After Chelsea’s shocking 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, Mauricio Pochettino lamented his team’s wastefulness.
The Premier League team was in control at Riverside Stadium, but Cole Palmer wasted a lot of opportunities.
A goal from Hayden Hackney in the first half gave the Sky Bet Championship hosts a narrow lead going into the rematch at Stamford Bridge in two weeks.
The Blues manager, Mauricio Pochettino, said to Sky Sports, “We had too many chances to score where we didn’t score – that is football.”
“We are obviously disappointed. This is the tie’s first half. At Stamford Bridge, we have another ninety minutes, and we need to be optimistic.
“We were penalized for the mistakes we made.”
At the end of the game, a few of the Chelsea supporters who were traveling lost their tempers.
“If we evaluate the game, we were the better team overall. We create more opportunities and have a lot of them,” Pochettino said.
“But we were not clinical and we didn’t score, and that has happened a lot this season—we haven’t won many games because we weren’t clinical enough.”
“I thought the lads were exceptional, outstanding – effort and spirit were just off the scale, I’m just so, so proud of them,” Boro manager Michael Carrick stated. That evening was amazing.
“Dreams are part of football; things happen in cup competitions.” We probably shouldn’t have allowed tonight to happen, but we did, and the boys were amazing.
“We’ll go down there fully aware of what to expect, but that won’t stop us from moving forward.”
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