‘Yes’: Mauricio Pochettino admits 20-year-old Chelsea player lost his focus during game against Tottenham

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Tottenham Hotspur had two men sent off in their 4-1 defeat to Chelsea last night and Mauricio Pochettino feared his side could have lost a player as well.

Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were both dismissed in the fiery clash and Levi Colwill was at risk of receiving a red card too after picking up a booking in the first half.

However, Mauricio Pochettino decided to take Levi Colwill off at half-time and told Sky Sports (06/11/2023 at 22:42) after the game that he had to because the 20-year-old had lost his focus and became a risk.

Tottenham initially took the lead in the first half when Dejan Kulusevski’s shot deflected off Colwill into Robert Sanchez’s net. But Chelsea managed to turn things around thanks to a penalty from Cole Palmer and a hat-trick from Nicolas Jackson and win the game.

Levi Colwill lost focus

According to Pochettino, after Colwill’s yellow card, which came following a confrontation with Pape Matar Sarr, the central defender lost a bit of concentration.

Asked if he took off Colwill because of his booking, the Argentine told Sky Sports: “Yes because I think after the yellow card he lose a little bit his focus and it is too much risk. Marc [Cucurella] is doing well also so I thought not to take a risk.“

Levi Colwill showed his inexperience

Colwill is still just 20 years of age and it was a big match for him. The England international knows the magnitude of such a fixture and spoke about how competitive it is even at Under-16 level before the game.

It is no surprise, then, that Colwill displayed a bit of naivety and showed his emotions during the encounter.

In the end, Pochettino definitely made the right decision taking him off. With how the night was going, he could have easily been dismissed in the second half.

You suspect that Spurs probably would have tried to target the Chelsea man and level things up after Romero’s red card.

Things did not transpire that way, though, and it was Ange Postecoglou’s side who went on to lose another player following Udogie’s second yellow.