Chelsea manager, Mauricio Pochettino has said he needs to bring new players in the January transfer window.
Pochettino was reacting to Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Everton, which leaves them 12th in the table.
It was the Blues’ seventh league defeat of the campaign and they are already 14 points adrift of Manchester City in fourth place.
Chelsea have spent over £1 billion in the last three transfer windows, but many of those preceded Pochettino’s summer arrival and he wants his own players in to help kick-start his Stamford Bridge rejuvenation.
He told MOTD: “Football is about scoring goals and we were not clinical in front of goal. I’m really, really disappointed. We didn’t get the point we deserved.
“I think we were better but we didn’t get what we wanted.
“This was a game to play and to win. It’s a problem we need to check. We need to analyse reality. We need to talk and to try to improve in the next transfer market.
“We are dealing with this. After five months, or the first half of the season, we need to check and that’s the reality. If we are not aggressive enough (on the pitch) maybe we need to do something.”
Everton football club of England has opened talks with Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi over a new contract.
According to reports from Liverpool Echo, discussions of a new contract have started as the Blues are keen to tie down Iwobi, who is now an integral part of the squad under Frank Lampard.
Iwobi is under contract until 2024 but Everton is looking to secure his future at Goodison Park following a dramatic rise in his importance over the last six months.
The 26-year-old Nigerian has been one of the most impressive players of the opening seven games of the Premier League season shining in a central midfield position for Everton.
He ensured a dramatic 99th-minute winner over Newcastle United in March and then played a vital role in the final stages of the relegation battle while operating as a right wing back.
Iwobi also created Neal Maupay’s winner against West Ham United on Sunday.Everton is also in discussion with Jordan Pickford and Anthony Gordon over new contracts, as reported by the ECHO.
The former Arsenal player is part of Jose Peseiro’s 25-man squad for this month’s friendly game against Algeria in Oran.
He missed the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualify with the Black Stars of Ghana due to suspension.
Everton have appointed former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez as their new manager.
The 61-year-old Spaniard has signed a three-year deal and succeeds Carlo Ancelotti, who resigned in early June to return to Real Madrid.
“I am delighted to be joining Everton,” said Benitez.
“I believe this is a club that is going places. I’m determined to play a big part in helping this great club achieve its ambitions.”
Benitez last managed in the Premier League at Newcastle United, leaving in June 2019.
He moved to China to coach Dalian Professional FC and left them in January after 18 months in charge.
Everton say Benitez “will commence work with the squad when they return for pre-season training from 5 July”.
The club said he was given the job “after a robust and wide-reaching recruitment process over the last three weeks – a process which has included multiple interviews with several candidates”.
Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri said: “Rafa impressed us greatly with his knowledge and experience but, above all, the passion and hunger he showed to join our club.
“We are appointing Rafa because we believe he will bring success to our club and to Evertonians. To put it simply – we need to be competing at the top end of the league and to be winning trophies.
“Rafa is a proven winner with huge experience in coaching internationally and we have secured the best man to achieve that for us.”
Benitez replaced Gerard Houllier as Liverpool manager in June 2004 and guided them to Champions League and FA Cup success.
Everton continued their push for European football by beating struggling West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.
Richarlison scored for the fourth Premier League game in a row, heading past home goalkeeper Sam Johnstone after a cross from substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson, who had only been on the pitch for 43 seconds.
West Brom had been the better team in the first half but England keeper Jordan Pickford made an excellent save to keep out Mbaye Diagne’s second-minute header.
Diagne thought he had grabbed a 93rd-minute equaliser when he controlled a pass and shot into the net, but he was denied because he was narrowly offside, with the video assistant referee (VAR) confirming the on-field decision.
This win takes Everton up from seventh to fourth – the last Champions League qualifying place – although the Toffees will drop back to fifth if there is a winner in Thursday’s late game between Liverpool and Chelsea.
West Brom are 19th, in the relegation zone and nine points behind 17th-placed Newcastle United, who they host on Sunday.
Ancelotti’s Everton continue to get results
Everton have been English champions on nine occasions but since the launch of the Premier League for the 1992-93 season, have only finished in the top four once – in 2004-05.
Indeed, they have never played in the group stage of the Champions League, missing out in 2005-06 after a 4-2 aggregate loss to Spanish side Villarreal in the third qualifying round.
However, with 12 league games to go, Carlo Ancelotti’s team have a great chance to be playing alongside the continent’s elite next season.
Thursday’s win continues a remarkable turnaround for the Toffees, who were in the Premier League relegation zone under Marco Silva in December 2019, before he was sacked and caretaker boss Duncan Ferguson lifted them out of the bottom three, with Ancelotti then continuing that progress.
Instrumental in Everton’s revival has been Dominic Calvert-Lewin and the England striker, who scored a hat-trick in the Toffees’ 5-2 win over West Brom at Goodison Park in September, had their best chance of the first half.
A fortunate deflection took the ball into his path but he shot against Johnstone’s legs from 12 yards with only the keeper to beat.
Richarlison also had a first-half chance but a superb challenge from Darnell Furlong denied the Brazilian, as the deflection took the shot narrowly over the top.
But the forward was not to be denied later on when he got in front of Johnstone to meet Sigurdsson’s cross from the left and powerfully head home from close range.
The result also continues Everton’s fine away record – they have now won nine of 13 league games on the road this season.
Baggies perform well, but fail to pick up a point
West Brom had come into this game on an unbeaten run of three games, with clean sheets in their past two, and they will surely feel they deserved something from this game.
They thought they had got a point in injury time, when Diagne superbly controlled the ball and fired past Pickford – but the assistant referee raised his flag and the VAR footage showed he was offside by under a foot.
Manager Sam Allardyce has managed seven other clubs in the Premier League – including Everton – but never been relegated from the top flight, although this will surely be one of the best achievements of his career if he can keep the Baggies up.
He replaced the sacked Slaven Bilic after West Brom had picked up seven points from their opening 13 games, but they have now only gained an additional 10 points in Allardyce’s 14 matches in charge.
West Brom have only scored three times in their past six games
However, he should be pleased with his side’s performance on Thursday.
Diagne was their main threat but he was denied by Pickford in the second minute, then later shot over on the turn and also headed just off target following Furlong’s long throw.
Those missed chances proved costly as Richarlison’s goal proved the difference and gave Everton the three points.
Allardyce was unhappy a penalty was not awarded for Mason Holgate’s challenge on Diagne, a decision which referee Darren England was not asked to review on the pitchside monitor.
“I’ve seen 50 or 60 penalties given for less than that and I don’t know why it wasn’t given,” Allardyce told BBC Match of the Day.
“Holgate went straight across his standing leg and when you slow it down it looks even worse.
“Why Michael Oliver has not asked him to have a look at it and just dismissed it, I don’t know.”
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