Mauricio Pochettino Disappointed Over Reece James’ Red Card

The manager of Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino, couldn’t hide his feelings over the unnecessary red card the club’s captain, Reece James received in the game against Brighton on Wednesday, May 15.

Chelsea were at the Falmer Stadium for their 37th league game of the season and played as well as they have been playing in their last four games.

The visitors got the opening goal via Cole Palmer’s beautiful header in the 34th minute. Afterwards, Chelsea continued to enjoy ball possession but didn’t add another goal before the first half ended.

In the second half, the game became relatively balanced but Chelsea were able to grab their second goal of the game in the 64th minute through the boots of substitute, Christopher Nkunku.

When Chelsea fans were enjoying the game, coach Mauricio Pochettino decided to bring on injury-prone James in the 69th minute.

After the 80th-minute mark, Brighton’s Pedro knocked James down and the furious England international used one of his legs to knock down Pedro while lying on the pitch. After the referee reviewed the incident via the pitch-side monitor, he decided to give James a straight red card for violent conduct.

His exit forced Chelsea to play the last ten minutes and an additional ten minutes of injury time under unprecedented pressure from the hosts. The pressure yielded a goal for Brighton as the game ended 2-1 in favour of Chelsea.

While reacting to the incident involving Reece James, coach Mauricio Pochettino said: “Maybe it’s the frustration of him. But, yes, painful. Painful because it was a fantastic night of football and he’s our captain and a really important player.

“I’m disappointed because now he’s going to miss the next game and maybe a few games in next season.”