MAURICIO Pochettino was happy with the way Chelsea recovered to earn a share of the spoils in today’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool.
The Merseysiders gave an early warning sign to the hosts of the danger they posed when Mo Salah struck the bar after just 12 minutes.
It was the Egyptian striker who turned provider for the Reds’ opener six minutes later with a low delivery into the danger zone finding Luis Diaz, who slotted home past Robert Sanchez.
Salah was involved again with a shot that was well blocked by Thiago Silva and must have thought he had doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 28th minute, only to be deemed offside by VAR.
But Chelsea were back on terms eight minutes before the break when Liverpool failed to clear the danger, allowing Ben Chilwell to head into the box and find Axel Disasi, who fired into the bottom corner from six yards.
And the hosts thought they were in front moments later but this time VAR intervened to chalk out an effort from Chilwlell for offside after he had rounded Alisson before firing into the net.
The lively Nicolas Jackson should have given Chelsea an interval advantage but blazed over from close range after being picked out by Reece James’ cross.
The second half wasn’t quite as frantic with chances few and far between.
Virgil van Dijk curled an early angled effort just over, Chilwell placed an attempt straight at Alisson and then the Liverpool keeper thwarted Jackson after the Senegal striker burst clear into the box.
In stoppage time substitute Darwin Nunez saw a dangerous looking shot deflected behind for a corner before Mykhailo Mudryk was denied an effort on goal by Liverpool’s defence.
But for Pochettino, who was making his Chelsea managerial debut, a point was the least his new side deserved.
He said: “I think in the beginning it was tough. It was difficult.
“Liverpool were better after 15 or 20 minutes but after we start to feel comfortable on the pitch.
“We started to find our ways to play and find our precision – all that we were working on in the training ground.
“I think that after, the performance was really good.
“We scored and then we showed a great performance and good effort. I’m so pleased with the performance.
“Overall I think we deserved to win because we only conceded one shot on target.
“Against a team like Liverpool that is a credit to the players and of course I am so pleased.”
The build-up to today’s game was dominated by Chelsea’s tug of war with opponents Liverpool to land Moises Caicedo from Brighton.
Pochettino didn’t address that directly in his post-match press conference but did make clear once again his belief that the Blues still need fresh faces.
He explained: “We need to improve the squad but that is not new.
“We are working really hard and I am so happy with the way we are working with various people and of course the owner.
“For sure we are going to improve the squad. It is about finding the right profile, the right player to create a combination that we are going to be maybe more solid.
“But the team was solid. We concede only one shot on target against Liverpool.
“I don’t know if we can be more solid than the 100 minutes we played today but for sure we need to create more chances to have the capacity maybe to score more goals.
“But I think this is the first step. I think we are in a very good way. I am so pleased and now we cannot wait until Tuesday to start again because we have a week to start to push the players.”
