Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday bemoaned a familiar lack of cutting edge after his team lost the first leg of their League Cup semi-final 1-0 to Championship side Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
Hayden Hackney scored the only goal on 38 minutes as Pochettino’s expensively assembled array of stars again failed to perform away from home.
Chelsea have lost five of their past six away games and 21 times on the road since the beginning of last season — the most of any Premier League team.
Photo: AFP
The Blues must turn the tie around when the sides meet again at Stamford Bridge on Jan. 23 to avoid heaping more pressure on Pochettino’s position during a disappointing first season in charge for the Argentine.
“If we assess the performance overall we were the better side, had clear chances, but we didn’t score and weren’t clinical,” Pochettino said. “It happened a lot this season.”
Boro boss Michael Carrick could have been forgiven for cursing his luck after losing top scorer Emmanuel Latte Lath to injury after just three minutes.
Carrick was also forced to withdraw Alex Bangura inside 20 minutes, but the second-tier side were not fazed.
“It’s very special,” the former Manchester United midfielder said. “I know it’s a two-legged affair and there is still all to play for, but for what we’ve had to go through, the injuries, the setbacks we’ve had, to beat a team of Chelsea’s quality is unbelievable.”
Middlesbrough had not scored against Chelsea for more than 17 years. The Blues had won the past nine meetings by an aggregate score of 21-0.
However, the home side ended that drought eight minutes before halftime.
The pace of Isaiah Jones down the right caused Chelsea’s makeshift leftback Levi Colwill problems all night and his low cross was turned in by Hackney from close range.
Chelsea should have at least been level at the break had Cole Palmer maintained his fine scoring form in front of goal.
The former Manchester City academy graduate has been one of Chelsea’s few big money signings to hit the ground running under Pochettino.
However, Palmer twice failed to hit the target with glorious first-half chances.
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