Speaking to Gambling Zone, ex-France international and Premier League star William Gallas looks back at Chelsea's performance against Man City and looks ahead to the Carabao Cup Final.
- Sterling not the same player for Chelsea as he was at Man City
- Levi Colwill can become heir to Thiago Silva
- Anything can happen in the Carabao Cup Final between Liverpool and Chelsea
On The Carabao Cup final
Poch spoke about the belief the Manchester City result would give his team. How do you think he will prepare his players for the final on Sunday throughout the week?
I think that Poch’s preparation for the Carabao Cup on Sunday will be very simple, especially after the performance against Manchester City. The players will be analysing that game at the beginning the week and they will be looking to keep that same standard when they play Liverpool in the final.
OK, a final is completely different to a game in the Premier League. It is a one-off occasion with a unique atmosphere. They will be playing against the team that are currently on the top of the Premier League, but they have their own challenges too. Liverpool have quite a few players that are injured, but they still have Salah available and probably Darwin Nunez.
They’ve lost Jota. They’ve lost Alexander-Arnold, but they still have quality.
It doesn’t matter how you play in a final, you just have to win it. Finals are all about getting results. It’s simple. It’s not about playing good football and making people happy, it’s about winning. You go to Wembley, and you go to win. You need to have a good spirit and you need to be prepared to fight for ninety minutes. Don’t be scared on the ball. Give everything. It’s simple.
For you, it all started with this trophy. How special was it to lift your first trophy for Chelsea when you won the League Cup in 04-05?
It’s very difficult for me to compare the Chelsea team that I won the League Cup in with this one because we were at a different development stage. We were top of the league and had a team of experienced, world-class players that were ready to do something special as a group for the very first time.
It was very difficult for the other club’s in England to beat us. When we played that final in 04-05, against Liverpool funnily enough, all the players had the confidence and the belief that we were capable of winning the game.
A final is a final. You never know what can happen, but when you play a final, you must tell yourself: ‘Maybe this will be my last one’. There are only four domestic trophies that a player can win every season, you have to work really hard to get to any final. For the young players in the Chelsea squad, that should be how they are thinking about this game. Of course, most of these guys have plenty of time in their careers, but you never know what is going to happen in football.
When I lifted the trophy, it was an amazing feeling. You think about the sacrifices you made to get there and experience that feeling. Every time a player lifts a trophy, it feels amazing.
Chelsea have nothing to lose in the final
Poch pressure different than Chelsea players
Chelsea’s players have nothing to lose. They will be going into this game as the underdog, and they just have to go for it. It’s different for Pochettino. If he doesn’t win this competition, then that means that he has failed this season. His season will finish empty-handed, and he will not have achieved any of his targets this year because Chelsea will not qualify for the Champions League.
The Carabao Cup is an opportunity for Pochettino to save his season.
Does Poch need a trophy to demonstrate to some of these Chelsea players that he is a coach that can win?
That is a stupid question (laughs)! Everybody needs a trophy! People can say, “Oh they play nice football, the players did well. No.” At the end of the day, you’re in football to win and to experience the feeling of lifting a trophy. You know what I mean?
If it happens (Chelsea winning the Carabao Cup) then you must look at his (Pochettino’s) reaction. He will be so happy.
Predictions for the Carabao Cup final
Anything can happen in a final. When we played Liverpool when I won it in 04-05, they were struggling in the Premier League – I think they were in eighth position, and we were top of the league. This time around, it is Chelsea who are in mid-table and Liverpool are top of the league, so it will be hard for Chelsea to lift the trophy and you have to say that Liverpool, even with key players missing, will be going into this game as the favourite.
But, just like the City game, Chelsea went there and were expected to lose and surprised them. Perhaps there can be a similar story on Sunday afternoon when the two teams meet at Wembley.
I don’t think Chelsea will win, but as a former Chelsea player my heart is for a victory for Chelsea. We know that Klopp is on the way out of Liverpool and the players will be extra motivated to get a result for him. Like I mentioned before, players must approach these games thinking that they could be their last. If Liverpool win this trophy, then they will draw level with Manchester United on overall trophies with sixty-eight each. Maybe the players know about this – I’m sure Klopp does (laughs)! I think Liverpool will be ready to win on Sunday.
