Jamie Carragher left stunned after Mauricio Pochettino admits Chelsea ‘felt penalties would be good for us’ following dire extra time display in their Carabao Cup defeat by Liverpool

Jamie Carragher has been left stunned after Mauricio Pochettino admitted his Chelsea side played for penalties in their Carabao Cup final defeat by Liverpool on Sunday.

Chelsea finished normal time strongly, and with Jurgen Klopp turning to several academy youngsters for the latter stages of the clash at Wembley due to Liverpool’s injury crisis, the Blues appeared favourites to go on and win the trophy.

However, they sat back for long periods in extra time and were eventually undone by a Virgil van Dijk header in the 118th minute. Reflecting on why his team had gone into their shells at a pivotal moment in the game, Pochettino explained: ‘The players started to lose their energy. The team felt maybe penalties would be good for us.’

After seeing Pochettino’s quotes, Carragher reacted on X by saying: ‘Wow! Felt like that watching the extra time.’ 

Chelsea’s approach was also criticised by Gary Neville in the moments after Van Dijk’s winner as he labelled Pochettino’s men ‘billion pound bottle jobs’.

Jamie Carragher was shocked by Pochettino’s admission, while Gary Neville labelled Chelsea ‘billion pound bottle jobs’

The Manchester United legend’s brutal comment was a reference to the cost of Chelsea’s expensively-assembled squad over the last two years under Todd Boehly, with the west London club still having little to show for their spending.

But Pochettino hit back at Neville after the game, insisting that it was unfair to question his team’s mentality.

‘I didn’t hear what he said, but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it is similar,’ he said.

‘I have a good relationship with Gary and I don’t know if that’s how I can take this opinion. But I respect his opinion.

‘Of course, we made a few changes with [Conor] Gallagher and [Ben] Chilwell in extra time, it is true we didn’t keep the energy of how we finished the second half.

Pochettino claimed Neville’s criticism of his players was unfair as he defended his side’s mentality

‘But for sure I feel proud. I feel proud of the players, I think they made a big effort. We are a young team and, there is nothing to compare with Liverpool (just) because they finished with also a few young players. I think it’s impossible (to compare the two sides).

‘He (Neville) knows the dynamics are completely different. I think it’s not fair to talk in this way, if he said that.’

Pochettino has now been involved in three finals with English clubs but has ended up on the losing side on all of them.

He led Tottenham to the League Cup final in 2015 but they were beaten by Chelsea, and his Spurs side also lost to Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League final.