Mauricio Pochettino threatens to cancel Chelsea’s day off after defeat by Newcastle

Mauricio Pochettino threatened to cancel the day off for his Chelsea players, such was his anger and disappointment at their spectacular collapse at St James’ Park.

Watching from the directors’ box while serving his touchline ban, Pochettino’s saw his defence lose its shape and players lose their discipline. The mini-revival during the past month is over.

Conceding four against Manchester City before the international break was forgivable, even if it exposed some of their weaknesses. Conceding four here felt different altogether. Pochettino did not hold back at criticising his players, calling them “soft” and lacking maturity. Worryingly, he did not see enough fight from them.

Alexander Isak, Jamaal Lascelles, Joelinton and Anthony Gordon were on the scoresheet on one of the best afternoons of Newcastle United’s season, although their goals were also gift-wrapped, with Chelsea’s back-line guilty of lapses in concentration. The errors came at the back, but Pochettino’s entire team were to blame. Seeing their captain Reece James dismissed added to the manager’s fury.

“We were talking in the dressing room after the game, we should go directly to the hotel and sleep, and start to train early in the morning and not have a day off,” said Pochettino. “We shouldn’t just blame the players, we need to blame altogether and this is the process of learning and understanding that we want to compete at the level people think we should compete at. We have a very talented squad but to compete is different to playing.”

It is back to the Cobham training pitches this week for Pochettino. Those results against Arsenal, Tottenham and City raised hope of a corner being turned but this was a huge blow. He was suspended from the technical area for his yellow card against City and could only watch on as the afternoon unravelled.

The work must start with the back-line, as they looked likely to concede whenever Newcastle attacked. Thiago Silva, as glittering as his career has been, looked his 39 years when he gifted Joelinton’s goal. Benoît Badiashile’s positioning had a hand in two of the goals.

“I’m disappointed and angry. It is normal to blame yourselves after this type of performance and we need to blame ourselves,” Pochettino said. “We conceded so easily, that is why I am so disappointed but it is not just our defensive line. It was our worst game of the season and we have to blame ourselves.

“I am not talking about mistakes, I am talking about energy and we were not prepared in the best way to compete today, that is my concern. We were so soft in every single challenge. We didn’t show that we were playing for something important.

“It is about showing personality and character. We need to be more solid in this idea that my team-mate will help me if I made a mistake. We have to be ready to compete. We can all play football but to be ready to complete, we weren’t ready. Against Manchester City we were focused and fought to the end. The big teams perform this way every three days and that is what we need to do.”

The first signs of Chelsea’s back-line getting dragged out of shape came in the 13th minute when Isak opened the scoring on his return to action after a groin problem. Newcastle simply worked the ball around the penalty area until Isak became free, helped by Badiashile being on one frequency and Marc Cucurella on another.

With Isak played onside, Lewis Miley found him with a neat pass between the out-of-position Chelsea defender, with Isak finishing confidently. Miley, 17, was starting his first Premier League game at St James’ Park.

Like they needed to do against City, Chelsea launched a fightback and got themselves back into the game through Raheem Sterling’s equaliser. He won the free-kick from from which he scored, racing towards the penalty area and getting a shove from Kieran Trippier. “He’s falling over,” Trippier could be seen saying to referee Simon Hooper. Sterling took full advantage, curling his set-piece over the wall and into the top corner.

With the game in the balance, it came down to those lapses of concentration that meant Chelsea collapsed in such spectacular fashion. Newcastle worked another free-kick in front of Pochettino’s defence, getting Gordon on the ball. Lascelles was left unmarked to time his run and plant a header past Robert Sanchez.

Thiago’s mistake created the third goal. He was under little pressure when Joelinton ambled towards him, but one slip and his fellow Brazilian was through, with the whole of the goal to aim for as Sanchez had no time to position himself.

James got his second yellow card of the afternoon when he hauled back Gordon after a mistake saw the Newcastle winger in a dangerous position. And it was Gordon who added the fourth, carrying the ball into the penalty area and getting around Badiashile again before finishing.

The only negative for Newcastle was that it emerged Joe Willock has suffered a recurrence of an Achilles injury, adding to the injury problems for Eddie Howe, whose squad is so stretched that he named three goalkeepers in the bench.

“It was such an important win for us with the position we are in and the stretched resources,” said Howe. “It says a lot about the character of the team and facing what is in front of us.”