Rinse and repeat. Chelsea and Liverpool played out yet another hard-hitting and aggressively-fought Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.
Given the injury problems Jurgen Klopp has had to deal with heading into this blockbuster showpiece, it meant that there were many young Liverpool players given starts and minutes from the bench.
But one part of the pitch where Liverpool had senior players from minute one until the end of extra time was at the heart of their defence, with winning-goal hero Virgil van Dijk and his partner in crime, Ibrahima Konate.
Gary Neville claimed that when Nicolas Jackson was subbed off, towards the end of normal time, the Liverpool duo were ‘happy’ to see the back of the Chelsea striker, as he told Sky Sports Football (24/02/24 at 4:50 pm).
The Manchester United legend felt that, despite Chelsea’s lack of ruthless nature in front of goal, the £30 million man was causing the opposition’s defence ‘problems’.
In the end, the problem of trying to stop Virgil van Dijk from dead-ball situations wasn’t dealt with by Chelsea, who conceded one controversial and ruled-out goal to the Dutchman, before he eventually got his reward in extra time.
Nonetheless, this is what Gary Neville had to say about Nicolas Jackson and how his substitution meant less work for Liverpool’s defensive duo.
Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate vs Nicolas Jackson
“I think Konate and van Dijk will be a little happy that Jackson’s gone off,’ said Neville.
“He was physically, and just from his running, causing them a problem.”
Liverpool embarrass Chelsea
If Liverpool had Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai fit, to name a few, then this would have been an easy win for the Reds.
But to lose to a bunch of kids is quite remarkable for Liverpool themselves, but highly embarrassing for Chelsea.
The pressure is going to seriously mount on the under-fire Mauricio Pochettino, who is yet to win a trophy during his time in England.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if this is the start of the end for the ex-Tottenham boss because he simply won’t survive this.
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