On Arsenal
Arsenal ruthlessly dispatched Burnley. Are we seeing a more mature Arsenal this season?
To win that game that 0-5 sends out a good message, especially off the back of beating West Ham away 0-6. After the victory against Liverpool, it looks like all the players in the Arsenal squad have gained confidence. They really believe that something can happen this season.
They played a clinical game and wanted more goals after the fifth went in. That shows you how determined these players are to send a strong message to their title rivals.
Odegaard is behind De Bruyne in terms of Premier League playmakers
Martin Odegaard is behind De Bruyne when we’re talking about the most creative midfielder in the Premier League. De Bruyne was making the difference as soon as he came back from his injury.
Odegaard put in a very good performance against Burnley, and he has looked back to his best in the last couple of games, but he needs to that every single weekend. I want him to put in those type of performances in the biggest matches against the biggest clubs and make the difference. I want him to give those performances when Arsenal need him. I want to see him making the difference in vital games.
I’m waiting to see what Martin Odegaard does in the next big game.
Ferdinand claimed Saka not world class
Rio Ferdinand said the Saka isn’t world-class. Does he need glasses, William?
People like to speak about a player’s stats. Completed passes, dribbles, but the only stats that matter for a wide attacking player like Saka are goals and assists. Right now, Saka has twelve goals and seven assists in twenty-four games, so it looks like he will improve on his numbers from last season where he scored fourteen goals and registered seven assists in thirty-eight Premier League games.
At Arsenal, he is one of their most important players; he is certainly one of the most dangerous attackers in Arsenal’s squad.
You have to look at the players around the world who play in his position. There are few players in the world that are doing what he is doing right now. He is still young, but, when you look at his output, I must call him a world-class player.
He is a big player for England, and they will be relying on him at the European Championships this summer.
The Premier League is the best league in the world. If you’re looking at young wide attacking players, then you should compare Saka with Vinicius Junior at Real Madrid. One plays on the left; one plays one the right. The Premier League is more intense than La Liga. If Saka was playing in a different league, then he would create a lot of damage. I would say that he is a world-class player.
It’s been reported that Real Madrid will be signing Kylian Mbappe, but last week he was linked with a move to Arsenal. Was that a dream for Arsenal fans?
Oh no, come on. People like to make stories to sell papers. Come on. Did you really think that Mbappe was going to come to Arsenal? I’m sorry. It doesn’t mean that I don’t respect Arsenal, I respect Arsenal, it’s just that Mbappe has had a career strategy in his mind for a long time and his strategy was to move to Real Madrid.
If you look at Real Madrid, there is a massive opportunity for him there. There isn’t a big striker currently at the club and he can be the main man at Real Madrid for the next five years. The Madrid road is wide open and it is one he will take. All the lights are green!
It’s a great move for him.
On Porto vs Arsenal
You mentioned to me earlier in the season that Arsenal could do something special in the Champions League this season. Are you expecting them to send a message to the rest of the teams in the competition when they travel to Portugal this week?
I think Arsenal will travel to Portugal with a lot of confidence. They look like they are ready to put in another good performance that could send a message to the rest of Europe.
If you look at the way they play, over the last two weeks, we’ve seen Arsenal scoring a lot of goals. They are playing good football. I think Arsenal are playing in a similar way to Manchester City because of everything that Arteta has learned from Pep – the teams play the same way.
The Premier League is so intense. To play against Porto, OK, it won’t be easy, but I think they will surprise Porto and I expect them to get a good result there. I see Arsenal winning this game.
On Arsenal vs Newcastle
On Saturday night, Arsenal take on Newcastle at The Emirates. After the bad-tempered match last year, are you expecting Arsenal to dish out some revenge?
Newcastle are not the same team. I don’t think Arsenal need to worry about them too much. For me, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that Arsenal will not beat Newcastle on Saturday night.
