Richard Keys has slammed Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino for “laughing and joking with the opposition” following his side’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
Chelsea took a 2-0 lead through Cole Palmer and Mykhaylo Mudryk before late goals from Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard earned Arsenal a point. And after the final whistle, Pochettino was seen laughing and joking with a member of Arsenal’s coaching staff.
beIN sports presenter Richard Keys was not happy with Pochettino, fuming: “Am I the only one that’s got a problem with this? You’re the manager of a side two up that’s cruising until your keeper hands a way back into the game to the opposition and you leave the field smiling and joking with the opposition goalkeeping coach”.
“Why can’t you get up off your seat head down the tunnel, be angry that your team have thrown away two points and let them know when you get in. I just wonder sometimes if it means enough, is there a winner in there?
“Show what you meant to the Chelsea fans. Not go off laughing and joking with the opposition.” Ahead of the game, both Pochettino and Arteta spoke highly of each other having previously been teammates at Paris Saint-Germain.
“[I have] amazing memories,” Pochettino said. “When you connect with a person like him — we share the values and the passion of football — yes, I can tell you he is part of my family from day one he arrived in Paris.
“We arrived together, we spent time together with our families also. First of all in a few months in a hotel and then we live very close. It was an amazing, amazing history. He has not surprised me, what he is doing, because he was a coach already when he was 17, when I looked at him he was already a coach.”
Arteta, meanwhile, has referred to Pochettino as his big brother, stating: “He was critical [for me], has been one of the most influential people in my career. Firstly as a player, he took me under the arm and looked after me like a little child, a little brother, and he was a big part of the success I had in Paris”.
“It was because of him, because he really looked after me, gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of advice. He has been a role model for me since that day, not only when I was a player but as a manager as well.
“When you had to make the decision to leave playing and start my coaching career, he had a big say on that and I will always be grateful. I knew he was going to be a coach and I followed him very closely, because as a player he was already a leader.”