- Chelsea boss has responded again to criticism aimed at his side by Gary Neville
- The Blues have been slated for their inability to win the Carabao Cup on Sunday
- Chelsea were gutless to play for penalties. Liverpool have a cause, Mauricio Pochettino’s side are soulless – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Mauricio Pochettino launched into a seven-minute monologue when asked about Gary Neville’s ‘blue billion-pound bottlejobs’ jibe at his press conference on Tuesday, explaining exactly why Chelsea lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool.
Neville’s commentary went viral on Sunday as Pochettino missed out on his first trophy in English football, succumbing to Jurgen Klopp’s kids at the end of extra time at Wembley.
Chelsea now head into an FA Cup fifth-round clash with Leeds at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday – a competition which represents their last chance of silverware this season.
Asked about Neville and if Chelsea’s players are feeling the pressure because of their price tags, Pochettino embarked on a long uninterrupted speech about why they did not win.
‘Always, I respect the opinion of every single pundit and of course you and with Gary, I have a very good relationship with him,’ Pochettino said. ‘But that doesn’t mean that maybe sometimes he can be unfair. In my opinion, that was not fair, the comment.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side past up five big chances in the game on Sunday as he was made to wait for his first trophy in English football
Gary Neville labeled Chelsea ‘billion pound bottle jobs’ after their failed to capitalise on their superiority and lost the Carabao Cup final to a much-changed Liverpool
‘We need to put it all into context. After 90 minutes, I think we were the better side and we deserved to win. In the last 10, 15 minutes, we created too many chances to score. We were not clinical enough and then, you always need some luck to score the goal and win the game.
‘If we won the game after 90 minutes, all the people would be talking different today – maybe we were geniuses and what amazing players we have and everything. That cannot happen because of after extra time, we didn’t manage well, because the team started to feel really tired for different circumstances for which I can explain.’
Continuing on his substitutes in the final, including Christopher Nkunku, who is now sidelined for around three to four weeks after picking up an injury, Pochettino said: ‘Our message was to go for the game. We put Nkunku, we put (Mykhailo) Mudryk, we put (Noni) Madueke and we refreshed our attack to try to go. We didn’t change offensive players for defensive players.’
Turning to accusations that he told the team to play for penalties in extra time, Pochettino said: ‘I said at the press conference, “Maybe the players started to feel they lost the energy because we were tired, you think not to lose the game and go to the penalties”. I said that. We never told the team to go for the penalties. Come on. We are brave people. We are a brave team.’
Chelsea conceded deep into extra time against Liverpool in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final
Summing up, Pochettino said: ‘After Wolverhampton, we played Aston Villa away from home, Palace away from home, Manchester City away from home, then we play Wembley.
‘If we analyse the 90 minutes, I think we were the better team. Of course we feel the disappointment. But that is the analysis. If people want to talk in a different way by saying “I didn’t say hello to Todd (Boehly)“ or “I didn’t shake hands with Todd” or my friend Gary (Neville)… it’s good for me because I am not an English man and I sometimes struggle to understand what it means. But look, in our life, we want to be with people that is brave. All my friends are brave. Gary is also brave. We are all brave.’
