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Mauricio Pochettino believes his Chelsea players have learned to “understand each other” after what he known as the toughest week of his Stamford Bridge tenure.
The extra-time defeat to Liverpool in final Sunday’s Carabao Cup closing denied his younger aspect, who’re eleventh within the Premier League, the prospect to raise silverware in what has to this point been a making an attempt season.
They have been then given a scare by Championship aspect Leeds on Wednesday, requiring a last-minute aim from Conor Gallagher to win by means of to the FA Cup quarter-finals having fallen behind early after which been pegged again to 2-2 within the second half.
There has been a lot criticism of the character of the loss at Wembley, coming after the workforce missed a number of probabilities throughout regular time and failed to win out in opposition to a Liverpool aspect beset by damage and that includes 4 inexperienced academy graduates by the top of the sport.
Pochettino was requested whether or not the fallout from that defeat has given him his hardest spell within the job since taking up in July final yr.
“Maybe yes,” he admitted. “We feel very disappointed. We had faith to win, we were so close. After 90 minutes we were the better side. The last 15, 20 minutes we created many big chances to score and win the game.
“Then the energy dropped and we didn’t keep the energy after 90 minutes. That’s why we lost the game. We’re all really disappointed because we put in too much energy to try to win. I think we deserved it.
“We met after the game (Sunday), in a different place away from Wembley. The players started to feel the good spirit. (They were) disappointed and (it was) painful.
“But Monday and Tuesday we were very open. All the players wanted to play. Some were tired with some problems, but everyone wanted to play against Leeds. That speaks highly about the squad.
“They are learning, to compete all together, to feel each other, to know how they behave in this level when it’s a final, with not too much experience.
“They start to understand each other, that’s the most important thing. After seven or eight months, we already know the profile of the players, how they behave.
“But it’s important for them to know each other, to know how they will react under high pressure and high stress.”
Defenders Thiago Silva and Marc Cucurella might be assessed forward of Saturday’s assembly with Brentford on the Gtech Stadium.
Silva has missed the final 5 video games with damage whereas Cucurella has not featured since early December.
However, Pochettino confirmed {that a} hamstring damage is probably going to hold Christopher Nkunku out for round 4 weeks.
The 26-year-old had to wait till December to make his Chelsea debut after becoming a member of from RB Leipzig in the summertime, having required surgical procedure on a knee damage picked up in pre-season.
He has made solely seven league appearances as he has struggled to attain match health, scoring twice.
“It’s bad luck to suffer again a setback,” stated Pochettino. “It’s tough for a player that hasn’t played too much this season.
“He came from Germany with some problems. He was so good in pre-season. It’s a difficult season for him. It’s difficult to accept.
“I say it’s bad luck because I don’t have the information and knowledge about medicine to say why this type of injury happens.”
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