“First of all, I think the players are heroes because the effort was unbelievable after a hard week”, Pochettino said.
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“I think Diego is very privileged”, he said.
“Everybody was on the bench. So I’m really happy with my decision”.
Luckily for the former Atletico Madrid ace, the bib only brushed the back of his manager’s coat, but many feel that Costa’s Stamford Bridge days could be over following the petulant act.
But Blues boss Mourinho said: “For me his behaviour is normal”. He was ready to play when he went to the warm up.
Now that I type out those names I realize why he played Hazard up top.
But Mourinho made the decision to leave Costa on the bench against Spurs and, upon realising he would not be brought on as a substitute late on, the striker reacted by tossing his bib seemingly towards the Chelsea manager.
Reports suggest that Chelsea are looking for a new striker in January – with Tottenham’s Harry Kane among those linked – and the speculation is likely to heighten after Costa’s omission. When pressed on the incident after the game, Mourinho revealed Costa was “privileged” to have kept his place in the team up until now. Eden [Hazard] was kicked, he had some falls, but he was so risky I didn’t want to change the team.
Branislav Ivanovic believes his hamstring injury has, in some respects, been a blessing in disguise as he has returned to the Chelsea side in better form than before his absence.
He said: “Well, I prefer to say that we have to play every match as if we are fighting for the title”. “I think Chelsea will be happy with the point”.
“I’m convinced that, by the end of December, we’ll be in a different position to now and we’ll have shortened the difference to the top teams”.
Mauricio Pochettino has stated that Tottenham felt they were playing against a small team after the draw with Chelsea. We’re a bit disappointed.
“We need energy because it’s a Sunday morning, flying back [from Azerbaijan on Thursday] and no day to prepare for the game”.
“We had our chances and a couple of them were really, really big chances, especially the fantastic save Lloris did on Hazard. It is more important to them than us”.
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They were well-organised, defended well and had their chances in the second half. “We have a lot of respect for everyone but we know we have to win these games if we want to be high up in the league”.
