Everton beat Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday thanks to goals from Abdoulay Doucoure and Lewis Dobbin, but Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino was adamant his side was the “better team”
Sean Dyche has responded to Mauricio Pochettino after he claimed Chelsea were the “better team” despite losing 2-0 to Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.
Abdoulaye Doucoure and Lewis Dobbin were on target for the Toffees to move four points clear of the bottom three. Chelsea, meanwhile, sank into the bottom half after suffering their seventh Premier League defeat so far this season.
However, Pochettino felt his side dominated the match but need to be more clinical with their chances, prompting him to suggest Chelsea’s spending spree will continue in January. “Football is about scoring goals and we were not clinical in front of goal,” he told Match of the Day.
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“I’m really, really disappointed. We didn’t get the point we deserved. I think we were better but we didn’t get what we wanted. This was a game to play and to win. It’s a problem we need to check. We need to analyse the reality. We need to talk and to try and improve in the next transfer market.”
Pochettino then doubled down in his post-match press conference, adding: “You dominate the game, I think we were the better side but if you don’t score goals it is difficult to win games. We have too many chances, too many approaches in the last third but then if you have not received enough and showed you can compete with quality there it is difficult to win the game.
“The team played well, dominated the game against a very difficult team like Everton. When you assess Everton, we deserve full credit because I think we were much better than them but in the end you need to score because if not, you build the confidence of the opponent and it is impossible to go 96 minutes without making a mistake.”
Pochettino’s comments were then put to Dyche in his post-match press conference and the Everton boss was quick to note that Chelsea have already “spent a fortune on players” and that sides need to find “different ways of winning”. He said: “They are a very good team, without a shadow of a doubt.
“They are better in some ways, they kept the ball, they have very good technical players and spent a fortune on players, he is a top manager so I wouldn’t dispute his opinion but you have to find ways of winning and that is the biggest pleasing thing for me – we are finding different ways of winning.
“There are games we have dominated the chance count and won games and there are games where we haven’t and won games, there are games where we have defended resolutely like today, had to fight and work and do the ugly side.
“That mixture is really important over a season, never more so than recently with the news of the points [deduction] and all that business. So to find different ways of winning is very pleasing.
“To find different ways of winning against what will be a top side again, because they have a top manager and some very good players, is very pleasing and under all that is a very firm mentality that is growing all the time – and growing with the supporters.”
