MAURICIO Pochettino refused to criticise the officials or his own player for Malo Gusto’s dismissal in yesterday’s 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.
The game was still scoreless when Frenchman Gusto initially picked up a caution for a late challenge on compatriot Lucas Digne in the 58th minute.
VAR requested referee Jarred Gillett review his decision and having done so via the pitchside monitor, the man in the middle upgraded the yellow card to a red one.
That left Chelsea a man down with still more than half an hour to play, during which time Oli Watkins struck a decisive 73rd minute winner to heap more pressure on under-fire Pochettino.
But the Blues head coach was reluctant to point the finger at anybody involved in Gusto’s untimely exit.
Poch said: “It was in front of me but I didn’t see it, so I cannot say it wasn’t a red card.
“We need to trust the referee and the VAR and we cannot go back and change the decision, we need to accept that.
“It’s the player’s responsibility, we cannot blame the referee or the VAR.
“In this situation we need to act in a different way.
“I’m not going to blame or say anything against Malo Gusto because sometimes these situations happen in football, but of course the situation affected the team and the game in a negative way.”
Chelsea now find themselves 14th in the Premier League table with only a solitary victory over Luton Town to show from their opening six games.
It was a familiar story of chances going begging yet again and although Pochettino felt Gusto’s red card was the game-changing moment, overall the Argentine claimed his side were unfortunate not to collect anything.
The Blues chief said: “In the first half I think we deserved a little bit more.
“We had the control of the game. Then in the second half we started on top of them but then with the red card the game changed.
“For 60 minutes with XI v XI and then the rest with 10 men – it’s two different games.
“It was a little bit unlucky. How many chances did we have like that one for Aston Villa?
“We blocked the shot and then the shot comes back and the second one hits the post and goes in.”
Pochettino added: “For us, how many times were we one-v-one with Emi Martinez. That was a little bit unlucky also, but that happened.
“In this situation we need to accept the reality, but it was a little bit unlucky because of how many chances they created, when you take off the set-pieces. It wasn’t many.
“With 10 men we were forcing them to go back and we created chances. That is the situation.
“We need to be aware about what is going on but at the same time we need to be calm because the team is creating, the team is alive, the team is fighting in every single action.
“We cannot say that the players gave up after 70 minutes, they were fighting until the end with one player less.
“It’s just about working and hopefully we can change the situation as soon as possible.”
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