MAURICIO POCHETTINO is suffering dogs’ abuse as boss at Chelsea this season.
From being booed by his own fans in the stands to trolled mercilessly from a safe distance by internet diehards accusing him of wrecking the club from within.
Funnily enough, it is a different story when Chelsea’s head coach meets the punters face to face while out walking his dog in what little spare time he gets away from trying to build a team capable of chasing consistent honours.
Pochettino said: “Maybe it is because they are scared of my dog — because it is a big dog.
“It’s a Rhodesian Ridgeback. It’s massive. Maybe they are nice with me because of that?
“I spend one hour, maybe one hour and a half with my dog and sometimes I meet the fans in different places and they ask me things. I can tell them the truth.
“Fans sometimes get an image that is not real. That is fake.
“Maybe sometimes my words are taken or a photograph is taken of me looking sad but I am not a sad person. I laugh a lot, I smile.
“I am very positive. I am not acting. I try not to act.
“Sometimes people get the wrong idea. And if you face me on the street you will become in love — especially if I have my dog.
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“When I walk every day with my dog in different places I feel the appreciation from the fans.
“On social media, it can be, ‘Hey, you must do this, do that’ but here, it is the opposite.
“When I am on the street, the people are really good.
“They appreciate and give us credit for working in a project and process that is so difficult, because the people who understand football know what is going on here.
“They appreciate our commitment, the way we behave and the way we believe and support all the decisions that were taken before we arrived.
“All we want is to help and add our knowledge and experience to be more competitive and help the team win games. That is what is most important.”
Poch’s terrifying-sounding pooch Sansa is named after a character in Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark.
This so-called captive queen apparently starts off with a naive view of the world but she becomes a more ‘hardened individual after suffering one betrayal and cruelty after another’.
After almost 15 years in coaching, more than five of those spent at Thursday evening’s bitter opponents Tottenham, there may be more to the dog’s name than we imagine.
Pochettino certainly needs his Chelsea players to be dogs of war on Thursday evening — eight years to the day since the infamous Battle of the Bridge.
That was when Tottenham’s dreams of a first Premier League title were crushed by a surprisingly pumped-up Blues team enduring their worst season for two decades.
Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele received a six-match ban after being sent off for violent conduct.
Pochettino, 52, was in the away dugout that eventful night and football’s man of peace even got caught up in the scrums as the game spiralled out of control with 12 bookings — nine for his Spurs.
Anger took over from football as Spurs handed the title to Leicester and the game was used as a benchmark for learning purposes.
Poch said: “We used this game after time, time, time, to talk and to see and to review and to reuse to try to learn from this game.
“Players like Eric Dier were young and it was out of control. He became more mature after this game. We used all this experience to be better and better and better.
“Son, Dele Alli, different players involved in this game.
“We were playing well but we missed how to control the emotion when you compete for big things.
“That was the point that made us more mature and to start the season after believing.
“Then happened different things, circumstances that affected the situation of the team.
We have to be careful how we judge the young players because this is about them making mistakes and how they learn and improve.
Mauricio Pochettino
“We realised with this group we could go and fight for big things. It was tough but at that moment the team showed great character.
“I don’t remember their position in the table. I think they were mid-table like we are now.
“But we were talking about massive players . . . Hazard, John Terry, Costa, Willian, Matic, Azpilicueta, Cahill.
“We have to be careful how we judge the young players because this is about them making mistakes and how they learn and improve — and then maybe they can perform better.
“But we have worked out in our head what we need to do next season.”
Whatever it is it will have to be without veteran defender Thiago Silva, 39, who announced he is leaving after four years.
What should have been a one-year stay has stretched and the Brazil legend is a hugely influential figure in the dressing room.
Poch said: “It’s true that over the years it is more difficult to find this type of player. We are talking about a 39-year-old. It is not easy to find this profile of player.
“He is an amazing guy, an amazing professional. Nearly 40, an amazing career.
“The players, the fans, the club is going to miss him but he is happy. He is so proud of his career here at Chelsea. I wish him the best.”
