Jamie Carragher left wowed by Mauricio Pochettino's brutally honest admission after Liverpool loss

Mauricio Pochettino admitted that it appeared Chelsea were hanging on for penalties in their Carabao Cup final loss against Liverpool.

The Reds were triumphant at Wembley despite having a depleted squad with regular starters Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota, Alisson Becker and Curtis Jones absent. It meant Jurgen Klopp could name only two senior outfield players on the bench and teenage rookies Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns were all introduced as substitutes.

Chelsea ended full-time the stronger but could not find a way past Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, with the game finishing goalless. It was expected that it would be the Reds forced into a rearguard action and hope for penalties in extra-time. But Klopp's side were by far the better outfit and Virgil van Dijk ensured a shootout was avoided and the silverware was claimed with a towering late header.

Pochettino, whose wait for a major trophy in England goes on, felt his side ran out of energy. The Chelsea boss said: "Look, of course that was difficult. Of course always some experience, some leadership inside the pitch helps but of course, after to be frustrated. The players feel the disappointment because we were so close to winning the game after 90 minutes and we feel a little bit to lose our energy.

"Some players like Gallagher and Chilly start to feel really, really tired and maybe use different players to go with and help. We need to change Gallagher after five minutes and then in the start of the second 15 minutes, I think Chilwell. The team started to feel that maybe the penalties will be good for us.

"But we cannot blame, we cannot say nothing. I think the effort was massive. I am happy with the effort. It's about to keep believing in that. We didn't get the reward we wanted, but now we keep moving."

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville called Chelsea 'blue billion-pound bottle jobs' for failing to get past a fledgling Liverpool side. Ex-Reds defenders Jamie Carragher was also left surprised by Pochettino's penalty admission. He wrote on X: "Wow! Felt like that watching the extra time."