‘This is not my team’ – Mauricio Pochettino insists he does not have Pep Guardiola luxury of buying a new squad ‘every six months’ at Man City despite Chelsea’s £1bn spending spree

Chelsea players have been slowly warming up to the methods of Pochettino and the results are a testimony to it. However, the Argentine manager refused to label it as his team and instead insisted that he was only working with the resources provided to him by the Chelsea board, who have spent over £1 billion on transfers across recent windows, with the playing style a far cry from his philosophy.

Speaking to reporters after the Brighton game, Pochettino said: “That is not my team. That’s Chelsea team. Not my team. What do you mean?”

When further pressed if the Chelsea team were following his style he responded: “I don’t know. After 15 years working at Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and now Chelsea, I think you know my style, no? In the way we want to play in possession and when we lose the ball. We have the trajectory in football.

“For me, it is not important about what I have to say. If you are happy and people are happy about the style we are playing. After, it is to adapt to the circumstances of the squad. For sure, with time, if you ask another coach and have the possibility of 10 years or 25 years, or 22 like Arsene Wenger, or Sir Alex Ferguson, then of course it is your team. In that case we can say Pep Guardiola because every six months you have the power to invest or not to invest and bring players you want in. In one season, with all the circumstances, I am so proud of the squad.”

Chelsea’s latest victory propelled them to the sixth position and now look set to participate in European football in the next campaign. This is a massive improvement from the previous season when they finished 12th with just 44 points from 38 fixtures. Yet Pochettino seemed discontent as his future has often been put under the scanner throughout the campaign.

When asked if he thinks finishing sixth will be a success, Pochettino replied: “I don’t know. We have been all the season talking but it looks like my words are not important and no one cares. People only care about rumours and things like this. It’s not important, the most important thing is winning games for me. It has been tough with all the circumstances.”

Chelsea need to avoid defeat against Bournemouth on Sunday to seal their sixth-place finish. However, the west London outfit can even leapfrog Tottenham and finish fifth if the latter lose to Sheffield United and the Blues win against the Cherries at Stamford Bridge.