Chelsea fans watched as Mikel Arteta outcoached Mauricio Pochettino, who was helpless on the sidelines as the Blues were destroyed by five goals to nil on Tuesday evening.
Both teams went into the game with their agendas: Arsenal to increase their goal difference and earn three points to keep the pressure on Manchester City in the title race, and Chelsea, to increase their goal difference and draw closer to the Europan football spots which Manchester United currently occupies.
Arsenal ran out as the successful team in the end, both thanks to their home advantage and better coaching. The 5 – 0 scoreline is the largest defeat that the Blues have suffered this season, which made all their efforts in the last few weeks look like a waste.
A visibly distraught Pochettino blamed his team’s inconsistency for the loss and by extension, every issue that they have faced in their bid to return to the heights that they used to enjoy as Premier League giants.
“I feel disappointed, really bad,” said Pochettino. “The performance wasn’t good, we didn’t start the game in the way we were supposed to start. We conceded the goal too easy, we made things so easy for Arsenal, started the game losing the game and after that it was really tough. 10 or 15 minutes after we conceded, we started to play a little bit and create some chances, like we started the game again.”
“We were talking at half-time, saying it is not possible to start a game like that at this level, but we started in a bad way again in the second half and conceded two goals. Then I think the team gave up and we were not in the game.”
“The most difficult thing to accept is the way we started, because the last 30 minutes of the first half we competed well and the game was even and we started to force them to make some mistakes to create some chances.”
“Then in the second half, the way we started when it went 3-0. I think in this moment the team started to suffer a lot and struggled to manage the game.”
“It’s difficult because we are talking after nearly one season in the same way, but it’s impossible to see Saturday at Wembey a fantastic performance, competing really well against one of the best teams in the world like Manchester City, and then today.”
“You can lose games against a team like Arsenal that is fighting for the Premier League, but it is the way we compete, three days ago and then today. We needed to make changes to the starting line-up for different reasons, but that is the inconsistency we have been showing all season.”
“Three days ago it was a fantastic game, great performance and we deserved to go to the final. Today you can use any words to describe our performance, it wasn’t good.”
