MAURICIO Pochettino admits Chelsea’s wastefulness in front of goal cost them once again as Middlesbrough took a 1-0 first leg lead in tonight’s Carabao Cup semi-final.
Hayden Hackney swept home Boro’s winner from six-yards after being picked out by Isaiah Jones’ delivery to give the Championship side a narrow advantage going into the second encounter at Stamford Bridge in a fortnight.
Hackney’s goal came just five minutes after Cole Palmer intercepted a poor Jonny Howson pass, only to fire inches off target.
Palmer squandered two more decent opportunities in first half stoppage time and the Blues were unable to find an equaliser after the break despite half chances for Noni Madueke, Conor Gallagher, Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling.
It was an all too familiar tale from Pochettino’s side, something the manager accepted afterwards.
He told Sky Sports: “We made some mistakes and I think we were punished for that.
“In football that happens. I don’t need to be tough, I need to keep pushing.
“I’m disappointed because I think with the performance, overall we were the better side.
“We created more chances, clear chances but we didn’t score. We were not clinical and that has happened during the season.
“After six months it (has) happened a lot, so many games we didn’t win because we were not clinical enough.
“We have a lack of (ability) sometimes to score, not to create chances because we are creating too many chances but we are not scoring them.
“In this kind of game, if you do not score them it is difficult to win.”
Some of the travelling contingent who made the long trek north made their displeasure known at the final whistle, with Thiago Silva speaking to fans and trying his best to calm the situation down.
Poch said: “I didn’t see what was going on there after the game.
“I cannot say anything about that, only that of course we can understand that our fans should feel disappointed about that, but there is still 90 minutes to play.”
Boro will desperately try to defend their slender advantage when they arrive at the Bridge, with Pochettino fully aware all the expectation will be on his side to book a Wembley appearance next month.
“I think we re going to expect a similar game to today,” he said.
“We have 90 minutes to play and we need be competitive to win the game, to score goals and to go to the final.
“If not it is going to be our mistake.”
