Pochettino on dreams of trophy, challenge of facing Liverpool and recent form ahead of EFL Cup final (Full Presser)
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino on dreams of trophy, challenge of facing Liverpool and recent form ahead of EFL Cup final
Transcript
00:00 Can you give us any team news ahead of that?
00:07 I think we need to assess a few players, see if they can be involved Sunday.
00:14 And yes, we will communicate tomorrow if we can recover some players from injury.
00:22 Thiago Silva is in partial training, has he got a chance to start?
00:26 Yes, he has the chance. Tomorrow we'll see if he's ready to be involved in the game.
00:34 What does it mean to you to finally win a trophy in England?
00:39 Does it play on your mind at all that you still haven't managed to do that?
00:44 It's good that you say 'in England' because before when I was in Tottenham I was the first title coach.
00:51 I think it means a lot for us, the coaching staff, to have the possibility to arrive in the final
01:00 and to challenge a team like Liverpool to win our first title here after 11 years when we arrived in Southampton.
01:10 I think it's a dream for us, the coaching staff, and of course we have the possibility.
01:17 We have 90 minutes to achieve that and yes, we are going to fight.
01:23 I think the team is ready, we are going to be very competitive and it's an amazing chance for us.
01:29 You had that four-day spell around three or four weeks ago when you lost quite heavily to Liverpool,
01:35 you lost at home to Wolves. Can you give us an insight on how low you were, how low the players were then
01:41 and what was said to prompt this turnaround in the past few games?
01:45 It's true that it's different because it's never the same, the approach when you play in the Premier League
01:51 or when you play in a final and then in the neutral place like Wembley.
01:57 Of course it's going to be different, of course you always learn from the games that you play,
02:04 I think, to many things. Of course we arrived in this game with different circumstances
02:13 and now the circumstances have changed and it's difficult to compare and to say that it's going to have
02:19 some influence on the game that we played in the past.
02:23 But of course what you learn is that Liverpool is a very competitive team
02:29 and they can play well, so well, very good, not so good, but they are going to always be competitive
02:39 and we need to match that competitivity. We need to be competitive, we need to be really to manage
02:47 some moments during the games. And I think in the last few weeks we were learning a lot,
02:54 I think we stepped up from that and I think we arrived in a very good momentum,
03:01 we arrived in a very good condition and I think after Wolves competing against Aston Villa, Palace
03:10 and of course Manchester City, I think provided the team a little bit of confidence and trust.
03:17 The team is starting to be now awake of the competition, it was a click to change in the way to compete,
03:32 that we were missing maybe in the first part of the competition and on the season.
03:37 But I need to say that because of too many circumstances, again, the team that did not provide us
03:46 or didn't give the possibility to compete better. But I think it's too many things for sure
03:52 and of course the circumstances are completely different from us and from them and see how they arrive
03:57 and see how we arrive. But for sure it's going to be completely different because it's a final and it's Wembley.
04:12 Yeah, because he's one of the best, with Pep, coaches in the world.
04:19 He's clever enough and he knows that when you arrive and you play a final, always circumstances can happen.
04:27 And of course, I think if they are not the favourites, we are not the favourites.
04:33 It's a final that you cannot say is a favourite. If he said that, for me it's Liverpool a favourite
04:42 because after I think eight years, you know, and in the last few years they have the experience to compete
04:51 like a team and be involved in different finals. And I think for many of our players,
04:59 they are not only new in this competition, in the Premier League, in the Carabao Cup,
05:05 if not for some of them, it's maybe the first final, you know. That is why make favourite them,
05:12 under my opinion, but he's clever enough to say, OK, 50-50.
05:17 So Liverpool are favourites, yeah?
05:19 For sure. And he knows that it's like this.
05:21 Just a final one from me. You talked about 90 minutes on Sunday.
05:26 It could go to extra time, of course. It could go to penalties like the two finals in 2022.
05:31 Have you been practising penalties?
05:35 Regular, always weeks. We always shoot penalties and train, yes.
05:42 And then it's completely different. Some coaches say you cannot replicate the same stress in training
05:50 like after he's going to be in the competition. But of course, it's part of the...
05:56 also our idea is to practise penalties.
06:01 Thank you.
06:02 You're welcome.
06:03 BBC.
06:04 Hello.
06:05 You said there's been a change since the Liverpool game and probably since the Wolves game as well.
06:11 Is that a mentality thing? Is the mentality of the players changed?
06:14 It's not fair to say only mentality. I think too many things change.
06:20 I think always when it's... all the young teams always need time to be more mature
06:28 and improve in different areas. But it's not only in our mentality.
06:32 I think when we talk about playing football or competing, I think it's in the whole areas
06:39 that you need to improve. And I think now the team is improving and maybe we have the chance
06:45 to be more consistent in the way that we compete. In the last three games, I think the team competed really well.
06:52 Was the Liverpool game and maybe more so the Wolves game a catalyst where you and the players said
06:56 something's got to change, it has to change? Because that was a real blow for us then.
07:01 I think for me it's not about to change. Of course, the transformation of the team
07:07 when you compete in a different way is about to be more mature and to be...
07:12 this type of process, you need that this type of thing happen.
