Premier League
‘It Was Difficult For Us Against Liverpool’ – Pochettino Admits After Chelsea’s 4-1 Embarrassing Defeat
Chelsea manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has admitted that the Blues were poor in their Premier League match against Liverpool last night.
SportXparte reports that Jurgen Klopp marked his 200th victory in the Premier League with jubilation on Wednesday night after thrashing Chelsea 4-1.
The triumph helped Liverpool to maintain the Premier League table top, maintaining their race for the 2023/2024 league title.
This achievement came shortly after Klopp’s announcement of his departure from Anfield at the end of the season.
In contrast, Pochettino openly acknowledged that his team was outplayed in every aspect and had no objections despite Chelsea being denied two penalty calls.
Despite the significant financial investments made by the visiting team during the Todd Boehly takeover, the evident disparity in quality was apparent on Wednesday evening at Merseyside, where the league leaders dominated, SportXparte reports.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the Liverpool vs Chelsea clash, Pochettino said: “The performance wasn’t good from us. It’s not a final excuse (penalty appeal). They deserved to win. They were better than us. But to talk about this, I don’t want to talk about that because it’s part of football. They were better than us from the first action. In this kind of game, you need to say, ‘Well done, Liverpool’. They were more at it than us.
“It was difficult for us to connect and play. We lost the ball so easily. When we say they competed better, they were better than us in the areas. In the second half of the game, at 2-0, we create a chance that (Mykhailo) Mudryk has and if we score, maybe we get confidence and play better. Even if we scored and drew, then we would be disappointed because our performance wasn’t great,” Goal.com quoted Pochettino saying.
The Argentine professional football manager warned his players to get ready for another thrashing in next month’s Carabao Cup final if they didn’t pull up their socks.
He said: “If we want to match them and compete with them in the final, then we have to compete in a different way.
“They were more aggressive than us. They were better than us in all areas. Of course, it is going to be different at Wembley. The feeling the players have now is good because they know if they repeat this performance it will be the same result.
“We need to improve and we need to push ourselves a little bit more. We have to learn. If we want to compete with Liverpool, one of the best teams in England for many years, we have to raise our level.”
Obviously, Chelsea’s season has been marred by nine league defeats, placing them in the 10th position with 31 points from 22 matches.
Notably, six of these losses have occurred during away games, shedding light on the team’s difficulties on the road.