Liverpool Take Down Chelsea
The most ominous thing about Liverpool's impressive start is that we weren't at our best during the three trips to the capital. We played well for twenty minutes against Arsenal on the opening day, we were overall quite good against Spurs, and make no mistake we were seriously impressive against Leicester, but in none of our three tough away trips did I ever get the sense that we were at full throttle.
That's not to say that we didn't play well last night against Chelsea, because we did, particularly in defence and controlling the midfield, but in terms of attacking threat, we were nowhere near our best, even with Coutinho in particular playing very well. Despite scoring twice in the first half, the expected goals tally for the half was only 0.5, with one decent chance converted by Dejan Lovren and Henderson's goal could certainly not be described as a chance. But despite running the game, we never threatened to score more goals and run away with the game in the first half, and in the second we only produced the one glorious opening, albeit it was the best chance of the match, for Divock Origi, who was unable to convert, denied by a good save from Courtois.
But it's churlish to bemoan that we didn't play well enough in attack, when we played significantly better than Chelsea and our midfield trio of Wijnaldum, Henderson and Lallana absolutely ran the show. Lallana as ever was bursting with energy, Wijnaldum produced his best display in a Liverpool shirt and Jordan Henderson was easily the man of the match, producing a display of exceptional control, excellent defensive work and a stunning, stunning goal to cap it off. It was one of the goals of the season so far, and will surely be a contender for goal of the season come May.
And behind the midfield three, Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip were excellent. Matip in particular looks a serious improvement to our defensive options, and he put in a stoic, physical performance as he bullied Diego Costa almost completely out of the game. Lovren was much improved today and whilst I would still take him out the side when Sakho is fit, I'm starting to grow less concerned about him as a central defensive option when he has someone as competent and impressive as Matip beside him, and it was the same when he played with Sakho last season. Milner at left back also looks like a brilliant move from Klopp and he was excellent again.
But of course, Liverpool's achilles heel of moments of brain dead defending reared its ugly head. It really is both maddening and baffling that experienced, excellent players can simultaneously switch off and make key errors. It's one thing when recognizably error-prone players like Lucas, Lovren, Skrtel and Mignolet do it, but Matip is a seriously good defender, and he should have done much better for Costa's goal. The fact that he was put in that position by Liverpool's other best player on the day Henderson and Adam Lallana not tracking their man is increasingly frustrating. Players who turn in a 10/10 performance for 90 minutes but make one big mistake and are punished for it.
But we have to talk about Chelsea too, because this game was as much about the home side's failings as it was Liverpool's excellent play. The main problems that this Chelsea side have displayed over four games reared their head here. It was obvious from Chelsea's first four hit and miss fixtures exactly what their strengths and weaknesses were, and these were on display for all to see. It was also clear that this would ensure that they would struggle against a top team, and so it showed.
Chelsea's strengths are exceptional individuals. Diego Costa is an excellent striker, which he showed by scoring an instinctive goal. Eden Hazard is a brilliant forward on his day, and he caused Clyne some real problems last night, despite never really producing anything. N'Golo Kante is one hell of a defensive midfielder and he was easily Chelsea's best player on the night. And they have some powerful, industrial players, they're a powerful, strong team.
But their weaknesses were all on show. A lack of defensive stability and organisation has been clear over four games, and they've conceded in every fixture prior to this one. Liverpool took advantage of that for the first goal in particular. It was a truly sumptuous ball in from Phillipe Coutinho but both Lovren and Mane sneaking in at the back post were entirely unmarked, whilst four Chelsea players did nothing guarding the front post. It was a shambles. And whilst the second goal was a piece of individual genius, it was still a poor clearance from Gary Cahill.
Moreover, Chelsea suffered from a clear lack of creativity in midfield. Whilst they had pacy and creative players on the bench in Victor Moses, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro, Oscar, Willian and Matic once again showed that they don't have enough at the very highest level to constantly threaten top defences. The onus was always on Hazard and Costa to make something happen.
But Chelsea's biggest problem was obvious from the start. Intensity. Liverpool had run the most kms before this game of any team this season, 35kms more than 16th place Chelsea. But whilst the gap wasn't that big on the night, only 5kms more from the Liverpool boys at 117km compared to 112, it was still significant. Liverpool looked fitter, hard more energy and more power and Chelsea stood off them, defending deep, attacking lethargically, whereas Liverpool were always on the front foot, defending high and pressing Chelsea deep in their own territory, forcing mistakes in possession. When Liverpool won the ball back, the transition from defence to attack was like lightning, they turned on Chelsea in an instant, never giving the men in blue any respite.
This is what Klopp wanted for his team. Make playing football against Liverpool a nightmare. Make Chelsea players not want the ball, even in their own third, with red shirts everywhere, snapping at them, pressing them high. The gegenpress working at its best. But of course, this in itself had its problems, and two or three Liverpool players were hanging on a bit in the last fifteen minutes. Klopp used his substitutes intelligently (Conte did not), but even so there were one or two players who looked dead on their feet come full time.
But the thing that will have impressed Klopp the most was his team's control. Once Chelsea got back into the game, Liverpool shut them down, shut down the game completely, oozing class and control. They ran the midfield in the final half hour, not giving Chelsea the opportunity to attack, and for the most part, were largely effective at keeping Chelsea at bay and calming the nerves (to an extent) of Liverpool fans.
Overall, this was a mature, intelligent and high energy display from one team, and an unintelligent, immature and low energy display from the other, and the final result reflected that.
The Hard and Fast Section
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