Journalists Matt Law and Liam Twomey have now given their take on what Mauricio Pochettino said after Chelsea’s loss to Liverpool in the EFL Cup final.
They both took to Twitter to analyse what the manager said in his post-match press conference, after being in the same room for it.
Tensions were likely still high for Pochettino, after he lost another final in English football yesterday.
He had just seen his side concede in the final few moments of extra-time, with Liverpool coming out on top after 120 minutes.
In his post-match press duties, he seemed to hint that his players were wanting the game to go to penalties as the end of the game approached.
Law and Twomey have now given their take on what they heard.
Journalists on Pochettino
Law said: “My read of Pochettino’s press conference (I was in the room) was that he was saying the players were knackered and subconsciously started to play for penalties. I didn’t get any sense that he set them up to or told them to, or that the players consciously set out to.
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“Having said that, I still believe Chelsea were awful in extra time and it was very odd that they just stepped off. Pochettino said Gallagher had to come off but moving Palmer inside didn’t work. He was Chelsea’s biggest threat from the right.
“I also think the way in which the team wilted was perhaps the biggest example we’ve had of the lack of leadership and character in the squad – nobody wanted to take responsibility and be brave to go and try to win it. They just didn’t want to lose.”
Twomey echoed his thoughts, stating: “This was my interpretation too (I was also in the room)”
Chelsea fans will be gutted with how the final played out. However, there will eventually have to be an acceptance that a young team just ran out of steam at Wembley.
