Mauricio Pochettino has grown tired of having to "explain" the predicament his Chelsea side find themselves in.
Ahead of Monday night's London derby at Crystal Palace, the Blues are languishing in 11th place in the Premier League table, having lost their last two league games – 4-1 away to Liverpool and 4-2 at home to Wolves.
There's no denying that it's been an unacceptably below-par campaign for the two-time European champions – but a seemingly never-ending injury crisis has exacerbated the situation, and head coach Pochettino is losing patience with those who berate his team without looking at the bigger picture.
The Argentine, who took over at Stamford Bridge last summer, told reporters: "The perception is one thing, but if you don’t have your best players, it’s difficult. You’re judged on results, [but] circumstances are there. Always we play with different circumstances. When you only see the result, people criticise because you lose the game – but never do you [the media] go into the analysis of why.
"Before, I was focusing on giving good information to [the media] to put it all in context; to provide the argument about what is going on. But now, after seven months, I don’t say. ‘I give up [with the media]’ – but if people want to understand, ok; if not, [we] focus, move on and try to win games. After seven months, I need to still explain and explain and explain. Unless people want to listen, that’s it. I’m not going to spend too much energy in keeping going, explaining and explaining. If you want to understand, perfect. If you want to help Chelsea, perfect. I’m not saying you are helping me; it’s helping Chelsea."
Chelsea will remain without Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Marc Cucurella and Romeo Lavia for the trip to Palace – while Robert Sanchez and Lesley Ugochukwu are both doubtful.
The Blues' most notable absentee this term has been Christopher Nkunku: the striker joined from RB Leipzig for £53m in the summer, only to suffer a knee injury in pre-season and have to wait until December to finally make his debut.
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