I don’t think Newcastle are going to do something at The Emirates. Right now, Arsenal areoperating at a higher level than they were last season, while Newcastle have gone backwards.
On Tottenham
From what Tottenham have shown this season, it looked like they had left the ‘Spursy’ label behind under the guidance of Big Ange, but did the defeat against Wolves demonstrate some of those familiar failings?
I think Tottenham’s defeat against Wolves has shown me that Tottenham must be careful if they want to finish in the top four. I think they need to be careful with the way that they play. We all know the system – the high line – and they were playing so well at the beginning of the season playing high and pressing the opponent with a lot of intensity.
Physically, it’s hard to that in every game. Maybe Tottenhamhave to make some tactical changes because all of the teams in the Premier League know how they play.
When you look at the goal that Tottenham conceded on the counter-attack, that is not good. They concede the goal on sixty-three minutes. If Tottenham keep getting caught out, they will give away a lot of chances and they will drop a lot of points.
It takes a lot of effort to play Ange Postecoglou’s brand of football. It is a very demanding strategy physically. It’s not easy to play very high and you lose a lot of energy. I think that Tottenham can still surprise teams this season, but they may need to make some minor tweaks going forward to do so.
Do you expect Ange Postecoglou to make little tactical changes? He is very committed to his style of play.
I hope that the Tottenham manager is going to change things a little bit. I think they are capable of changing things and, that would surprise their opponent. It will be hard for them to play like this until the end of the season.
Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou’s demands remind me a little bit of Marcelo Bielsa. Bielsa’s football was physically exhausting for his players eventually. When he was the manager of Marseille, in the French league everyone was crazy about how Marseille were playing, and it was unbelievable. It was the same at Leeds.
He asked the Marseille players to make a lot of effort for him to execute his game plan and, after the first part of the season, Marseille were top of the league. For the second part of the season, he kept his tactics exactly the same and the team dropped because the players were so tired.
Are you confident that Tottenham will finish in the top four?
The problem is that when you drop points against Wolves at home, and you know that Son isn’t at his best after coming back from the Asia Cup, then you have to be concerned about Tottenham’s ability to finish in the top four.
I’m a little bit worried about the next few games for Tottenham. I’m a little bit worried about them dropping points, but I have to back them. I think they will finish fourth in front of Aston Villa.
The next few games crucial for top-four hopes
On Chelsea
Man City vs Chelsea
How did you rate Chelsea’s performance against Manchester City?
I hope Chelsea can build on the draw with Manchester City and keep producing performances of the same standard over the coming weeks. They were very strong against Manchester City and had enough chances to win the game. This was the best performance that we’ve seen from Chelsea under Pochettino.
Defensively, I still think there is room for improvement (for Chelsea). Overall, it was a positive result and I saw a lot of positive signs from the players, who were fully committed and followed Pochettino’s instructions perfectly.
Getting a point at Manchester City isn’t easy. But, when I look at Manchester City, I don’t think they are at the same level as they were last season; something has changed. They are giving their opponents more opportunities to score goals, and, defensively, they don’t look as strong as they were last season.
I mentioned this earlier in the season, but from what I’ve seen of Manchester City’s performances this year, I don’t think they will be champions next season. I think this could be the last season they win the Premier League title for a little while.
Did any Chelsea players stand out for you in this performance?
I will always look for the defenders and there were two players that stood out for me: Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi. I think this was Disasi’s best performance since he joined the club.
Gusto has shown signs of what he can do in a Chelsea shirt already this season, but more people notice you when you’re playing against a big club like Manchester City. I thought he was excellent. The performance from Gusto was a good sign for the future for Chelsea and, that is the level he will be looking to reach for the rest of his performances this season.
Gusto is a player that isn’t afraid to go forward. His deliveries into the box are good. Defensively, he can improve with a little bit more focus, but I thought it was a really good performance.
Disasi likes the physical battle
Disasi is a very strong guy who enjoys the physical battle. He likes to compete with strong strikers, but he can have problems when he has to defend against players who are quick and clever. I think he needs to be careful and adapt his game because he will play different types of strikers each week in the Premier League.
