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- Chelsea players showed their appreciation to Pochettino after Sunday’s match
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Chelsea‘s players have not hid their admiration for Mauricio Pochettino after the season’s end, but are in the dark over whether he will remain their manager.
Goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic spoke highly of Pochettino’s man-management skills in the aftermath of Sunday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth, insisting that the squad ‘believe’ in their boss.Â
In front of the watching Behdad Eghbali and Jose E Feliciano at Stamford Bridge, as well as the sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, multiple players also approached the 52-year-old Argentine at full-time to show their appreciation.
Pochettino conceded after Chelsea’s sixth-placed finish in the Premier League was confirmed that he does not know what will happen to him in the next week, despite having dinner with owner-chairman Todd Boehly in London on Friday night.
Asked about the manager, Petrovic said: ‘For me, personally, I really believe him and the whole coaching staff because they believed in me and gave me the chance. They supported me a lot and they have a relationship with the players where everyone is important, so that is a good thing for everyone.
‘Sometimes if you have 25 players with the same qualities it is difficult to manage everyone but he does it really well. Everyone finds himself in the squad and everyone believes him. We are happy that we have him as the coach.’
Chelsea have secured European football thanks to an improved second half of the season. They will compete in the Europa League so long as Manchester City win the FA Cup. If Manchester United win, Chelsea will drop into the Europa Conference League instead.
‘I can’t explain what happened exactly but maybe we can say that the second half against Aston Villa was where we changed and saw that we can play at a high level,’ Petrovic added. ‘We knew it before but something happened there. There was an energy there with the players in the team and on the bench. We started to play the second half against Villa amazing and after that we continued for the next five games.’
On his own season, Petrovic said: ‘For me personally this season I wouldn’t say amazing but I didn’t expect to play this many games. I can improve and I will next season and I want to be a more complete goalkeeper.
‘There were games when I could have done a better job but in the end I can be happy and that gives me confidence for next season as well.’