Mauricio Pochettino says Chelsea side 'gave up' during the match Big loss to Arsenal 0-5 At Emirates Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time, the Blues conceded four goals in the last 18 minutes, suffering their biggest defeat in a London derby since 1986.
Pochettino made three changes to his defense for the game, opting to rest Trevó Chalobá and Thiago Silva, while Maro Gusto made the switch in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City. was injured.
“It's not difficult to explain,” Pochettino said. “Everyone could see from the start of the game that we were not competing.
“The team was very weak after conceding the goal. I'm very disappointed with the start because we should have shown all our energy and competed better.”
“We weren't proactive and we didn't focus on the situation where it was easy to find a solution. That's why I'm so disappointed.”
Chelsea entered the game with an unbeaten run of eight games in the Premier League and a chance of qualifying for Europe next season.
However, Tuesday's loss, their biggest loss of the season, left them ninth in the standings.
“We were talking at half-time about starting in a different way,” Pochettino added. “But we didn't do that. When we conceded the third goal, the team gave up. It was tough for them.
“We played really well against Manchester City, it was a great game, but three days later we couldn't play. Maybe we weren't fresh enough.”
“It's not fair to talk about the players we're missing. Since the beginning of the season, we've been missing so many players week in and week out.
“The team showed a lack of ability to resist. That's the problem.”
