Mauricio Pochettino warned Chelsea will suffer another drubbing at the hands of Liverpool in next month’s Carabao Cup final with a repeat of their timid display at Anfield, where Jürgen Klopp celebrated the 200th Premier League win of his reign in style.
Liverpool maintained their lead at the top of the Premier League with a 4-1 romp against the big-spending visitors from Stamford Bridge. The young defender Conor Bradley produced another outstanding performance at right-back while Darwin Núñez struck the woodwork four times, including from the penalty spot.
The two teams meet again at Wembley on 25 February and Pochettino admitted Chelsea will suffer unless there is a vast improvement in their attitude and performance level. “The performance wasn’t good from us,” said the Chelsea manager, who has presided over six Premier League away defeats this season.
“If we want to match them and compete with them in the final then we have to compete in a different way. They were more aggressive than us. They were better than us in all areas.
“Of course it is going to be different at Wembley. The feeling the players have now is good because they know if they repeat this performance it will be the same result.
“We need to improve and we need to push ourselves a little bit more. We have to learn. If we want to compete with Liverpool, one of the best teams in England for many years, we have to raise our level.”
Klopp described Bradley, the 20-year-old Northern Ireland international, as “a joy” after he scored his first Liverpool goal and registered two more assists. “I just feel like I’m in a dream,” Bradley told TNT Sports.
The Liverpool manager said: “I knew he would be good because in my left ear I had [assistant manager] Pepijn Lijnders and in my right ear I had Vitor Matos [elite development coach]. I loved him from the first days and I didn’t need a lot of convincing. It is a joy to watch him since he comes back from injury and all credit to the academy.”
