Mauricio Pochettino: Chelsea boss confident he retains backing of club's owners after Carabao Cup final defeat

Mauricio Pochettino is confident he retains the backing of Chelsea's owners but conceded his future was out of his hands after defeat in the Carabao Cup final increased scrutiny of his position.

The under-fire Argentine said he had supportive conversations with the club's co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali following Sunday's 1-0 extra-time loss to Liverpool.

Defeat at Wembley sparked further criticism of Pochettino and his expensively-assembled squad - including scathing comments from Gary Neville - as they failed to overcome inexperienced rivals who were missing a host of star names.

Chelsea, who are languishing in 11th place in the Premier League and sit closer to the relegation zone than the top four, return to action on Wednesday evening at home to Championship club Leeds in the FA Cup fifth round.

• Paul Merson says: Chelsea are stuck and lacking direction
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• Pochettino rejects Gary Neville's 'bottlejobs' label | 'It's not fair to talk in this way'

"I said hello to the owners when I saw them in the stadium and after [the final] I met Behdad and we were talking," said Blues boss Pochettino, who has lost forward Christopher Nkunku to another injury.

"We were sharing our opinions about the game and the opportunity we missed to win a trophy because I think we played really well during the 90 minutes.

"We created the best chances, we were not clinical enough but that is what has happened since the beginning of the season.

Merson says: Chelsea are stuck and lacking direction

Paul Merson says Chelsea are a club stuck and lacking direction but the Sky Sports pundit believes Mauricio Pochettino should stay at Stamford Bridge because of a lack of alternative options.

"They [the owners] showed their support and after the game, Todd sent a nice message."

Asked if he would be given time to turn things around, Pochettino replied: "It's not in my hands. We have a very good relationship with the owners, with the sporting director.

"It's up to them to trust or not. It's not the coach's decision."

Poch: Neville criticism unfair

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Sky Sports pundit Neville labelled Chelsea "blue billion pound bottle jobs" following their cup final failure.

Pochettino believes the criticism is unfair but insists he respects the opinions of the media and former professionals.

"We need to put it all in context," he said. "Always I respect the opinion of every pundit. Gary, I have a very good relationship with him. Sometimes it can be unfair in my opinion and in that case I think it is unfair.

"After 90 minutes, we were the better side and we deserved to win. We were not clinical enough and then you always need some luck to score the goal and win the game. If we won the game after 90 minutes, then everyone would be talking in a different way today."

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The 51-year-old has been encouraged by the response of his underperforming players as they seek to keep alive their last chance of lifting silverware this season.

"I think we are all tired because always when you lose a final, it's not easy to recover," he said. "But I am so happy because they are really focused and they move forward.

"If you ask all the players if they want to be involved tomorrow [Wednesday] in the game, they spoke [about] revenge.

"Of course [I am] disappointed because we cannot win the Carabao Cup but we need to move on because we need to compete tomorrow.

"It wasn't difficult [to lift the players] because we cannot wait. Now we need to get the spirits up and move on and be ready for tomorrow because it's another competition where we want to go until the end."

'Nkunku out for three or four weeks'

France international Nkunku, who missed Chelsea's first 17 top-flight fixtures this term due to a knee issue, is set for up to a month on the sidelines with an unspecified injury sustained at the weekend.

"We need to see and evaluate every day but at the moment, it's three or four weeks maybe he's out, no more," Pochettino said of the 26-year-old summer signing from RB Leipzig.

Marc Cucurella, Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile, Carney Chukwuemeka, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu will also be absent for Leeds' visit to Stamford Bridge.

'Get rid of Poch? Who would come in?'

Sky Sports' Paul Merson:

"There's always talk about the manager at Chelsea.

"We always say get rid of managers, but if Pochettino were to go, who would come in? That's the problem.

"Who's about? Who would you take?

"Chelsea is a huge football club. People will talk about Roberto De Zerbi and he has done brilliantly at Brighton.

"However, there is a huge difference between Brighton and Chelsea. Brighton drew at home to Everton at the weekend and nothing is said. Meanwhile, Chelsea are 11th in the league and have been beaten by top-of-the-league Liverpool in a cup final and it's headline news. Chelsea weren't even favourites for the game, but it is a shock they haven't won.

"That's the difference when you are managing a massive club. The scrutiny is on a different level.

"Who are you going to bring in that can cope with that pressure? Bringing in Carlo Ancelotti to steady the ship and win a trophy is not going to help Chelsea at this stage.

"The club needs a plan. The worrying thing is that they had one, but whoever came up with it doesn't understand football."

Read Paul Merson's column on Chelsea in full.

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