Exclusive: “Not acceptable” – Fabrizio Romano slams Chelsea performance vs Newcastle United

Chelsea were poor against Newcastle United yesterday and Fabrizio Romano has admitted that it was far from good enough from Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column, Romano explained that Chelsea didn’t do enough at key moments against Newcastle yesterday as they were beaten 4-1 by Eddie Howe’s side at St James’ Park.

While there have been some signs of progress from Chelsea recently, it now still seems clear that there remains plenty for Pochettino to do to turn things around at Stamford Bridge this season.

The Argentine inherited a difficult situation at Chelsea, and it will surely take some time for his methods to bear fruit, but it’s also the case that they need to be playing a lot better than they did yesterday.

Romano did not hold back with his assessment of the result and performance, as he stated that he agreed with Pochettino’s strong words after the game.

“Chelsea had a really bad day yesterday, losing 4-1 away to Newcastle United. Mauricio Pochettino was really not happy afterwards, saying he felt this was their worst performance since he took the job,” Romano said.

“I have to say I agree with Pochettino – it was a bad performance as the team was not 100% focused in key moments. This is not acceptable at this level, this is why they still need to improve a lot.

“They remain 10th in the table, and despite some recent encouragement with the 4-1 win away to Tottenham and an exciting 4-4 draw with Man City, they still have work to do.”