Mauricio Pochettino has moved to protect the image of his dressing room, following the bizarre comments from Ben Chilwell in the aftermath of Chelsea’s 4-2 Premier League defeat to Wolves.

During a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Chilwell was heard admitting that he and his teammates didn’t show enough desire in the home game, and probably deserved to lose the way they did.

The comments were brought up during Pochettino’s press conference ahead of Chelsea’s FA Cup fourth-round replay with Aston Villa on Wednesday, and rather than say he dealt with it internally, the 51-year-old said his vice-captain actually never said anything like that— at least, not according to his interpretation.

“If you listen, Ben Chilwell didn’t say it. We didn’t win, it was 50-50, they won. That was my interpretation,” said the Chelsea manager.

“I was talking with Ben Chilwell and it was never the intention to say we didn’t show desire. The attitude of the players is always good. For different reasons we are not performing. We need to feel the trust, the coaching staff and the players.”

There are videos all over social media showing Chilwell making those comments, so we wonder what could have happened between Pochettino and Chilwell.