Mauricio Pochettino said Chelsea needs to “grow up” after their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on Sunday put a new low in an already rough season.

After Villa’s goal in the second half at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino’s team has only won one of their six league games under him.

The Blues are in 14th place, only four points above the bottom, because they haven’t scored in their last three games.

The young defender Malo Gusto was sent off after 58 minutes for a challenge on Lucas Digne. This was the start of Chelsea’s latest loss.

Referee Jarred Gillett changed the first yellow card to a red card for dangerous play after a VAR review on the pitch.

Nicolas Jackson, a striker for Chelsea who moved from Villarreal and hasn’t scored since, got his fifth yellow card when he tried to block a Villa free kick, giving Pochettino more problems. He will miss one game because of this.

Pochettino didn’t say anything bad about the referees. Instead, he said that he and his players were to blame for Chelsea’s problems.

“It’s our responsibility and the players’ responsibility. We can’t blame the VAR or the referee,” Pochettino said.

“The situation, we need to act different, in a different way. I’m not going to blame or say anything against Malo Gusto.

“Situations happen in football and they affect the game and the team in a negative way.

“We need to grow up like a team, not only in an individual way. A player like Nico (Jackson) that is so young, feeling the Premier League and he’s learning, he needs time.”

Since he took over in July, Pochettino has spent more than £350 million ($428 million) on new players, but that hasn’t helped a Chelsea team that did poorly last season.

Under co-owner Todd Boehly, Chelsea’s policy has been to sign younger players with high potential and resale value. This has left Pochettino with a team that is mostly made up of inexperienced players.

The former coach of Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham has also had a long list of injuries to deal with.

So far, Chelsea’s young and inexperienced team hasn’t been up to the task, and Pochettino is looking for a response as the pressure builds.

“In this type of game, we’re competing and we want to win. But players, when they are young, need to learn with experience,” he said.

“That’s why we feel disappointed because we are playing too many situations like this. Another small detail and in the end we are losing the game. We are in a situation we need to change as soon as possible.”

Photo by EPA/DANIEL HAMBURY