Not all losses are created equal \u2014 and no defeat in football is worse than a banter one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn extra time, it\u2019s been Klopp\u2019s kids against the blue billion-pound bottle jobs,\u201d said Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville, succinctly and indisputably establishing the dominant narrative of a surreal Carabao Cup final almost as soon as Virgil van Dijk<\/a>\u2019s glanced header had settled in the far corner of Djordje Petrovic<\/a>\u2019s net.<\/p>\n Liverpool<\/a> had not just beaten Chelsea<\/a> at Wembley (again), they had done so in a manner that validated the \u201cmentality monsters\u201d culture that Jurgen Klopp has cultivated \u2014 apparently throughout the age groups at Kirkby as well as the first team \u2014 over the last nine years, while mercilessly exposing the fatal flaws in the lavish investment project at Stamford Bridge funded by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital over the past two.<\/p>\n In the bowels of Wembley after the match, a despondent Mauricio Pochettino wearily assumed the task of pointing out the nuance in the narrative. \u201cI don\u2019t hear what he said but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it is similar,\u201d Chelsea\u2019s head coach said when asked about Neville\u2019s line. \u201cLook, I have a good relationship with Gary. I don\u2019t know how I can take his opinion, but I respect his opinion.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are a young team. Nothing to compare with Liverpool because they also finished with young players. It\u2019s impossible to compare, and he knows that the dynamics are completely different. We were playing Liverpool and Chelsea, Chelsea and Liverpool, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to speak in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n The youth vs experience dynamic at Wembley was not as clear-cut as Neville made out. Liverpool\u2019s on-pitch XI had an older average age than Chelsea\u2019s at the start of the match and at the start of extra time. Van Dijk, a 32-year-old now with 11 major trophies to his name, was the outstanding outfield player throughout and found the net with two headers worthy of winning a final, only one of which survived VAR review.<\/p>\n But the counter-argument becomes hard to sustain when the other team includes two 19-year-olds, Bobby Clark<\/a> and James McConnell<\/a>, who have each played fewer than 10 professional games and another (Jayden Danns<\/a>) who was making his second senior appearance. Chelsea undoubtedly lost to several kids; the more important question is: did they bottle it?<\/p>\n Chelsea showed unmistakeable signs of nerves at Wembley. Axel Disasi<\/a> twice ignited Liverpool transition attacks by fumbling the ball under little pressure. Malo Gusto<\/a>, usually so sure-footed, controlled passes straight out of play on several occasions. Levi Colwill<\/a> booted an attempted pass out to Ben Chilwell<\/a> miles upfield and had to be told to calm down by Enzo Fernandez<\/a>, who played sloppy passes with startling frequency.<\/p>\n Further forward, Conor Gallagher<\/a> wrestled with an eerily similar cocktail of bad luck and poor composure in front of goal that afflicted fellow Cobham graduate Mason Mount against the same opponents in the same stadium in 2022.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, as the clock ticked towards the end of 90 minutes it was Chelsea who looked likelier winners, with Cole Palmer<\/a> picking apart a Liverpool team whose legs appeared to have gone. It was at this point that Klopp made a decision that arguably no other elite coach would have made: to place the fate of a major trophy in the hands of unproven youth rather than go into retreat with experience and play for penalties.<\/p>\n His choice transformed this Carabao Cup final into the spiritual sequel of Chelsea\u2019s bizarre 4-1 win over nine-man Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> in November: a situation where convincing victory is the only acceptable outcome and anything less brings total humiliation. Pochettino had to guide his team through 20 nervy, aimless minutes that night before they overcame the fear of looking ridiculous \u2014 of being on the receiving end of a banter loss \u2014 and got on with winning the game.<\/p>\n Klopp\u2019s own \u201cit\u2019s just who we are, mate\u201d moment seemed to sink Chelsea into a similar mental crisis at Wembley that lasted for most of extra time, compounded by their\u00a0fading energy levels. At half-time of their pitifully tentative showing in the added period all of Chilwell, Disasi and Moises Caicedo<\/a> could be seen prostrate on the pitch receiving attention for cramp.<\/p>\n Not losing superseded winning as Chelsea\u2019s top priority. \u201cThe team started to feel that maybe the penalties will be good for us,\u201d said Pochettino, making an admission of weakness that is being held against him and this group of players in the acrimonious aftermath.<\/p>\n Finals define the clubs, players and coaches who contest them. Klopp has lost his fair share over the years but never through passivity, and that ironclad commitment to the idea of who Liverpool are carried the day at Wembley. Chelsea\u2019s identity as expert winners of finals began to slip in the final years of Roman Abramovich\u2019s ownership; this is now seven cup final defeats in their last eight visits to the national stadium, and six in a row.<\/p>\n Doubts about Pochettino\u2019s ability to reverse that trend will only intensify. In five years at Tottenham, he built impressive teams who fell just short of winning and despite his avowed emphasis on the power of positive energy, his callow Chelsea were undone by Klopp\u2019s peerless mastery of psychological momentum.<\/p>\n Liverpool at full strength are vastly better than Chelsea but they won the Carabao Cup final not through superior talent, but superior mentality, coupled with an unmistakeable sense of identity that binds the first team and academy together \u2014 in other words, things that Boehly and Clearlake\u2019s money cannot simply buy.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to feel the pain,\u201d Pochettino said of his Chelsea players. The pain of this banter loss will be hard to shift, immortalised by Neville\u2019s brutal words.<\/p>\n
\n Cole Palmer is denied by Caoimhin Kelleher (Julian Finney\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/02\/25164819\/CONOR-GALLAGHER-CARABAO-scaled.jpeg\")
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\n Gallagher fluffed several chances (Mike Hewitt\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2024\/02\/25164757\/POCH-scaled.jpeg\")
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\n Pochettino\u2019s face sums up the Chelsea mood (Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n