Mauricio Pochettino's Chelsea confession leaves more questions than answers after Liverpool loss

Mauricio Pochettino will be left to rue Chelsea's Carabao Cup final defeat against Liverpool for a long time. His first trophy in English football was there for the taking.

Pochettino and his Chelsea players passed up a golden opportunity, allowing Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool's team of kids to triumph under the Wembley arch. It was very much a captain's performance from the Dutchman and he was fully deserving of his 118th minute winner.

At a time when Chelsea should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck and won the Carabao Cup final, the 30 minutes of extra time proved to be an absolute nightmare for Pochettino and his team. Chelsea failed to capitalise on the introduction of Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke from the bench and just didn't even really look to make full use of the fresh legs and injection of pace against Liverpool's tiring backline.

By that point Jurgen Klopp had introduced four of his talented academy players and it was the Reds who instead dominated proceedings when Chelsea should have done exactly that. The Blues got exactly what they deserved two minutes from time as Van Dijk capped off a colossus performance with a superb header to send the Liverpool faithful delirious.

Pochettino will likely never have a better opportunity to break his duck in English football after previously failing to end Tottenham's trophy hoodoo. He may never get a better opportunity to kickstart his Chelsea tenure, either.

Already facing questions over his Stamford Bridge future at various points this campaign with his Chelsea team enduring such a mixed season to date, those questions may rear their head once again in the not too distant future if he cannot get consistent results from his players. Chelsea had appeared to