Mauricio
Pochettino said Chelsea supporters do not need to trust him, but should
"trust the club" after being on the receiving end of negative chants
during the victory over Leicester in the FA Cup.
The home supporters booed
the decision to substitute Mykhailo Mudryk instead of forward Raheem Sterling
in the 78th minute, with some fans chanting "you don't know what you're
doing".
Sterling had missed a
penalty and another good chance in the first half, then blazed a free-kick
wildly over in the second before Chelsea went on to win 4-2 and reach the
semi-finals.
"We need to accept
the situation," Pochettino said of the fans' criticism.
"It's like when I
try to explain the situation of the squad, maybe I need to explain also [to]
the fans. We need to accept it.
Five minutes after
Leicester defender Callum Doyle had been sent off with the game level at 2-2,
Mudryk was replaced by Carney Chukwuemeka, who scored to put Chelsea ahead in
the 92nd minute.
Sterling was taken off four
minutes from time and his replacement, Noni Madueke, claimed a fine fourth goal
in the eighth minute of added time to seal the success against the Championship
side.
"The fans in
football live on expectation and always wanting the best for the club and the
player," added Pochettino.
"When you don't
match the expectation, that is the difficult thing for our fans to understand.
I talked in the past, I am strong, I have no problem. We are going to keep
moving in the same direction.
"I hope in the next
game that the fans are always unconditional behind the team because we are
representing Chelsea.
"We are in a process
where we want to make our fans happy and we are going to try. I hope we can
create that from now until the end of the season, we can create a good
connection with the fans.
"I don't ask that
they trust me, they need to trust in the club, because at the end if I am here
that is because of the decision of the club.
"It is not to trust
in me or to trust in the players, it is to trust the club, that the club is
doing or thinks is good for the club. It is about to trust in everyone not only
me."
The reaction of the
supporters towards Sterling threatened to bubble over after he missed a
26th-minute spot-kick, having taken the ball from regular penalty taker Cole
Palmer.