It’s the big cup final on Sunday afternoon and Mauricio Pochettino has a chance to win some silverware in England and pick up the first trophy under Chelsea’s new ownership. It could be a great day for all involved at the club, but they have the very tough task of Liverpool standing in front of them.
So how will Pochettino approach this one? Well, even though Liverpool are not Manchester City and they are also now suffering multiple absentees just like Chelsea are, I think we need to approach this one just as we did on Saturday against Man City, with the blueprint already there.
This means take the game to Jurgen Klopp’s side and back yourselves and your own ability. We had chances to go in 2 or 3 up by half time at City on Saturday, and if we go at this game on Sunday in the same way and with the same attitudes, we have a chance to do that against Liverpool as well.
Contain and put numbers behind the ball when we need to, and look to counter attack. We can be truly devastating on the counter attack if we have more finesse in front of goal. If we can do that, we can put the game to bed.
I do think that the subs we made in the second half were too early and overly cautious. And this is what I mean by setting the blueprint for this game. Keep the belief, and keep backing ourselves. Because for 45 minutes at least, we were better than City on Saturday. And we can be better than Liverpool on Sunday, especially now they are also suffering from big injury numbers like ourselves.
I’m not stupid though, I remember the last game against Liverpool just a few weeks back, and I know we are also capable of being truly embarrassed. But if we stand up to them and show no fear like on Saturday against City, then we stand a decent chance of bringing that trophy home on Sunday night and providing us all with a reason to celebrate after a long 19 months since the new owners took charge of the club.
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