07:17 And to really wake up about the situation. I don't know if it's wake up, but realise about that
07:26 when you experience some moment, you have the possibility to be different and to behave different.
07:36 The team always needs to learn from the good and the not so good experience.
07:42 And I think it was in a moment that for us was positive. After Liverpool, that was completely unfair,
07:51 the result, because I think if you watch again the game, there's a few penalties,
07:58 the penalty after five minutes was given, I think maybe changed completely the game.
08:06 But maybe that was good for us to feel the pain, negative situation again us,
08:13 and to be stronger now and to find the way to compete better and to start to see
08:26 that we need to live in a different way, the spirit of the team.
08:30 You can see that now the team, when it's on the pitch, before it starts the game,
08:36 they are all together, they talk, the communication is much better.
08:40 But always that needs to be natural. When you build a team, always things that need to be natural,
08:46 you cannot force to say, "Come on, you need to do this, to do that, to behave like this.
08:51 Now you need to be nice with your teammates. Now you need to help your teammates."
08:54 No, all this type of things arrive in a natural way. If it arrives in a natural way,
09:00 I think they are so strong. But if you force, when things are not natural, it never works.
09:08 What will your emotions be just before you come down the tunnel on Sunday,
09:12 and you've been brought here to win trophies, and here's your chance?
09:16 Yes, it's a chance there. And then for me, Wembley, Novosibirsk is like home,
09:20 because we play a lot there, and I think it's come back home, come back to your know-how's home.
09:32 Because I think after one year and a half competing there, we create a very good bond
09:36 between Wembley and the team and everyone there.
09:42 Yes, for sure it's going to be special, special to play there, and special in case to win.
09:49 I think we are going to give our best, to try to compete in our best,
09:52 and be better than Liverpool and deserve to lift the trophy.
09:58 Thank you.
10:00 Simon Athletic.
10:01 Have you decided who's in goal?
10:05 Yes, yes, yes.
10:06 Have you told them?
10:07 Yes, 99 per cent my team is in my head, of course.
10:10 Have you told the team?
10:12 Sorry?
10:13 Have you told the players?
10:14 No, not yet, not yet. Not yet, because always, you know, connection, communication,
10:21 you know, always things can happen, and I prefer tomorrow, or maybe after tomorrow.
10:29 Because I say tomorrow, you will start to find, you know, some information.
10:36 I know what you're saying about a lot of your players have not played at Wembley,
10:40 but Chelsea have lost their last five finals at Wembley.
10:44 The final start and finish and that's it, and you store in the box, you know,
10:51 because the final never a reference that is going to translate to, you know, to this final.
10:58 Of course, it's a history, and of course people pay attention,
11:04 but us, when we prepare the final, is not thinking in what happened one year ago,
11:10 two years ago, three years ago.
11:12 But of course, I respect, you know, your opinion and your question.
11:17 Tell me, tell me, tell me the question.
11:19 I was going to say, but can it actually be a good thing that a lot of your players
11:23 don't have the baggage, the bad memories of losing?
11:27 Yes, I think it's possible good things, and then not to be affected for the past.
11:34 And of course, in another way, you know, they need experience, you know, to play finals.
11:44 Always it's about having the experience and the capacity to manage.
11:47 I don't say the game, but of course all the preparation and how you arrive.
11:52 Last one for me. There's been a lot of chat about the amount of injuries Liverpool have had recently.
11:59 Do you have much sympathy given what you've experienced all season?
12:03 Yes, I understand always, you know.
12:06 I never like to see your opponent or teams that suffer, you know, injured players.
12:15 And of course, we emphasise, we understand that,
12:19 because we were dealing from the beginning.
12:22 And always it's difficult, I understand.
12:26 I think if I can say something, not to take it in a bad way,
12:34 I think always in the middle, when the dynamic is positive,
12:40 if you suffer some injury, always you can manage,
12:44 because the dynamic is positive and everything.
12:47 OK, you can, you know, support and you can find, you know, solutions that can work easily.
12:56 But when it's from the beginning, you need to create a positive, you know, dynamic.
13:03 If you are not capable from the beginning that the thing works,
13:06 always you are, always it's to try to change, to chase, you know, the rabbit.
13:13 No, it's in behind, in behind, in behind, in behind.
13:17 But I understand, I understand that the circumstances maybe are not easy today for the opponent,
13:23 but competition is competition.
13:26 We cannot, you know, complain, we cannot blame, you know,
13:32 we cannot find, you know, things that can affect it, you know, the players that are going to compete.
13:38 And for sure, Liverpool is going to be Liverpool.
13:41 And we need to go there thinking that we need to beat Liverpool.
13:46 Thank you. Last question in the broadcast section, Roman.
13:49 Mauricio, you consistently said that this team is a young team and needs time.
13:56 But some managers have said in the past that for finals, they are there to be won and not to be played.
14:02 How crucial...
14:03 I didn't say that we are going to go to play.
14:05 I said final, you start and stop and then you start.
14:08 That is why final is not about to play finals.
14:14 It's about to win the finals. Yes.
14:16 Right. I just wanted to say that. How crucial is this final to the project you are on now?
14:24 Maybe you need another people here, you know, sitting in my place.
14:29 For me, I am focusing on trying to win, but I cannot answer your question because it's not in my hand.
14:37 Thank you.