Mauricio Pochettino is looking to “build a team that can match the mentality” of Chelsea after his side reached the Carabao Cup final with a 6-1 semi-final second-leg victory over Middlesbrough.
Jonny Howson’s own goal settled the Blues’ early nerves as further strikes from Enzo Fernandez, Axel Disasi, Noni Madueke and a Cole Palmer brace booked their place at Wembley on February 25 against either Liverpool or Fulham.
Boss Pochettino said: “The most important thing is keeping the focus, seeing reality in the way we need to see the reality and see the difference between what is Chelsea and what is the team we are building.
From Stamford Bridge to Wembley! 😎#CFC | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/AGhHKkAqjL
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 23, 2024
“They are two different things. Our challenge is the history of Chelsea, the capacity to win titles and build a team that can match the mentality of this club.”
Ben Chilwell started for the first time since recovering from a hamstring injury and impressed at left-back.
Pochettino felt Chilwell and goalscorer Disasi set a standard with their performances and now wants to see such displays consistently.
“They were important today but we need to be consistent,” Pochettino added.
“Players like Chilly could do 65 minutes but the objective is to arrive at 80 minutes, hopefully do the 90 minutes, and then be consistent playing every two or three days. That is the most important thing.
“Now we need to help players like him to get their best form, but at the same time we are competing. We can think we are going to play with Chilly or Reece (James), but we know then after 10 or 15 minutes of the second half we have players that we need to change.
“They were important but with Chilly it is after five months we couldn’t use him. We were using different players like Levi Colwill or Marc Cucurella, who is also injured. We have two right-backs that today we couldn’t count on in Reece James and Malo Gusto, so we are using Axel.”
Chelsea’s recent upturn in form has seen them pick up three successive Premier League wins and they now have a cup final to look forward to.
Pochettino has seen a marked improvement in his side since the beginning of the season and said reaching Wembley was an objective from the start.
“The results are good, we are improving since the beginning of the season,” Pochettino added. “In all the circumstances we need to be happy because we are competing with a lot of things going on again and to reach the final was the first objective from the beginning.”
