Chelsea must “feel the pain” of the defeat suffered on Sunday in the League Cup final against Liverpool (0-1 after extra time), but must “continue to believe” in the project developed by their “young team”, declared the coach Mauricio Pochettino. “We were so close to winning after 90 minutes, we started to lose energy, some players felt very tired. The team may have started to think that penalties would be a good thing,” the coach rewinded after the defeat conceded at the end of overtime. “We created five or six big scoring chances but we didn’t score, that’s the problem.”
The Argentinian claims to have said “nothing” to his players after the defeat, believing that a speech was of no use in those moments. “They are professionals, they have to move forward, but they also have to feel the pain. Nothing you can say will make me feel better, nothing. They must feel the pain, like us (the staff),” said Pochettino. “In the end, when you don’t get what you want, it’s like all the effort you’ve put in for seven, eight months disappears. It’s painful and difficult to take,” he said.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach, however, said he was “proud” of the “enormous” effort made by his players against Liverpool, current leader of the Premier League. “We are still a young team, you cannot compare us to Liverpool. We will continue to believe in this project and see what we can do in the future,” he said. Today’s opponent “is a good example” to follow, according to him. Under the leadership of Jürgen Klopp, the Reds experienced disappointments at the start but “they continued to believe in their project, they came back stronger the following season to get what they wanted,” he said. said.