Pochettino Understands Chelsea Fans’ Frustrations After Poor Start 

Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - September 17, 2023 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - September 17, 2023 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino. (Reuters)
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Pochettino Understands Chelsea Fans’ Frustrations After Poor Start 

Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - September 17, 2023 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Chelsea - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - September 17, 2023 Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino. (Reuters)

Mauricio Pochettino understands Chelsea fans' frustrations with their poor start to the season but says his side have been hampered by injuries to more than a dozen players and that he will not change the way they are doing things.

Chelsea's poor form continued with a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth on Sunday, the second game in a row in which Pochettino's side failed to score after they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest earlier this month.

Chelsea sit 14th in the Premier League with five points from five games, despite spending around $1 billion in transfer fees since the new ownership led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital completed their takeover of the club in May 2022.

"I think the fans know if you invest the money that people talk about in the media, there is expectation," Pochettino said after the game. "If you do not win, it is normal that the fans are not happy.

"What I can tell the fans are the circumstances, which we cannot change. There are too many players not available."

Defender Marc Cucurella, forward Noni Madueke and British record signing Moises Caicedo missed Sunday's game, joining a lengthy injury list that includes captain Reece James, Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia.

"We have extraordinary belief but bad luck, because we have 12 injured players, plus then Cucurella, Madueke and Caicedo today," added Pochettino.

"Am I going to cry or complain? No. I need to accept this challenge and keep being positive. We are not going to change the way that we are going to do things."



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.