‘Billion-pound Bottle Jobs’ — Gary Neville Slammed Chelsea

Gary Neville, Sky Sports Pundit

“Billion-pound bottle jobs” are flayed by Gary Neville,  after Liverpool hammered Todd Boehly's Chelsea

News from Chelsea as the Blues lose in the Carabao Cup final late on after a chaotic extra period.

Following Virgil van Dijk's late header for Liverpool to win the Carabao Cup, Gary Neville delivered a harsh assessment of Chelsea. A lackluster performance against an inexperienced team saw the Blues give up with only a few minutes remaining in extra time at Wembley.

Nevile delivered his assessment of Chelsea's dismal performance after the 90th minute, calling the team "blue billion-pound bottle jobs" due to their excessive spending since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over in May 2022. Mauricio Pochettino's team ultimately came up short against an injury-ravaged Liverpool team that was clearly outmatched.

Following the goal that was initially disallowed due to a contentious foul, Van Dijk nodded in his second of the afternoon. Prior to Raheem Sterling's goal after 35 minutes, Chelsea had another one disallowed in the first half due to an offside call.

The game went into extra time for Chelsea and Liverpool's third consecutive domestic final due to missed opportunities on both ends, with both teams hitting the crossbar and being stopped by outstanding goalkeeping performances. During the final 30 minutes, Chelsea, a team mostly composed of high-priced acquisitions, found it difficult to maintain the late momentum.

Despite having a younger average than Liverpool's, the team was still unable to make an impact on the match thanks to a group of academy teenagers filling in. The players “shrunk,” according to Neville, who said they would “regret it for a long, long time” at full time. I have no sympathy for Pochettino's side, he continued.

He remarked, “That stings,” as the athletes accepted their runners-up medals. “You kind of thought Chelsea could have won at the beginning of the game because of all those injuries to Liverpool players. You felt Liverpool should have won when their young players came on.”