Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino has defended his team admist Gary Neville’s criticism of their Carabao cup lose to Liverpool, tagging the defeat “a billion pound bottle job lost to klopp kids”. He calls the statement unfair.
Chelsea spent over one billion pound since the take over of the club current owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital in 2022 to assemble the current squad, breaking British record transfer fee twice in the acquisition of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.
The Blues tittle hopes were dashed in the finals when Liverpool captain Vigil Van Dijk’s 118th minute header from a corner taken by Tsimikas went straight into the net past goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, completing Chelsea’s sixth cup defeat in succession at Wembley.
Chelsea becomes first team to lose six consecutive finals at Wembley
Gary Neville, speaking on the Sky Sports coverage of the match, said Chelsea “bottled” their chance to win a trophy as Liverpool were without key players including: Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander Arnold, Dominik Szoboszslai, Darwin Nunez, Alisson Becker and Diego Jota.
In response, Pochettino said:
“I think if you compare the age of the two groups it’s similar. I have a good relationship with Gary. I don’t know how I can take this opinion but I respect his opinion.
“We made a few changes like Gallagher and Chilwell in extra time. It is true we didn’t keep the energy how we finished the second half.
“I don’t know how you can describe this situation. I feel proud of the players. I think they made a big effort.
“We are a young team and nothing to compare with Liverpool because they finish with also a few young players. It is impossible to compare.
“He [Neville] knows that the dynamics are completely different. I think it is not fair to talk in this way. We are going to keep believing in this project and see what we can do in the future.”
The Argentine coach is yet to win any domestic title in the premier league.
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