After Chelsea’s impressive 6-0 victory over Everton, Mauricio Pochettino was disappointed by the controversy surrounding a penalty incident involving Chelsea players.
Despite the match being praised as Chelsea’s best performance of the season, an “unacceptable” incident took place.
The controversy arose when Cole Palmer, with Chelsea leading 4-0, was set to take a penalty kick.
Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson got into a heated argument over who should take the penalty, with Madueke ultimately holding the ball.
Captain Conor Gallagher had to step in to calm the situation, taking the ball from Madueke and giving it to Palmer, the designated penalty taker, who successfully converted the penalty by sending Jordan Pickford the wrong way.
Pochettino was visibly frustrated by the behavior of his players and condemned their actions in a post-match press conference.
“I’m so upset, very disappointed. We were talking in the dressing room now after the game.
“It’s so disappointing, I cannot accept this type of behaviour because we know that the penalty taker is Palmer, the players know and we cannot accept these type of things.
“I told them that this was the last time I want to see this type of behaviour on the pitch because after that kind of performance we cannot show a different way to think about the team.
“The penalty taker is Palmer. It’s Palmer who needs to decide. If he wants to give the penalty to someone else, it’s up to him,” Pochettino said.
The Argentine manager vowed that such behaviour will not happen again.
“The image that we gave I think is important to fix and I think they realise now. I can promise that it’s not going to happen again.”
Meanwhile, Palmer, addressing the incident said, “the game was 4-0, but I am the penalty taker and I wanted to take it and so I took it.
“Maybe the argument was a bit over the top, but everyone wants to win and help.
“It’s nothing major, we were laughing and joking about but the gaffer has spoken to us about it now,” the 21-year-old added.
