Drog BABA
The Carabao Cup Final ended in yet another heartbreak for Chelsea fans as Chelsea fell to a young Liverpool side in a tense Final.
In this article, we look into the aftermath of the Carabao Cup final, a match marked by missed chances, late drama, and ultimately, heartbreak for the Blues.
Review of the EFL Cup final
The Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Chelsea was a tense affair, lacking in goals but not in drama. Both sides exhibited caution in the first half, resulting in few clear chances. Liverpool controlled possession but struggled to penetrate the Chelsea defense, while the Blues relied on counter-attacks that ultimately lacked precision.
The second half mirrored the first, as neither team was able to find the breakthrough. Despite substitutions aimed at breaking the deadlock, the score remained unchanged, forcing the game into extra time. The intensity escalated in the additional period, with both teams pushing for the winning goal.
Finally, in the 118th minute, Liverpool found their hero. Kostas Tsimikas delivered a perfect corner, which Virgil van Dijk met with a powerful header, sending the ball past the Chelsea goalkeeper. This late goal, the only one of the game, secured Liverpool’s tenth Carabao Cup title and marked a significant moment in their season, handing manager Jurgen Klopp his first trophy of the year
Angry or heartbroken:-
“I thought of defending Mauricio Pochettino initially but then I read his post-match comments” ~ DrogBaba
Initially, I felt we did play well, everything was fine, everything was good, but the chances weren’t converted, I thought there was pretty much nothing left to say except that you lost six finals in a row, and you lost the fourth final in a row to Liverpool.
You lost the Super Cup, then you lost two finals to them in 2022, the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup’s fourth final, and now this, the pain & heartbreak was immense, but there wasn’t much anger.
Which is why I initially defended Pochettino. Although football isn’t & shouldn’t be judged by stats and I personally dislike it when a manager defends his performance by relying on stats, but let’s just explore the stats here Chelsea missed five big chances and even if you take two of the five chances, you could have done something and probably gone on to win the whole thing.
However, after reading Poch’s post-game comments where he said that he was trying to take the game to penalties, I mean why would you say that’s why are you expressing this thing that you don’t have the mentality that it takes to win a final in the given time, & that you can’t take the game to the opposition, you can fight toe to toe, there is no excuse at all today, the kids beat us, brother Liverpool and Klopp beat us with kids
if comments as such are coming from Pochettino’s side, then it’s a big problem, it’s disgraceful, and it’s quite weird too that we were trying to take it to the penalties, we were going good in the match and then we became defensive, the one who removed Chilwell and put in Chalobah, one of the changes I didn’t understand why we made towards the end of the game until the post-match comments by Poch
Experience or Mentality?:-
“You can’t blame today’s loss on experience, Liverpool were equally inexperienced in this game~ DrogBaba
There is absolutely no mentality in this team of Chelsea football club. Except 2 world-class experienced players in Virgil Van Dijk & Andrew Robertson Liverpool apart from that, if you see the way the kids from Liverpool academy that have come today & turned up, they have become men after this game, players like who Corner Bradley started today, one or two more players like James McConnel who came from the youth academy also put up a performance of grit & determination, so you lost from the academy and the tag of billion-pound bottle jobs that we’re getting tagged at this moment seems very well justified
The match was similar to the one we played two seasons ago against Liverpool, we were getting disallowed goals, many offsides goals, and VAR’s decisions taking place, we were missing many chances, we were missing all clear-cut opportunities, etc.
All these things were happening in the match today too & it’s happening today too, so we are not taking chances even after 2 whole seasons, to put an analogy, If we ask these players about saving themselves from death & order that if you don’t hit the goal, you’ll die. These players will die but they won’t score goals. They’re missing simple chances
The same old “SPURSY” mentality of Poch?:-
“It’s like the same Pochettino of spurs that we know of…Chelsea Bottled this game in my opinion ” ~ DrogBaba
Overall, Poch will be blamed for his poor approach. Why did he aim for penalties, as even in penalties it’s a 50-50 chance. There’s no certainty in penalties; it’s about nerves & Your players were nervous, they’ve missed penalties in the past. Winning in the 120 was a golden chance for us.
I feel we had the upper hand in extra time because we had better Players in contrast to them who had their academy players and ours were first-team players, our team was gelled up a little more than them meaning Now there was a little more experience with us & we had more chances to play This was our chance to win but we didn’t take it If you don’t take the game to the opposition then the blame is on you on how bad was your approach when You could see that this was the turning time
This is why I believe Chelsea bottled the game because at the beginning of the game, you were set up so poorly, and were giving the ball so easily Then slowly as you grew into the match Gradually after Gravenberch’s injury and Then after that the match was at a 50-50 but that only happened because today Liverpool’s 6-7 main players were not playing.
So huge congratulations to Liverpool fans. It’s all about mentality and instilling that culture which Jurgen Klopp has done very well & shows why he is one of the best managers ever to grace the world of football, & this is what is missing at Chelsea. It’s a deserving victory for Liverpool tonight.
The Aftermath:-
“There’s no point in sacking Mauricio Pochettino now” ~ DrogBaba
For us, it’s a huge setback, and our league season will suffer even more because of this defeat. We needed to win, it was a golden chance, and there’s no doubt about not lifting any trophy now. I feel there’s no point In sacking Pochettino.
The season has almost ended now, and there’s no point in anyone new coming in now. There’s no point because we’re not doing well. The pattern of play looks like it’s coming to fruition. Let’s see how it goes until the end of the season. We need to have patience, and there’s no other way.
The sad things happening will continue, and there’s no solution apart from keeping patience. And these sad things will keep happening, and there’s no end to it. It’s not like the world has ended or anything, but it’s quite disappointing. I’m not angry; I’m very sad. What’s this football club coming to?
Less than six finals and you lost them consecutively. We’ve set a different record. Our domestic domination is coming to an end, and how we bounce back from this, I don’t know. Our only hope is that something magical happens in the FA Cup or the Premier League. But this team is mentally fragile & it was proven today. You might see it against Leeds too.
Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Forget about the Premier League; we might not do anything good at all this season anywhere. As I said, we need to keep patience and see how we can bounce back from this setback. Our position & judgment point will be how we come back from this setback.
Conclusion:
“You spend a Billion obviously there will be questions asked & heads might turn” ~ DrogBaba
If you had won today’s match, everything would have been fine. No questions would have been asked. But ultimately, football is a result-driven industry. It’s all about management and players playing. It’s all about results, and these talks don’t work in hogwash. Progress, improvement, and chances created xG, etc, whatever it is your plan is not working
There’s no other way. That’s what it all comes down to. If it goes right, it’s okay. If it doesn’t, it’s the same story, your whole game plan was that you take the game to the penalties & win the game in that but that wasn’t the case VVD did end up scoring a winner in 118’ & Liverpool are the EFL cup champions of 2024
We as Chelsea fans keep saying that this team is not that bad, but sometimes managers do things that make you angry. And today, I’m angry. We should have won, but we lost to the academy team of Liverpool.
