To continue on with the articles so far, here is my in-depth analysis of the Liverpool and Chelsea game just a few days ago! The descriptions and player analysis are written in no particular order, but anyway, I hope you enjoy the read regardless and lets get started!
Pre-Match Analysis
With news that Martin Skrtel will be out from the Chelsea tie due to a flu, many Liverpool fans immediately casted doubt on how good the team will play against the European Champions.
Better news came along when Pepe Reina was reported to be fit to play after being sidelined for roughy a month now, but unfortunately failed a last minute fitness test. Needless to say, Brad Jones continued his presence in between the sticks, something he’s been doing relatively well so far.
With the rest of the team fit, including Glen Johnson returning to the side, Brendan Rodgers opted to stick with a hybrid 3-5-2, 5-3-2 type of formation, just as he did in midweek. A back three of Jamie Carragher in the middle between Andre Wisdom and Daniel was the foundation of the defence, while Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique played as wing-backs on the right and left flank respectively.
The midfield trio of Allen, Sahin and Gerrard remained, while Sterling and Suarez partnered as forwards up front. Suso was on the bench, just as he did against in their Europa League loss in Russia.
For Chelsea, no changes were made except for the back four, where Ivanovic partnered John Terry, who has just returned from a four-match ban following his infamous incident with Anton Ferdinand. An injury to Ashley Cole meant that Ryan Bertrand started at left-back for Chelsea.
Match Analysis
FIRST HALF
In the early stages of the game, it was basically Liverpool having possession without any plays or attempts on goal while Chelsea made full use of any possession they get.
Fernando Torres, the man that some love to hate, and some hate to love, wasn’t having the best runs of form of recent weeks. But nonetheless, his ability to lead counter attacks were a threat to the Liverpool early on after being given a whole lot of space to work with. He also had one of his attempts on goal saved by an arguably on-form Brad Jones.
Wisdom has been a player that’s going down in terms of form and performance. His inexperience really could’ve costed Liverpool to go 2-0 down before the half when he tried to play ball back to Brad Jones, but he did it very sloppily and failed. He was really lucky that Chelsea didn’t capitalise on that rookie mistake. In recent games, Andre Wisdom has been arguably bad ever since his bad displays in the Everton game, and his inexperience is unfortunately creeping up.
Steven Gerrard, on the other hand, continued his decent run of form from the Newcastle game a week ago, and his lobbed-pass from the midfield to Glen Johnson making a run on the right in the 11th minute was comparable to that of David Silva’s to Edin Dzeko just an hour before this game. There was also a moment of composure and experience when Gerrard managed to play the ball out to Joe Allen despite having players crowding him and the ball in the 28th minute.
Speaking of Joe Allen, he’s had one of his worst games so far this season. Early on, he was easily caught in possession by Oscar. Later on, after having a good ball played to him after great building up from the left, he could’ve taken a shot, but a bad touch made him lose the ball, and Chelsea played another counter attack. Should hold back in his usual position and stop counters.
Nuri Sahin was seen pushed back a little, playing a holding role in midfield rather than being given the free role where Gerrard excels in. Sahin played better in holding role while going forward gradually. Overall, it was a decent performance by Sahin, but many props to him for actually taking the only shot on goal for Liverpool in first half when given space.
An undeserving corner from when a Liverpool possession was lost because of Howard Webb came in the 19th minute. Somehow, Daniel Agger failed to stick to John Terry during the corner, and with a trademark John Terry power header, Chelsea took the lead at 1-0. The corner may have been undeserving, but the goal was. Giving such space in the box to any opposing player is never forgiven, and that was what allowed Terry to score.
Brad Jones should be forgiven for the goal – it was an unmarked header, it was a power header and it was almost point blank. No keeper would’ve saved a header that powerful. Regardless, Brad Jones had a great game as he’s had so far this season. He was up to any challenge the Chelsea players brought to him, he was very reliable and consistent in coming out to catch the corners. Outstanding for a second choice keeper.
Unfortunately for Terry, his outstanding goal was only rewarded with an accident of an injury. Ramires nudged Luis Suarez just outside the box, one thing led to another, and Suarez was seen tumbling, only to land on John Terry. The impact affect his shin, and Terry immediately went down and stayed down. He was subsequently replaced with Gary Cahill. On a bright side, it was amazing to see Luis Suarez at Terry’s side throughout the whole physiotherapy procedure although the injury was not his fault and not intentional at all.
The “3 at the back” formations clearly aren’t suited for Liverpool, especially with Martin Skrtel out of the side. We’ve seen the back 3 get sloppy and uncoordinated many times in the first half. Counter-attack after counter-attack, the back 3 has been really shaky and were lucky not to concede again. In the closing stages of the first half, a counter attack led to Juan Mata running past Jamie Carragher off of a header, who pushed the ball past Andre Wisdom, getting into the box in a one-on-one situation with Brad Jones only to fire his shot over the bar.
It’s been the same theme for Liverpool in the first half as in many games prior to this one. Have their fair share of possession, lucky not to concede more than they should have and not getting decent shots in to test the goalkeeper at the end of lengthy spells of possession. It’s not a matter of having a lack of strikers or forwards, but a matter of being too casual in the final third. There was little to no runs to draw defenders out and create space in the box. Only a few shots were taken, and most of them were weak. Brad Jones had way more to do compared to Petr Cech.