Against Haaland, he had a good game and it showed. It looked like he enjoyed himself. Good for him.
How does the signing of Gusto – at £30,000,000 – compare to some of Chelsea’s other signings under Todd Boehly’s ownership?
He joined from Lyon for around £30,000,000, which is not a huge fee when you consider the sums that Chelsea have been spending on players since Todd Boehly took over the club.
The price tag allowed him to come into the club without the same pressure on his shoulders as some of Chelsea’s other signings. He is a young player that is improving all the time – his performance against Manchester City caught the eye.
City will win the title
Manchester City will still win the title this season, but something has changed at the club
I’m not going to change my mind and say that Manchester won’t win the title after the performance against Chelsea. I said at the beginning of the season: City will win the Premier League, but it will be very, very close.
Last season, they won it. They won the Champions League. This is a team that has achieved so much and when that happens, sometimes you can lose a little bit of that hunger and focus to keep on winning titles.
I think Man City are making more defensive errors this season than they did last season. In many ways, I think it is a little bit like Liverpool from last season – I watched their performances in the early part of the season, and I knew that they would not finish in the Champions League because something was missing.
As a former player, sometimes you can see some signs that tell you that the players aren’t as focussed as they were before. Players don’t run as harder, or press as a unit, little mistakes start to creep into their game and something changes. I think that is what is happening at City this season.
City have the quality to beat anyone. That quality will never go away, but they are also not as focussed as they were last season. Against Chelsea they could have lost the game and that wouldn’t have happened last year.
Erling Haaland’s frustrating afternoon
It’s not the first time that we’ve seen Erling Haaland have one of these frustrating afternoons in a Manchester City shirt where he misses a lot of chances. He has just come back from a period on the side lines, and OK, he scored in his comeback game against Everton, but it looks like he is still trying to find his rhythm again.
I think he needs time. He needs time to come back to his best physical shape and it looks like he isn’t there at the moment. When a player comes back from an injury, the first game back is always the easiest one because you’re playing on adrenaline. He would have been frustrated not being able to help his team while he was injured and not scoring goals, so you take a lot of that frustration out. It’s hard to keep doing that game after game following an injury. The energy isn’t the same in the third or fourth game (after coming back from an injury) because you’re not physically ready yet.
One thing is certain, he will come back. He will start to look like his old self with a few more games under his belt and a return to full fitness.
Levi Colwill can become the heir to Thiago Silva, but he needs to learn from an experience player when Silva leaves Chelsea
I think that Levi Colwill can be the heir to Thiago Silva and become the boss of Chelsea’s defence in the future, but he will need to play alongside one experienced defender to help him fulfil his potential.
It looks like this will be Thiago Silva’s last season with the club, so when he goes, for Colwill to fulfil his potential, he will need to play alongside an experienced, world-class defender. He is still learning his game. He is physically strong, left-footed, quick, and he reads the game well. He has everything that you would be looking for in a potential leader of the defence, but he needs to learn and to learn, you have to play alongside a world-class defender.
He has played alongside Thiago Silva this season, albeit from left back. When Thiago plays, he takes all of the pressure and deals with it. He runs the show. There is still time for Colwill to learn from Thiago this season, but next season, if he is going to fulfil his potential, then Chelsea will need to bring in a world-class defender to play alongside him.
Sterling not the player he was for City
Raheem Sterling won’t be the same player for Chelsea as he was for Manchester City
Raheem Sterling is twenty-nine-years-old, and he isn’t the same player that we saw at Manchester City at his peak. He has four or five seasons at Manchester City where he was incredible, but towards the end of his City career, he was spending more time on the bench and his performances were not at the same standard as he had shown before.
At Chelsea, he hasn’t really shown the quality that he had when he was younger. Right now, it looks like he is playing at the top of his game – I don’t think he can do more. I don’t think that Sterling can produce better performances than what he is doing at the moment. We expect him to do more; to score more goals and to deliver more assists, but I don’t think he will reach that (Manchester City peak) level again.
