Mauricio Pochettino was perhaps too honest for his own good and made an admission that surprised Jamie Carragher after Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
With the Reds not at full strength and relying on a number of youngsters from the bench, Pochettino admitted that his side were playing for penalties in extra time.
Unfortunately for the Argentine it was a plan that didn’t work out as Virgil Van Dijk headed home the winner with just two minutes of extra time remaining to leave the 51 year old still in search of his first trophy in England.
In quotes picked up by Football London he said: “We need to change Gallagher after five minutes and then in the start of the second 15 minutes, I think Chilwell. The team started to feel that maybe the penalties will be good for us.”
Liverpool legend Carragher shared his reaction on X and simply said “Wow, felt like that watching extra time.”
Wow!
Felt like that watching the extra time. https://t.co/J1ITi59ReK— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) February 25, 2024
Chelsea fans have every right to feel disappointed by the comments given the game was there for the taking with Liverpool having so many inexperienced players on the pitch and this was certainly as good a chance as any to get their hands on a trophy.
The defeat consigned Chelsea to a record sixth consecutive defeat in Wembley finals and leaves the Blues still searching for a first domestic trophy since 2018.
The Blues are back in action on Wednesday night against Championship high flyers Leeds United in the FA Cup fifth round and will need to find a response.
Look, Carragher and the rest of the pundit world would criticize Poch regardless of what he said. I appreciate the fact that he’s honest—our starters were absolutely gassed in ET. If we’d continued to try and play open we’d have gotten stretched and would have been very vulnerable on the counter. As it was, the goal we gave up wasn’t because we were sitting back, it was poor marking on a set piece — a costly mistake, but one that’s pretty easily corrected. The media are making a mountain out of mole hill with Poch’s comments because creating controversy “sells.” As is the case with at least half the stuff that comes out of Jamie Carragher’s mouth, it’s best just to ignore lest it make you stupider!