After a frenetic 90 minutes of football, the game ended as a 1-1 draw. Luis Diaz opened the scoring for Liverpool with a smartly-taken finish before Chelsea debutant Axel Disasi levelled from close range.

Both sides had goals disallowed by VAR and further opportunities to add to the scoring. Yet Pochettino feels we were unfortunate not to come away with all three points this afternoon.

Speaking after his first competitive game in charge, the Argentine explained: ‘In the beginning, it was tough. Liverpool was better for 15/20 minutes.

'But after we started to feel more comfortable on the pitch, find our ways to play, our positions, all the things we were working on the training ground. After that, the performance was really good.

‘We scored and then we showed a great performance and effort. I am so pleased with the performance and I think we deserved to win. We only conceded one shot on target against a team like Liverpool – that is a big credit to the players.

'It’s only the start, only the beginning. After six weeks working together, all I can say is thank you to all the staff in all the areas of the clubs. But the players, they are the principle actors.’

The match was one of many firsts. Academy graduate Levi Colwill made his maiden senior appearance for the club. Summer signings Robert Sanchez, Disasi and Nicolas Jackson also started.

The captain's armband was also worn by Reece James for the first time. It was a proud moment for the 23-year-old.

‘After nearly six weeks working, we decided with the club to give the armband to him,' said Pochettino.

'He is a fantastic player, a fantastic boy, and he loves Chelsea. He is a leader, his teammates respect him, and everyone at the club respect him. The fans love him also, so he is the perfect player to be the captain.’

James didn't complete the game – he was replaced late on by another debutant, Malo Gusto – and Pochettino confirmed that was not due to any injury sustained by the right-back.

‘He was tired,' said our head coach. 'The first thing when we arrived is to assess and analyse all the players from the past. He was injured for three or four months.

'Pre-season was tough – and tough for him. We didn’t want to take any risks, of course, which is why after around 80 minutes, we wanted to take away a little bit the risk.’