'Not fair!' - Pochettino takes on Neville over billion-pound bottle jobs nickname

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has rejected Gary Neville’s description of his side as “the blue billion-pound bottle jobs”. 

The Sky Sports pundit made his comment during the Carabao Cup final after Virgil van Dijk headed Liverpool into the lead late in extra time. 

By that stage the Reds looked out on their feet with injuries stacking up and academy players like Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns and James McConnell on the Wembley pitch. 

That was in stark contrast to Chelsea, who had a quarter of a billion pounds’ worth of central midfield talent alone on the field in the shape of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo. 

Furthermore, Chelsea were able to spring well over £150 million pounds’ worth of substitutes from their bench with players like Christopher Nkunku, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke coming on in a futile attempt to change the game for the Blues. 

Chelsea could not press home their advantage, losing out to a Liverpool side deprived of Ryan Gravenberch as a result of an ankle injury on the day and who were counting the cost of further injuries to 11 first-team players including Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah. 

Pochettino: Impossible to compare Liverpool and Chelsea

“I don’t hear what he said but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it is similar,” the Argentine said after the game when Neville’s jibe was put to him. 

“But look, I have a good relationship with Gary and I don’t know how I can take this but I respect his opinion. Of course, we made a few changes like Gallagher and Chilwell in extra time but it is true we didn’t keep the energy that was how we finished in the second half.

 “I don’t know how you can describe this situation but for sure I feel proud of the players, I think they made a big effort. 

“We are a young team and nothing to compare with Liverpool because they finished also with a few young players. It is impossible to compare and he knows that. He knows the dynamics are completely different. 

“I think it is not fair to talk in this way if he says that. But we are going to keep strong and believing in this project and see what we can do in the future.”

Chelsea have spent over £1 billion on new players since the Todd Boehly-led BlueCo investment vehicle took over in 2022 but have little to show for their efforts.