Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said something quite surprising after his side’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
Despite Liverpool not being at full strength and having to bring on so many young players from the bench, Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that the team were playing for penalties in extra time.
It is an admission that has surprised Reds legend Jamie Carragher, who took to X to say “wow”.
Given the circumstances, it is quite disappointing to hear that Chelsea wanted the game to go to penalties.
As already mentioned, Liverpool were missing so many key players and had to bring on a bunch of youngsters. They were arguably their for the tackling but were let off the hook by Pochettino’s embarrassing team.
Why did Chelsea want the game to go to penalties?
They were exhausted in extra time, with Pochettino stating that Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher were really tired, for example.
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Chelsea also had good penalty takers on the pitch, including Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku.
The former has not missed any of the spot kicks he has taken this season. In the end, though, their planned failed and was probably not even necessary.
By the time the game got to extra time, that Liverpool team were so experienced. Chelsea really needed to go for it.
They are going to have so many regrets now. A Liverpool side at its best, consisting of the likes of Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson, they probably could have stomached losing to. But being beaten by a bunch of kids? Those players will know that they may not get a better chance to win a trophy ever again.
Chelsea are still in the FA Cup, though, taking on Leeds United in the fifth round of the competition on Wednesday. Win that, and they can start thinking about Wembley again.
