Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea decision exposed as two stars outperform Liverpool ace Jayden Danns

One of Mauricio Pochettino's biggest problems at Chelsea, amongst the many, is that when things are going poorly there is rarely an excuse not to change. During the 3-2 win over Leeds, the Blues got away with one.

The side was rotated but still included a midfield pair that had played 120 minutes in an intense cup final just three days earlier. Part of the reason both Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez have been handed such vast amounts of minutes in decent weeks is for a lack of being open to using the wider squad.

As opposed to Jurgen Klopp, who made six changes to his Liverpool side at Wembley on Sunday when taking to the field against Southampton — a team that was already heavily depleted due to injury — Pochettino has not been as flexible. The answer, for Klopp, has been turning to those from the Kirkby academy.

As a club that boasts one of the best — and Chelsea will argue being industry-leaders — academies in the land, there is once more little excuse not to be more open to the same calls. It was Liverpool's kids, who are largely of a similar age to those in the Chelsea squad, yes, but did not cost the hundreds of millions and do tend to have less senior experience, that have shone this week.

Meanwhile, at Stamford Bridge there have been miles and miles placed in the legs of those that were already flagging.As Pochettino took to defending what was a sluggish display against Championship opposition — no matter how good — there is a sense of irony to his words.

«Enzo and Moi are playing and playing,» he said after the win. «We don’t have players to sub and rest. The changes were because we needed to give some rest.» The issue is, having been played off the park by academy players just 72 hours prior, Pochettino has a