Chelsea 2 Liverpool 1 (Dec 29 2013)

Report by

Dave Usher

There were a lot of similarities from the Boxing Day loss at City. Same scoreline, conceding twice before half time after taking the lead, keeper not doing enough on the winning goal, controlling the second half but not being able to find an equaliser, being pissed off at the officials…. yet this one hurt way, way, way more than the City loss. We played better at City but there was more of a sense of injustice about this one. Rodgers thought he had cause for complaint about Lee Mason, but Howard Webb showed him exactly what a dodgy referee can really do.

I didn't agree with Rodgers' attack on Mason. For me he needs to pick his battles better as he didn't have enough just cause to go after Mason in the way he did. And his chickens came home to roost at Stamford Bridge when he genuinely was screwed over by the referee but couldn't say anything about it because he's in trouble after his attack on Mason. He should have kept schtum on Mason and then he could have let that twat Webb have it with both both barrels. Instead we had to listen to Rodgers describing Webb's performance as 'excellent'. He was almost certainly being sarcastic, but it wasn't reported that way. Next time Brendan might want to add a Homer Simpson style "Oh by the way, I was being sarcastic" at the end of it just so we can all be sure.

It was clear how our day was going to go right from the first minute when Webb failed to produce a card after Eto'o had lunged at Henderson's knee. A knee high, studs up challenge that doesn't get the ball but makes contact with the opponent is supposed to be a red card isn't it? There are some exceptions of course (such as if it's on Luis Suarez in which case it's obviously acceptable), and when it's a bouncing ball and you miss it by a split second sometimes you can understand leniency being shown.

This one was bizarre though. The ball was rolling along the floor so why was Eto'o going in with his foot raised so high? It's inexplicable really. Plus it was so late that the ball was nowhere near either player when contact was made. Taking all that into account, you can only assume it was deliberate as no-one can miss a tackle as spectacularly badly as that unless they are not going for the ball.

It's a red card all day, Henderson was left in a heap and was clearly troubled by the injury for the remainder of the game. Incredibly, Webb didn't even produce a yellow. I'd have been annoyed if he had only booked Eto'o but I wouldn't have been surprised, I mean it is Howard Webb after all. To not give Eto'o a card of any kind though, that was fishy in the extreme.

I've heard it suggested that he was lenient because it was the first minute of the game. Ok, so explain Oscar not being sent off for a disgraceful lunge at Lucas in stoppage time then? That was such a bad tackle that Lucas lost his rag and went after his international colleague. Lucas actually lost his temper!!!!! If that doesn't tell you what a bad challenge it was then nothing does. I don't think I've ever seen Lucas physically confront an opponent like that, which says it all really. Shocking challenge, yet only a booking.

So first minute or last, it doesn't matter to Webb. At least he gave the free-kick for the Henderson one I suppose, we should be grateful for small mercies. He was no doubt regretting it when we scored from it though, as Suarez nipped in front of his man to cause confusion and Skrtel finished it off. A great start, but even at this early stage I was concerned because of Webb, he'd nailed his colours to the mast in the first minute and each time Sky showed a replay of the Eto'o challenge I felt my anger rising. It was the same feeling I had when Mirallas escaped a red card in the derby, and just like that day we ended up suffering because of it. I'm just sick of getting shafted by officials, it's been happening to us in big games for years now. Too often to be a co-incidence?

In fairness to Chelsea, they did react well to going behind and they were comfortably better than us in the first half (but would that have been the case had Eto'o been sent off?). They played well, but that doesn't make it any easier to take, especially given the huge amount of playacting and gamesmanship from them. I lost count of the amount of times their players simply stopped running and just waited for our lads to run into their back before hitting the deck to win cheap free-kicks.

That was bad enough, but some took it to another extreme by actually going out of their way to deliberately initiate contact with our players and then hurl themselves to the floor to get free kicks. They were actually moving away from the ball to draw contact and then take a dive, and Webb gave a free-kick for it every damn time. It was Hazard and Oscar who the main culprits, serial offenders if you like, but I saw Azpila.. whatever the fuck his name is do it a couple of times too.

