Gary Lineker has had his say on Gary Neville’s comments following Chelsea’s defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
The Blues lost 1-0 and in the process became the first side to lose six consecutive domestic cup finals leaving Mauricio Pochettino still waiting to win his first trophy in England.
The Stamford Bridge outfit had more than enough opportunities to win the game but got punished for not taking their chances.
Conor Gallagher, Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku all spurned big chances but Chelsea just couldn’t find the elusive breakthrough.
Pochettino and his players will no doubt be hurting from the defeat but that didn’t stop Neville from describing them as “billion pound bottle jobs” after Virgil Van Dijk’s extra time header hit the back of the net.
Lineker feels those comments were over the top and said on his podcast The Rest Is Football: “I thought Gary Neville was quite harsh. What was it the billionaire blue bottle jobs? I thought that was a bit strong. They could easily have won that game, I thought Cole Palmer was once again the stand out for Chelsea.”
The manner of the defeat will be particularly hard for Pochettino and his players to take with the Blues just two minutes from forcing a penalty shootout.
The Argentine will need to pick himself and his players up as preparations begin today for the FA Cup fifth round tie against a Leeds side full of confidence having just beaten Championship leaders Leicester City.
Totally agree with Lineker. The guys who show up on TV are paid to manufacture controversy (because it “sells”) and that’s why they so frequently deliver overblown and poorly reasoned “hot takes.” Thank goodness there are still some in the business with enough self-respect and reverence for the game that they will resist this all too common trend. Neville is just a jealous malcontent who’s obviously gleeful to heap scorn on Chelsea rather than talk about the dumpster fire that is Utd under Ten Hag. Kudos to Lineker for being better!