SECOND HALF
Early in the second half, Joe Allen continued his below-par display. He was being too casual in bringing ball up and gets ball stolen by Torres, but as always, Liverpool were lucky that it didn’t lead to a goal. In the rest of the second half, he was relatively anonymous. Not really getting much of the ball and was somewhat absent in defence.
Someone who was playing well was Jose Enrique, while having a bit of a bad display in the first half (as most of the Liverpool squad), played well in the second half. There was an instance when Enrique failed to control a lobbed ball by Gerrard, after Gerrard played a pass that brilliantly opened the play. Thus far, he was having a defensively decent game.
From the half time interval until the hour mark, Liverpool were getting forward much better but the defence was equally shakier. Chelsea played very smarty and decided to focus on confident defending, and relying on counter attacks to get forward, and there was no reason they shouldn’t. Torres is good running on the ball despite not being able to have a clinical finish, and he’s great at holding the ball and keeping possession in the final third. Also, one could never forget the three players behind him just waiting for the chance to counter attack as well (Hazard, Oscar and Mata). Pair that with a relatively shaky back three of Wisdom (who was having another less than average game), Carragher and Agger, it’s a sign of a change.
More proof of that came in the 55th minute, when a header from Torres was fantastically saved by Brad Jones. In the attempt of clearing the ball, unfortunately, Steven Gerrard was seen on the ground from a supposed knee injury. But nonetheless, the skipper continued playing after extensive medical treatment and continue his play as normal.
The team slowly transitioned from a 3-5-2 into their standard and comfortable 4-3-3, with Andre Wisdom and Glen Johnson playing as full-backs, Carragher and Agger in the centre-half positions, while Jose Enrique was pushed forward into an advanced role on the left. From here on out, Jose Enrique seemed to have settled in much better, being able to be the man to give the team more options forward and also tracking back to defend.
It was about time wasn’t it? Just as the team was switching up the formation to get at least a point from the game, a change in personnel was imminent and necessary. Suso, the player that had a magical display against Anzhi in midweek, came on for Sahin in hopes that he would be able to change the game. And what do you know? He does!
After a corner was awarded to Liverpool, Suso stepped up to take it, and in all fairness, it was a badly delivered corner as well. No decent height to it and it was curling to the near post. On a regular day, that corner would be deemed as a poor corner, but Suso was lucky indeed. His poor corner was somehow met by none other than Jamie Carragher, who brilliantly directed it with a flick off of his head into middle of the goal line and picked up an assist when his flick found Suarez, and all he had to do was head into an open net.
The rest of the players were celebrating with Jamie Carragher because of how rare he assists in goals, while Luis Suarez made his celebrating run from the goal to the corner flag for his persistence and being the saviour of Liverpool time after time.
Prior to the assist, Jamie Carragher was extremely lucky not to concede any goals for all the times he was caught on the run by the Chelsea side, especially when Juan Mata failed to convert in the first half when he shot the ball over the bar. He definitely wasn’t as shaky as Andre Wisdom at the middle of the 3, but his performance was decent to say the least. The assist was a plus as well!
Continuing on with the game, Raheem Sterling has had a very quiet game overall, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been contributing in the final third. Gets the ball often and moves the ball around. In fact, he displayed good technique in a volley later on but was unfortunately blocked by the cluster of Chelsea defenders in the box.
Meanwhile, Jose Enrique was playing much much better in the wing role and not just a wing-back. After Suarez scored the first goal, he was very unlucky not to double his tally after a great first-time through ball over the top from the left by Enrique to play Suarez one on one with Petr Cech. Unluckily, Suarez didn’t manage to get a shot in when the Czech Republic goalkeeper somehow got a touch of the ball, and it went out for a goalkick off of Suarez. Looking back, Suarez should’ve played a chip or took a placement shot to try and get his second goal. In fact, he could’ve played a pass to Raheem Sterling who was making a run down the middle and would’ve got an open goal all to himself. As they say, should’ve, would’ve, could’ve.
The surprise everyone got much later on was when Jose Enrique was named Man of the Match! Looking back once again, it was pretty deserving, wasn’t it? Had a pretty bad start in the first half, but got better going forward late on, playing through balls and being and option in the midfield and in the final third. To cap it off, Jose had a superbly controlled near post shot that Cech barely saved after pass came in from the right.
Ultimately, the game ended as a stalemate, with each side grabbing a goal each, both sides putting in a good performance overall, an both sides having their fair share of chances at both ends.
Post-Match Thoughts
It’s clear that Liverpool had a disappointing first half, arguably worse than the first half against Anzhi just a few days prior to this match. While they went forward a bit better, the chances were created, but there was no end result or any true shots on goal apart from Nuri Sahin’s effort. They were defensively shaky as well, being subjected to many counter attack efforts by Chelsea.
They played much better in the second half when Brendan Rodgers went back to the regular 4-3-3 instead of the 3-5-2. It’s clear that having 3 at the back wasn’t working well looking at the games against Anzhi and Chelsea, especially without Martin Skrtel. The defence were very very lucky that they didn’t concede more than they could’ve. However, the attacking movement of the team vastly improved from the first half.
It’s good to see that the team has improved from the 3-0 defeat to West Brom on day 1, but I personally think that switching into a 3-5-2 is taking a small step back. A good match overall, and let’s look forward to get as many points as possible and turn draws into wins.
As always, have hope in your heart, and You’ll Never Walk Alone.
LFCImpulse 