Mauricio Pochettino slams Chelsea players’ ‘shameful’ penalty dispute

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has described his squad’s inability to decide on a penalty taker as shameful following an incident which occurred in their game against Everton.

Pochettino was left fuming after his players were caught in a dispute over a penalty kick when they hosted Everton at Stamford Bridge.

With Chelsea already four goals up, they were awarded a penalty for a chance to increase their tally. However Madueke and Jackson were both seen arguing, trying to grab the ball off each other. They eventually gave in after team captain Gallagher gave the ball to the former Manchester City man Cole Palmer who went on to score his fourth goal in the game.

Talking about the incident, the Chelsea boss was quick to condemn the act by his players.

“It’s a shame. I told them before. We had a meeting with the staff. Explained and we were talking. It’s a shame we can’t behave this way. I told them it’s the last time we accept this behaviour,” he said.

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This follows a similar incident which occurred during the first round of the Premier League which also involved Rahim Sterling and Cole Palmer until Enzo Ferendez stepped in to sort that out.

Pochettino also sent a word of caution to his players.

“Next time they’re all out. It’s not a joke. It’s impossible after a performance like this to have this behaviour. We have to learn a lot if we want to be a great team. Think more in a collective way than in individual achievement,” Pochettino added.

Cole Palmer who hit his twentieth league goal mark in the game, after the game asserted the fact that he is the team’s penalty taker.

“Other players wanted to take it. The game was 4-0, but I am the penalty taker and I wanted to take it. Maybe the argument was a bit over the top, but everyone wants to win and help. Afterwards, we were laughing and joking about it, but the manager has spoken to us about it,” he said.

Chelsea eventually won 6-0 with youngster Alfied Gilchrist cementing the victory to put them three points away from seventh placed Manchester United with one more game to clear.

With a similar incident already happening earlier this season, Mauricio Pochettino would be hoping that this time the team will pay heed to the advice given.