Chelsea 2 Liverpool 0 - Carling Cup QF (Dec 19 2007)

[TLW]

Chelsea 2 LIVERPOOL 0

Report by Mark Ingram at Stamford Bridge

Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Stamford Bridge Date - Wednesday 19 Dec 2007 Star Man – Ryan Babel

 

 

 

 

Losing to Man United and Chelsea in the space of four days is never going to be easy to take but the nature of this loss is going to split views right down the middle. There’ll be those that’ll claim that the Carling Cup was Liverpool Football Club’s best chance of silverware this season and in putting out a largely reserve side, Benitez has effectively opted out of that.

Then there’ll be those who will be adamant that it’s only the Carling Cup and Liverpool should be striving for more than this level of ‘success’. Whatever way you look at it, it’s quite clear what it represents in the minds eye of Rafael Benitez.

Everyone in the ground knew large scale rotation was more than likely but I can’t believe there were many that believed he’d make the nine changes that he did. I was fully expecting not to see Gerrard and Torres in the starting eleven but I can’t admit to predicting anything like the team sheet he produced, along with neither of the aforementioned on the bench. Having said that, I looked at the team that took to the field and still believed we had a decent chance of taking the game to them.

It was a surprise to see Itandje in goal but the rest of the back four was not a big shock, they’re all fairly regular first teamers apart from Hobbs who is developing a mature head on him and had the experience of Carra along side him throughout the game. Besides, Sami has been putting in sterling work whilst Agger is out and those lanky old bones needed a bit of a rest after the heavy requirements of last week.

In the midfield the only oddity was having three central midfielders and one wide man on the team sheet but once the game had kicked off it seemed that Voronin was to play out right with Babel on the left side, Crouch in the middle and Lucas, Alonso and Sissoko patrolling the centre. All in all, you can see why Benitez made the changes he made and it wasn’t as if the pitch was full of red shirted strangers with massive squad number on their backs.

After the Lino had amused everyone by pulling a muscle and limping across the middle of the pitch the game got underway and all you could hear were the away fans. It was obvious that most of the regular home fans had not opted to pay their extortionate prices for this one because the ground was full of mannequins dressed in blue.

Alonso began by dictating the midfield with his calm style of passing and clever movement of the ball along the deck. This was enormously refreshing after that shambles at Anfield at the weekend where Gerrard had sat back and walloped long balls in the air to the strikers who were miles away from him. It’s great to have Alonso back, he’s by far the coolest head in the squad and I feel that others pick up this influence and pass the ball in a similar away around him.

Lucas and Sissoko were also showing some very encouraging pass and move manoeuvres and it was clearly filling the away support with gradual confidence as the first half wore on. We were easily the better passing side and as soon as the ball went to Babel the excitement rose as it looked like something would happen.

At the back Hobbs was making all the right moves to offer options to the midfield and he was winning the headers that were asked of him and listening to the screaming tour-guide to his left and obeying his every word. Then just I was about to become impressed with his start he made a bit of a mess of a pass which Essien robbed off him and fed to Lumpalard who was presented with a one on one with the stand in keeper who saved it brilliantly with his face.

Carra had a thing or two to scream about after that but minutes later we were looking at similar position at the other end this time from a superb passing move which ended up with Lucas’ shot being expertly saved by Cech. It takes a lot to beat the large Czech Republican and had Lucas been a bit more cocky he’d have taken a sneaky touch to his right and walked it round him.

Easy to say with hindsight I guess, but to be fair it was a good save, not quite as good as Phil Nevilles’s full stretcher but it left the little Brazillian wondering what he has to do to score in this country.

Another fine passing move involving Lucas, Alonso and Crouch ended up with the big man being barged over by Ben Haim just inside the area but no penalty given, thanks to the typically home-team pandering referee. I’d have definitely given that one, no probs.

Liverpool looked the most likely to score in the first half although Essien did have a volley narrowly miss the upright. I was happy to see that all of the front six were having decent games and seemed to know where each other were and special mention to Sissoko who had a fantastic first half compared to the drunken performances he’s been putting in of late.

As half time came I had a really good feeling about this one, I wasn’t going quite as far as imagining the fickle press giving it the big one about how Rafa’s rotation is starting to bear fruits but you know when you just get a feeling about a game – well I had that feeling.

And how wrong I was.

The second half was just an utter disaster and it was a case of one bad thing leading to another, then another, then it all just ending up in a total mess.

They scored pretty early on and it was about as undeserved as that Ray look-alike winning X Factor. That chubby lump of lard wobbled into the box and knocked a shot high into the air off Carra’s stretched out legs which ballooned over the keepers reach into the far side of the goal. Sickening it was.

No sooner had that happened and our main fulcrum of midfield creation was being subbed for El Zhar, and soon after that Crouch got annoyed with Mikel’s nibbling that he produced one of the stupidest bits of football that I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing. He flung himself through the air like a giraffe falling off a bicycle and connected with the back of Mikel’s legs which left him sprawling on the floor like he’d just been run over by a tank.

Then he rolled around off the pitch into the front row of the stand for good measure wailing and wincing – the full Drogba treatment. The ref was suitably impressed and duly gave Crouch his inevitable marching orders and off he went past a purple Benitez towards the showers. It was a totally pathetic piece of discipline by Crouch, he effectively got mugged off by a trick that is widely used throughout this Chelsea team and he fell for it hook, line and sinker. He’ll be feeling very foolish on Thursday morning because it effectively ended the game as a fair contest.

Minutes later and the game was as good as over. Rafa took off Babel for Benayoun, much to the uproar from the travelling fans. That was as bad a substitution as I’ve ever seen and many people knew there and then that we could no longer win this game. If it wasn’t for this stupid feeling I’d had up to then, I’d have left at that point, why on earth did he take our most promising goal threat off, what was going through his head?

Anyway after that it was a foregone conclusion and we’re now out of the Carling Cup. I can’t say I’m as bothered as Sunday’s game but the way we lost it is pretty sickening. It was just a salad of bad luck and stupidity rolled into one.

Hard to say who was star man because no played well throughout the game. The keeper did well until he let Shevchenko score at his near post, Sissoko seemed like he did well but only because it’s the first time this season that he couldn’t be mistaken for Djimi Traore. Alonso and Lucas both had decent first halves but then disappeared. Carra was good but not outstanding and the rest of them were just plain average.

The exception was Babel. He didn’t do much but what he did do was both exciting and promising. If only he’d been given a bit more time and a bit more support. It should probably go to Babel but to be honest it’s a bit of a sketchy call, no one really deserved it.

So is it time to blame the manager? Blame his rotation? Blame Crouch? To be honest, people can blame whoever they like. Bad days like this come around once in a while, you just have to take them on the chin, I’m just thankful that it’s only the Carling cup. I seem to remember we were rather unlucky in the final of this very competition in 2005 against the same mob – look what happened that season.

It’s worth bearing in mind before slating Benitez that this game came after the most crucial and the most hyped week in his career. This game simply was not as important as either of last weeks. Ask anyone to rank the three in order of importance and Chelsea away in the Carling Cup would have come third every time.

Here’s hoping for a merry Christmas.

Team: Itandje; Arbeloa, Hobbs, Carragher, Aurelio; Sissoko, Alonso (El Zhar), Lucas; Voronin, Crouch, Babel (Benayoun):