'I think we deserved it' - Pochettino rues Carabao Cup loss after tough week

Mauricio Pochettino believes his Chelsea players have learned to "understand each other" after what he called the hardest week of his Stamford Bridge tenure.

The extra-time defeat to Liverpool in last Sunday's Carabao Cup final denied his young side, who are 11th in the Premier League, the chance to lift silverware in what has so far been a trying season.

They were then given a scare by Championship side Leeds on Wednesday, requiring a last-minute goal from Conor Gallagher to win through to the FA Cup quarter-finals having fallen behind early and then been pegged back to 2-2 in the second half.

There has been much criticism of the nature of the loss at Wembley, coming after the team missed a host of chances during normal time and failed to win out against a Liverpool side beset by injury and featuring four inexperienced academy graduates by the end of the game.

Pochettino was asked whether the fallout from that defeat has given him his toughest spell in the job since taking over in July last year.

"Maybe yes," he admitted. "We feel very disappointed. We had faith to win, we were so close. After 90 minutes we were the better side. The last 15, 20 minutes we created many big chances to score and win the game.

"Then the energy dropped and we didn’t keep the energy after 90 minutes. That’s why we lost the game. We’re all really disappointed because we put in too much energy to try to win. I think we deserved it.

"We met after the game (Sunday), in a different place away from Wembley. The players started to feel the good spirit. (They were) disappointed and (it was) painful.

"But Monday and Tuesday we were very open. All the players wanted to play. Some were tired with some problems, but everyone wanted to play against Leeds. That