Mauricio Pochettino admits he was surprised by the level of AFC Wimbledon as Chelsea edged into the Carabao Cup third round.
An inexperienced Chelsea side were forced to come from behind against Wimbledon at Stamford Bridge, who had taken the lead through James Tilley’s penalty after Robert Sanchez had been penalised for a foul.
Chelsea levelled through a penalty of their own as Noni Madueke sent the goalkeeper the wrong way on the stroke of half-time, before substitute Enzo Fernandez scored his first Chelsea goal to send the west Londoners into the next round with a 2-1 win.
“That is the beauty of the competition,” Pochettino told his post-match press conference.
“It is always difficult to play against a team like this. They are in League Two and have motivation and desire. It wasn’t penalty for me, or offside. It is the beauty of the competition.”
The Argentine was asked whether Chelsea – who are reportedly nearing a deal to sign Cole Palmer from Manchester City – needed an additional goalscorer after struggling to break down Wimbledon, but Pochettino insisted he has faith in his current squad.
“Many clear actions to score but I think we cannot say we need a player that can score more. The players we have we are going to trust in them. In them we won the game.
“We are talking negative, too many Premier League teams are out of the competition and we need to talk more about the positive. Maybe we should score more but the game was in control. They surprised me, good team and the level was very good. These type of games are so difficult.”
