Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says he understands why fans were frustrated during Saturday’s draw at Brentford.
The club are 11th in the Premier League, having won just 10 games this season, and the Argentine is under growing pressure at Stamford Bridge.
“We need to accept the frustration,” Pochettino said on Thursday.
During the 2-2 draw at Brentford, where a late Axel Disasi header rescued a point for the Blues, some fans chanted the name of former boss Jose Mourinho.
“Maybe if I was a fan I’d be the same because we are not matching the expectation,” added Pochettino, who took charge last July.
“We must be responsible for our performance and try hard to improve.”
Chelsea have spent more than £1bn on transfers since Todd Boehly’s takeover in May 2022, but Pochettino has struggled to blend the expensively-assembled squad on the pitch.
The club were described by Sky Sports pundit and former England defender Gary Neville as “billion-pound bottle-jobs” after losing the Carabao Cup final against a weakened Liverpool side.
Chelsea, who are closer to the relegation zone than the top four, host Newcastle in the Premier League on Monday.
“We are suffering negativity but we can’t stop believing, we must keep believing and try to perform on Monday,” Pochettino said.
“I really believe we can succeed. Of course we need our fans. We hope the fans will be behind us on Monday to help us win the game. That is so important for our players.
“We can believe that we can start to win games to get close to qualifying for Europe. The opportunity is there but if you give up belief we will go down [the league].”
On Thursday, Chelsea also announced pre-tax losses of £90.1m in the period between March 2022 and June 2023 – their first year under the ownership of Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital consortium.
The losses for the club in the 12-month period was lower than the £121.4 m for the previous year, while their turnover is up from £481.3m in 2021-22 to £512.5m.
Chelsea’s £4.25bn sale to a consortium led by American investor Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital was completed in May 2022.