Chelsea ignore Mauricio Pochettino's comments with recruitment plan after Liverpool exposure

Chelsea are considering recruiting new coaches to help with set-pieces even though manager Mauricio Pochettino seemingly doesn't want them. Pochettino thinks that «football belongs to the players, not to the specialists».

Chelsea lost the Carabao Cup final to Liverpool on Sunday, with Virgil van Dijk scoring the winning goal from a corner after his earlier header following a free-kick had been disallowed. Pochettino's side have lagged behind other teams when it comes to goals from set-pieces this season.

In February, Pochettino said his players work on set-pieces with general coaches, while the analysis department is more specifically focused on dead-ball situations. Thiago Silva's goal against Wolves was Chelsea's sixth from a set play this term, with other teams into double figures already.

The Telegraph reports Chelsea want to bring in a club-wide set piece department. They reportedly started planning this before Pochettino became was appointed.

Before the game against Wolves, Pochettino spoke about how much Chelsea work on set-pieces, dismissing the idea of specialist coaches. He said: «We work a lot on set-pieces.

»We have specialists. We are a coaching staff in charge of everything. We have a group of analysts for set-pieces. After that, it is about the quality of the player. It is about the takers. We don't have a specialist. Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] is good in the delivery, but we don't have a specialist after that.

Every word Mauricio Pochettino said on Silva, Nkunku, Mudryk, Chelsea injury news and more

Chelsea drop double Chelsea injury hint as key duo set for return amid Christopher Nkunku update

“When you have good takers, and of course, Wolves have good takers, and like Manchester City have or other clubs.