The Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday ended with a near-"depleted" Liverpool defeat of Chelsea. The focus after the game was not only Liverpool's youth team who were forced to take the lead early, and Van Dijk, who was the savior, but also those Chelsea players who repeatedly crossed the goal and squandered opportunities. Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino came under intense pressure after the game, and he even exchanged fire with Sky TV commentator Gary Neville.
Although for most Chelsea players, this is the first time they have qualified for the final of a domestic cup competition. However, it seems that the Blues' poor record against Liverpool in various cup finals is still haunting them: Chelsea have lost to Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup (2019), League Cup (2022) and FA Cup (2022) finals, all on penalties. So when the 90 minutes went into extra-time, the Chelsea bosses seemed to decide that a fateful penalty shoot-out awaited them!
Mauricio Pochettino removed Conor Gallagher and Ben Chilwell in extra-time, and England saw this as Chelsea's early build-up for the penalty shoot-out. As a result, Chelsea's attacking momentum gradually dissipated after Conor Gallagher's departure, and Virgil van Dijk struck the winner in the 118th minute less than five minutes after Chilwell's departure. Facing the frustrated Chelsea players, former Sheffield United boss Hrchen Berthom said the Blues were in no position to complain: "Honestly, Chelsea goalkeeper Petrovic was as good as Kelleher on the other side, and I think Gusto has kept Luis Dias at bay. Chelsea were also the better team on the pitch in the closing stages of regular time, but they seemed to have set their sights on penalties too early and the game was far from over, so they could not complain that they were missing out on the title. ”
It was arguably the weakest Liverpool Chelsea have faced in a cup final in recent years. In addition to the injury wave that gave Klopp a headache before the game, Hrafenberg left the field after playing less than half an hour in this game. The remaining main players were also removed by Jurgen Klopp after 70 minutes due to physical exhaustion. The Reds almost ran out of ammunition in the final and eventually had to grind out the game with half a youth lineup. Chelsea, however, had established their dominance on the pitch before the end of the 90 minutes, and considered a penalty shoot-out earlier than Liverpool after extra-time.
The Blues had no intention of settling the battle within 120 minutes, but Liverpool came out on top. Gary Neville, who was a guest commentator on Sky that day, was outspoken in criticising Chelsea for paying the price for the passivity and sluggishness of extra-time: "I'm very disappointed with Chelsea's performance in extra-time, you can lose any game, but you can't back down on the pitch and not be so cowering in the final stages of a final like today's. Liverpool, in particular, have as many as five youth players on the pitch and you have to step up and strike a lethal blow, and at the end of the day you don't see that from the players at Chelsea. ”
However, Neville probably didn't expect his criticism to be immediately passed on to Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino, who was still digesting the final defeat and was clearly unimpressed by Neville's criticism: "I didn't hear what he said, but if you just compare the ages of the players on the pitch in the end, I don't think there was much difference between the two sides. I usually have a good relationship with Neville and I respect his opinion, but it is not fair for him (Neville) to say that, and I will stand up for it on this issue! ”
As for why he withdrew two main players in extra time, Pochettino explained helplessly that this is similar to the reason why Klopp's side has successively removed the main players with the youth army, and they have found that the players' fitness problems have been solved: "One of the important reasons why we finally want to remove players like Conor Gallagher and Chilwell is that the team's fitness has begun to decline at this time. Ben Chilwell was tired and Gallagher's fitness was not ideal, so we needed to make that adjustment! ”
Pochettino was not satisfied with the performance of his players on the pitch, especially at the end of the 90 minutes, when too many ** squandered must-score opportunities on the pitch and allowed the Liverpool defence to complete the miracle of three goalmouth saves in less than 10 seconds. The Blues boss says he and his players will now have to face the pain of losing in the final: 'They're all professionals, they need to feel the pain. We were fighting for the trophy but we missed it out when it was within reach. The players should be just as miserable and disappointed as I am because they had hoped to end the fight in 90 minutes, and that was so close! This pain is what we must face and endure now. ”
However, despite Pochettino's exoneration of the team, the limelight of Chelsea's players on the pitch was completely overshadowed by the Reds' benches and youth army. Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher, in particular, led Chelsea's 19 shots to naught. Reds legend Redknapp Jr. also said after the game that the Irish goalkeeper is an underrated goalkeeper: "When you work with an elite player like Alisson, of course they leave a special mark on you. Can you imagine the spirit you have to work with a world-class player competing for the same position as you in your normal training sessions. I think Kelleher definitely deserves more credit, he was calm and focused in every save today, and it was that tenacity that kept Liverpool going until the end! ”