatever it is, they will not be able to count on veteran defender Thiago Silva, 39, who announced his departure after four years.
What should have been a year-long stay was prolonged and the Brazilian legend is an extremely influential figure in the dressing room.
Poch said: “It’s true that as the years go by it becomes more difficult to find this type of player. We are talking about a 39 year old man. It is not easy to find this player profile.
“He is an incredible guy, an incredible professional. Almost 40 years, an incredible career.
“The players, the fans, the club will miss him, but he is happy. He is very proud of his career here at Chelsea. I wish you the best.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
