Perhaps it was the snow that had started to fall at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham. But as Mauricio Pochettino looked ahead to his team’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Middlesbrough on Tuesday night, he was taken back to his first appearance at this stage of the competition.
It was 2014-15, his debut season at Tottenham, and they had also drawn lower-league opposition. For Middlesbrough from the Championship read Sheffield United, then of League One. After a 1-0 first-leg win, Pochettino took a side that was at the beginning of its journey to Bramall Lane. There was a blizzard that night; hailstones, the lot. And a lesson.
Spurs scored first for a 2-0 aggregate lead but, in a wild climax, Sheffield United got back to 2-2 before missing a chance for 3-2. In the end, Christian Eriksen got the decisive goal and Spurs advanced to a final against Chelsea, which they lost. It could have gone either way. On this type of occasion, in this type of competition, it is certainly wise to take nothing for granted. A respectful attitude is everything.
“Yes, Sheffield United in the semi-final, it was snowing, also … similar to today,” Pochettino said. “It wasn’t the Tottenham of today, we were in a different [moment]. But Tottenham versus Sheffield United … it’s Tottenham because of the history and size of the club. But it was really tough to beat Sheffield United.”
Pochettino wanted to draw another comparison; a few more, as it turned out. He first brought up the FA Cup tie against Preston on Saturday when his team laboured through a goalless first half, lacking thrust and aggression, before cutting loose to win 4-0.
“I tell you as I told the players … if I think that we are going to win in the first few minutes, I need to show but we didn’t show,” Pochettino said. “Our first possession, we moved the ball six times from one side to the other. We need to go to Middlesbrough and with the first chance … it’s good to build and keep possession but in the end, it’s to be aggressive.
“Possession is to find the best opportunity to go forward and be aggressive and direct. Sometimes we are confused and we were talking today about this type of thing, how we need to improve to be a more consistent team.”
It was put to Pochettino that the whole of England expected Chelsea to beat Middlesbrough over the two legs. Michael Carrick’s team sit 11th in the Championship, having lost six of their past 10 games in the competition. And as for the difference in budgets, well, let’s not even go there.
“Is it because of Chelsea’s history or [are we talking about] Chelsea of the last six months?” Pochettino interjected. He seemed to want to draw a distinction between the trophy-accumulating club of the recent past and the current version, which is trying to find itself.
Pochettino, who reported that Christopher Nkunku was out with a minor hip problem, was told it was purely because Chelsea remained a big Premier League club. “Yes, but yesterday I watched Barbastro vs Barcelona in the Copa del Rey [which Barcelona won 3-2],” he said. “There was also Arandina vs Real Madrid on Saturday [which Real won 3-1]. Really tough games. Barcelona were nearly out.
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“Even if Middlesbrough are in another division, we need to take them like they’re the best team in the world. Of course, people can think Chelsea is Chelsea. No. We are in the middle of the table. We’re not competing in the Champions League or Europa League. That is our reality. We need to be humble enough to realise.
“If we believe that we are Chelsea … because we use this badge, we are going to win tomorrow … I think we are going to be really wrong. It’s important to be humble enough to say we need to chase them, be aggressive and together, match their desire. In that case, maybe we will have the opportunity to win.”
There was slip of the tongue from Pochettino that felt particularly Chelsea-ish when he said the tie would be contested over “180 million” before correcting himself to “minutes”. He is palpably concerned about what happens in the first of them, how his players set the tone.
“The important thing is to enjoy the semi-final,” Pochettino said. “It’s not about feeling like it is compulsory for us to be in the final. That is when you start to limit yourself, to feel restrictions. You cannot play if you feel some pressure and you don’t feel fresh in your mind. We have talked a lot about going there and feeling free to play. The important thing is the approach, to start in a good way.”
