Sunday saw the final of the Carabao Cup Final take place at Wembley Stadium – an entertaining encounter between an injury-hit Liverpool side and Chelsea’s inconsistent team promised entertainment, and we were not disappointed.
We spoke to Bet9ja Ambassador Victor Ikpeba who told us his takes from the match, and how each side’s seasons look going forward after Liverpool’s extra-time victory
This was a great game, but the narrative surrounding it now isn’t completely accurate!
Before the match many people pointed towards Liverpool’s injury problems and inexperienced bench as a potential advantage for Chelsea, but I don’t think it was quite as simple as that. Despite missing the likes of Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, Liverpool still managed to field a side including their best defensive partnership of Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil Van Dijk, World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Andy Robertson.
These are all experienced players who start for many of the top sides in world football. It’s easy to point the finger at the cost of Chelsea’s squad but at this point we know that they haven’t completely gelled as a team – money doesn’t win football matches, especially when money is against a well-drilled side who have played a lot of football with each other. Virgil Van Dijk is one of the best centre-backs we’ve seen in English football – I don’t think anyone expected Nicolas Jackson to get a huge amount of change out of him and that’s what happened.
Chelsea should stick with Pochettino
When Roman Abramovich was Chelsea manager, he could afford to constantly fire and hire new managers due to the core of the squad that he had in place already. Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Eden Hazard are all players who will be able to shine in any system, so there was never a massive risk in bringing in a new coach.
The difference now is that Chelsea have a very young squad themselves, many of whom haven’t played a lot of football in the English Premier League. The results under Mauricio Pochettino haven’t been ideal so far, but if Todd Boehly fires him then Chelsea will have to start from scratch once more. This team needs a project to follow and Pochettino can provide that if he is given a chance.
