EXCL: Massive missed opportunity, Playing for penalties was very surprising, cultural or psychological problems? Next 4 games key for Pochettino, Mentality still an issue, More..

The Ben Jacobs Chelsea FC column - League Cup Review SPECIAL!

Chelsea's League Cup Final loss to Liverpool was hugely disappointing. It was a massive missed opportunity to win the first piece of men's team silverware under Clearlake-Boehly and secure European football.

Chelsea matched Liverpool over 90 minutes, but both sides somehow couldn't put the ball in the back of the next. Both Caoimhin Kelleher and Djordje Petrovic played their part in that, as did the woodwork and VAR.

Nicolas Jackson was given (or more accurately, drawn) offside for Raheem Sterling's disallowed goal in an incredibly tight decision. And at the other end Virgil van Dijk's header didn’t stand because Endo, who was offside, had impeded Levi Colwill. I actually thought this was harsh on Liverpool, even though I am sure Chelsea fans will argue Colwill was stopped from getting into the area where the ball would ultimately drop.

A similar incident happened in 2022 when Joel Matip's goal was disallowed because an offside van Dijk blocked off Reece James.

There were just so many 'nearly' moments for both teams. Had Chelsea won, none of them would have mattered. Similarly, had Liverpool lost they'd be pointing to van Dijk's disallowed goal, or perhaps even the poor Moises Caicedo challenge on Ryan Gravenberch which went unpunished. It was at least a yellow card. VAR couldn’t review it because no foul was given.

Overall, it was a tense game of fine margins and Chelsea competed for 90 minutes and finished regulation time strongly.

The real problem was extra-time. Mauricio Pochettino said the likes of Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher were tired and thus his players were "maybe playing for penalties". I found that a pretty surprising thing to say.