Inside Mauricio Pochettino's press conference ahead of Liverpool Carabao Cup final

And now the moment of truth was here, Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino speaking to the press with a smile on his face ahead of the club's biggest game since Clearlake Capital took over in the summer of 2022. 

It's just the League Cup some will say, but for the manager, this is a chance to win his first trophy on English soil, this is a chance to win the owners their first trophy since they bought Chelsea and a chance to buy himself time and earn the respect a manager of his standing deserves. 

The life of a top football manager can be daunting with so many media commitments, but this one was quite different in so many ways. So as part of LondonWorld's build-up to the League Cup final, here are some of the details observed from today's presser at Cobham. 

A packed room that suggests this game meant a lot to the watching world

Chelsea have lost their last five finals at Wembley, one journalist asked but the Chelsea boss snapped in straight away with the sharpness of a razor in his response: "But we don't prepare the game like that. We don't think about what happened in the past or the future we prepare the game for Sunday."

The 51-year-old came ready and would occasionally lighten up the room with "ohh that is a good question". After so many years in management, Pochettino knows that when the room is packed, he has to be smart with his answers and for large parts, it appeared he just kept on talking to eat away the time. 

He did give the best line in the written section when he suggested that referees should not be under pressure and urged them to give his team a fair chance of competing. 

He said: "It is no pressure for him. Maybe it is people who want to celebrate with Liverpool that he is leaving. I think what we need to be sure is we are going to compete and be fair in every single decision. I think when we played against Liverpool in Liverpool, I think too many decisions didn't go our way, not one key decision was for us. Two penalties were not given." Whatever Pochettino meant is open to interpretation.

Still appears to struggle to answer some of the questions.

There were a few times when the Argentinian certainly didn't like the questions or he just did not get it. For example, he responded to a question about what winning the League Cup would mean to his young squad. "I can't answer your question because it's not in our hands. 

In the paper section, there were a few more questions like that where he jumped in to try and take control or he just did not want to be dragged into talking about what the owners think or what it would mean to them.

Certainly made use of Jesus Perez, his assistant

One of the beauties of Pochettino is just the way he makes good use of his coaching staff, and for those who don't know- he always comes into the press conference with his assistant manager Jesus Perez who he says understands English better than him. On a few occasions, he turned to him, as if to say am I doing well? Or am I saying the right things? 

He also went back to him to try and explain some of the things he wanted clarity on. Overall, a busier day for Jesus in the press room than he would have anticipated.

A slight change in the timing of the presser

This is not a big deal as times change all the time- this presser was at half 12 instead of the 13:00 that the Chelsea manager often takes his presser but he still managed to be around five minutes late.