Mauricio Pochettino responds to Gary Neville’s ‘billion-pound bottlejobs’ Chelsea claim after Liverpool defeat in Carabao Cup final

Mauricio Pochettino has responded to Gary Neville labelling his Chelsea team as the ‘billion-pound bottlejobs’ after their Carabao Cup final loss to Liverpool.

Chelsea fell to defeat following Virgil van Dijk’s late header in the final minutes of extra-time after the game finished goalless after 90 minutes.

Pochettino’s side were unable to dispatch a countless number of chances in normal time before they ran out of steam in extra time. The Chelsea boss even admitted that his players were playing for penalties.

This was despite Liverpool having several inexperienced youngsters brought into the fold and having minimal control of the game going into the extra minutes.

After full-time, Sky Sports co-commentator and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville labelled the game as “Klopp’s kids vs the Blue Billion-Pound Bottlejobs”.

Neville’s comments were brought up to Pochettino during his post-match press conference, and the Chelsea manager admitted that his team’s energy levels dropped in extra time but pushed back and stated that he also had a young team on the pitch.

“I don’t hear what he said, but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it’s similar,” he began.

“I have a good relationship with Gary. I don’t know how I can take his opinion, but I respect his opinion.

“We made a few changes, like Gallagher and Chilwell in extra-time. But it’s true, we didn’t keep the energy how we finished the second half.

“I don’t know how you can describe this situation, but for sure, I feel proud. They made a big effort. We are a young team and nothing to compare to Liverpool. He [Gary Neville] knows.”