Every word Mauricio Pochettino said ahead of Crystal Palace vs Chelsea

Mauricio Pochettino held his pre-Crystal Palace press conference as Chelsea face the Eagles this weekend.

The Argentine was in good spirits after seeing his side convincingly beat Aston Villa 3-1 in midweek to secure their place in the FA Cup quarter final against Leeds United.

Chelsea will be looking to carry their momentum into the match against struggling Crystal Palace on Saturday as they look to build ahead of the League Cup final.

From the topic of blue cards being introduce to football, to Chelsea’s impressive performance in midweek, Pochettino answered questions from the press.

Here’s every word the head coach said on Friday afternoon.

On team news:

“Levi Colwill we need to wait until Sunday to see if it’s possible for him to be available. Chalobah is doing well, training with the team. Nothing else to update.”

On Chelsea’s momentum:

“The difference is the noise was bigger than before. The difference, the performance was very good. We really feel good. We realised we need to compete in different ways.

“The way we competed against Aston Villa is the way we need to approach games, how we need to feel that we can perform in this way. A good opportunity and a good game to try to be consistent in the next game.”

On naming a consistent starting XI:

“From the beginning, it has been difficult to say this is the starting XI in my mind. It’s important to see the levels they are showing. Players are recovering. They need time to reach the level we expect from them.

“The way we are training, the way we have behaved today and the attitude we are showing is improving. Now it’s about winning the game and getting the feeling we got from Aston Villa.”

On the introduction of blue cards to football:

“It’s difficult to explain. We don’t have much information. It’ll create delays, make it more complicated for referees and the fans. My feeling now is that it’s not a good idea but we will see.

“It’s an opportunity to see how it will work and then have a better opinion. For me, my first feeling is that it’s complicated to add another card to the game. There’s too man question marks.

“It’s going to be so difficult. What happens with the goalkeeper? Can you play without a goalkeeper for 10 minutes? Do we put someone else in goal? Too many questions we don’t know. We will see.”

On consistency:

“We had some good performances but weren’t consistent enough. Now it’s an opportunity to show more of these types of performances. We believe it’s the time to be consistent. I think the players deserve because they are working really hard from the beginning of the season.

“This game (vs Aston Villa) shows the talent in this squad. There’s too many good things we need to keep going.”

On Conor Gallagher and Enzo Fernandez:

“Great for Conor and Enzo also. So happy because they deserve to feel this way, happy, and enjoy playing football. These two work so hard to try to perform. I am so pleased with their performances.”

On Crystal Palace’s form and Roy Hodgson’s future:

“Nothing to say about Roy. He’s my friend. I admire him. An unbelievable coach. He is working really well. Always pressure when you lose one or two in a row, suddenly under pressure.

“No doubt he’s going to be successful. Hopefully after our game. For us we also have players dealing with injuries, like they do.”

On Romeo Lavia’s return:

“It will be impossible for him to return for the League Cup final.”

On Nicolas Jackson’s role against Aston Villa:

“He started from the left but football is dynamic and he has to move, no? He can play in that place. So happy because he has the characteristics. He always plays better facing the ball.

“More comfortable in the speed and capacity to arrive in the second line. He showed that he can score. His commitment is amazing also, arriving from AFCON it’s important for him to feel the net. So happy.”

On how many blue cards he’d receive in his career:

“I don’t know! I don’t know the intention to add these to football. For sure I’d have had a lot!”

When asked to expand further on his thoughts behind blue cards:

“Are the cameras still on? Because if they’re off I’d answer in a different way… I need to be careful with my answer. Wait until the cameras are off then I will give you a different answer.”