Summary Chelsea lost Carabao Cup final due to poor finishing and stellar goalkeeping by Kelleher, marking their sixth domestic cup final loss. Raheem Sterling’s subpar performance, including failed passes and dribbles, made Chelsea look a man down at Wembley. Lack of composure from Jackson and Sterling, who didn’t register a shot on target, highlights need for striker to convert chances.
Chelsea lost a tense Carabao Cup final to Liverpool yesterday despite having a string of chances throughout the match.
They were outdone by poor finishing and the brilliance of Anfield ‘keeper Caoimhin Kelleher meant it was the sixth successive English domestic cup final that the Blues had lost.
Throughout the match, several Chelsea players did impress, and they came close to opening the scoring on numerous occasions, most notably when Raheem Sterling had the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed due to offside.
The Englishman was one of their weakest links, however, failing to rise up to the occasion.
Raheem Sterling’s match in numbers vs Liverpool
If Nicolas Jackson had held his run for a fraction of a second, Sterling would have netted the opener, but aside from that, the former Manchester City wizard offered nothing.
The winger took just 19 touches and completed only eight passes during his 67 minutes on the pitch, and he even failed to succeed with any of his three dribble attempts.
Sterling even managed to lose every single duel he contested as he was easily bullied off the ball and his overall performance simply meant Chelsea looked like they were down to ten men.
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He wasn’t just the main villain though, as Jackson had a chance to make himself a hero for the Stamford Bridge side in his first cup final since arriving last summer, but he too failed to make an impact at Wembley.
Nicolas Jackson’s statistics vs Liverpool
While Jackson may have been slightly more involved during the match than Sterling, as he made a key pass, won six of his 15 contested duels and succeeded with two of his four dribble attempts, his lack of composure did not bode well for Chelsea.
The striker completed just 12 passes throughout the 90 minutes, which was alarmingly 15 fewer than goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic, while only taking 31 touches, showing that when he had the ball at his feet, the former Villarreal forward was rather wasteful.
Liverpool were there for the taking during spells of the final yesterday, and the Blues had a variety of chances to score, but they were outfoxed by their opponents time and time again with Jackson arguably having one of the better chances in the game.
Sent over the top by Enzo Fernandez, the forward raced towards goal only to be denied as Ibrahima Konate dashed back to help deny him. In truth, Jackson really should have found the net.
Mauricio Pochettino would have been counting on his two biggest attacking threats to pose more of a danger to the Liverpool defence, yet they both failed to even register a shot on target during the match.
There is no doubt this Chelsea side will eventually come good, especially with the sheer volume of young talent present in their squad, but will it be Pochettino who brings out the best of his so-called 'billion pound bottle jobs'?
Both Jackson and Sterling need to show big improvements heading into the future, as their display at Wembley yesterday was far from good enough, and it shows that in order to win a major trophy, Pochettino simply has to have a proper out-and-out striker to convert chances.
Between now and May, the Argentinian must raise morale for the Blues to move into the top half of the Premier League table, otherwise he may be handed his P45 at the end of the campaign.