Mauricio Pochettino knows Chelsea must be more clinical in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final tie with Middlesbrough, though he is remaining upbeat after their first-leg defeat with 90 more minutes to play.
Chelsea endured another frustrating outing on Tuesday as they were beaten 1-0 by Michael Carrick’s Championship side, with Hayden Hackney tapping in the winner late in the first half.
Pochettino’s team missed several clear chances to get back into the game, with Cole Palmer alone guilty of spurning three good opportunities.
The second of Palmer’s misses – which came in first-half stoppage time with Chelsea 1-0 down – was the most glaring, with the former Manchester City man somehow side-footing over the crossbar when Middlesbrough goalkeeper Tom Glover spilled Enzo Fernandez’s shot.
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Chelsea must now come from behind in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on January 23, but Pochettino is not panicking just yet.
“This is only half-time in the tie,” he told Sky Sports after the game. “After 90 minutes, we still have another 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge, so we have to be positive.
“We expect a similar game to today. We have 90 minutes to play and we have to prepare in order to play the game, score goals and reach the final. If we don’t, it will be our mistake.
“In 14 days, we can recover some players who could help us, but now we have another game and we have to think of Fulham [in the Premier League on Saturday].”
Defeat in the first leg.#CFC | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/gznA6BYXiC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 9, 2024
Taking chances has often proven difficult for Chelsea throughout their first campaign under Pochettino, and with Middlesbrough now having something to defend, the Blues boss knows they need a big improvement in the second leg.
“I thought the approach was good. It’s difficult to talk about our performance. We can only say we made some mistakes in the first half, we gave them chances to score,” Pochettino said.
“They played in transition, on the counterattack, and with their low block, it was difficult for us to break them down.
“Then we had so many chances to score and didn’t score, so we are disappointed. We made mistakes and we were punished for that. In football, that happens.
“Overall, I think we were the better side, we had more chances, we created clear chances. This first half of the season we have created chances, but we have not won because we were not clinical enough. We must keep pushing.”
????#EFL | @Boro pic.twitter.com/X6hMazZypN
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) January 9, 2024
Tuesday’s defeat was the latest underwhelming chapter in a poor season for Chelsea, who sit 10th in the Premier League table and are as close to 17th-placed Everton (12-point gap), as they are to fourth-placed Arsenal.
Defender Thiago Silva was seen attempting to placate disgruntled Chelsea fans at the end of Tuesday’s game, and Pochettino understands their frustrations.
“I didn’t see what happened,” he said of the incident. “I can’t say anything about that except we can understand that our fans feel disappointed, but there are still 90 minutes to play.”
