After a humiliating 4-1 loss at Anfield, Mauricio Pochettino conceded that Liverpool was “better” than Chelsea and refused to place the blame on the referees.
Days after declaring his impending summer departure from Anfield, Jurgen Klopp celebrated his 200th Premier League victory with a 4-1 thumping of Chelsea. Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged that his team was outperformed in every area and had no compunction after the Blues were denied two penalties. Even though the big-spending visitors have shown off their financial might in the previous windows following Todd Boehly’s acquisition, on Wednesday night at Merseyside, the league leaders’ superiority was clear to see.
Pochettino told reporters, “We didn’t give a nice performance. It’s not an absolute justification (penalty appeal). They were worthy winners. Compared to us, they were superior. However, since it’s related to football, I don’t want to talk about it. They were superior to us from the start. You have to give Liverpool credit for the win in a game like this. They were more skilled than we were.
“We had trouble connecting and having fun. We were so easy to lose the ball. We say they competed better because they outperformed us in those domains. At 2-0 in the second half, we give (Mykhailo) Mudryk an opportunity, and if we score, we might gain confidence and improve as a team. We would not have been happy with our performance even if we had won and drawn.”
If his players didn’t pull up their socks for the Carabao Cup final next month, Pochettino threatened to give them another beating.
“If we want to match them and compete with them in the final then we have to compete in a different way,” he stated.
“We were not as aggressive as they were. In every way, they were superior to us. At Wembley, naturally, things will be different. The players are feeling happy right now because they know that if they play this performance again, the outcome would be the same.
“We have to get better and challenge ourselves a little bit more. We must acquire knowledge. We must improve if we are to compete with Liverpool, one of the greatest teams in England for a long time.
Chelsea, who has dropped nine league games this season, is currently in 10th place with 31 points from 22 games. Six of the nine losses have occurred away from home, highlighting the Blues’ difficulties when playing on the road.
With Chelsea’s next match at Stamford Bridge against Wolves on Sunday, Pochettino has four days to inspire a comeback.