The one time Webb didn't buy it was when Hazard went looking for a pen against Lucas, but then he takes a completely viewpoint on incidents inside the box than he does to those outside. Hazard was on his way down before the challenge even came in and he embellished it further by kicking out his right leg towards Lucas to initiate contact. Webb wasn't interested, and some are using this as evidence that he wasn't just looking to screw us over. Maybe. Why would you not book Hazard though? It's either a penalty or a booking, there's simply no in between in that scenario. Yet Webb - once again - found one. Classic Webb behaviour.

Hazard was giving us loads of trouble in the first half, and the Chelsea dangermen (as ever, the three behind whatever dope they have playing up top) were finding far too much space between our midfield and defence. Lucas was struggling to cope with the onslaught and his lack of pace meant he was late to everything, whilst Allen and Henderson were decent enough with the ball but didn't seem to have the zip in their pressing that we've seen in recent weeks. Understandable, it would have been tough to maintain those energy levels even if fully fit, but with Allen needing an injection to play and Hendo also going into the game injured (and then being nobbled by Eto'o in the first minute) this was a real slog for the players.

Chelsea have been shite for most of the season, and it's just our luck we ran into them when they produced their best 45 minutes of the year. Even so, both goals had a large slice of luck about them and came out following fortuitous deflections that fell nicely to their players. It was one of those days for us. Again.

Having said that, the second goal should have been prevented by either Skrtel (who was more interested in trying to grapple with Eto'o instead of watching the ball) or Mignolet who got a good hand to the shot but failed to keep it out. At that point I just wanted to get to half time at 2-1 because there was every chance they could get another, such was the danger they posed.

We were clearly second best in the first half but we still had chances of our own. One lovely move ended with Allen chesting the ball down but having it taken off his toe by Cahill as he prepared to shoot. That was brilliant football but it just wouldn't come down quickly enough for Allen. The Welshman had our other best chance of the half too when his deflected drive was beaten out by Cech. So there was certainly hope that we could get another goal, but defensively we were struggling and I was relieved when the half time whistle went and we were only down by one.

I've got to admit though, I lost the plot when I saw Sakho swapping shirts with Eto'o as they left the field at half time. This twat tried to do Hendo and he'd then scored the goal that had put them ahead, and Sakho is wanting to get his shirt at half fucking time??? Honestly, I wanted him subbed there and then, I was livid. At the very least I hoped that when he got back to the dressing room and asked for a new shirt, Rodgers would have told him to go into the Chelsea dressing room and get his shirt back, or he could watch the second half from the bench.

You can say it's not that big a deal, but to me it is. It sends out all the wrong sort of messages. You're playing for fucking Liverpool lad, not some Micky Mouse team that is in awe of the opposition. I heard that Coutinho may have done it too, if so then he needs a bollocking too. Judging from the reaction of Rodgers afterwards when he found out about it, both players will be told in no uncertain terms that shit is just unacceptable. If it was Real Madrid or Barcelona, you could 'almost' turn a blind eye to it, but fucking Chelsea???

Whilst I'm venting, I didn't like seeing Mourinho and Suarez sharing a joke at half time either. Not because I felt like Luis was being too pally with him, it just bothered me that he didn't appear to realise what a cunt Mourinho is. Our players shouldn't give that twat the time of day, let alone share a joke with him. He'd said some mildly supportive things about Suarez in the build up to the game over the Ivanovic thing, but you can't take him at face value as he's the most self centred, egotistic, patronising cunt in football. If Suarez wasn't aware of that at half time, he sure as hell should be now after the bellend accused him of diving. Suarez should just respond to it by calling him a gobshite. Nothing else, just get a friendly reporter to ask "what did you think of Jose Mourinho saying you should have been booked for diving?" and then reply "He's a gobshite". That in itself would be worth 200k a week to me.

Same goes for Rodgers too. I know him and Mourinho go back a bit and he's grateful for the opportunity he was given and all that, but if Brendan thinks this guy is his friend then he's seriously fucking naive. Mourinho doesn't have friends, just people who are useful to him. He doesn't give a fuck about Rodgers and if and when the time comes that he sees us as a major threat, you'll see just what little regard he has for his former protegé. The patronising way he spoke afterwards should tell Brendan all he needs to know. Stay in your place little man and you'll be fine, start to have some success and watch how quickly your 'friend' turns on you.

Credit to the players for how they came out for the second half and took it to Chelsea. We had a lot of the ball and were the better side after the break, but I'd say a fair bit of that was down to Mourinho being such a negative, overly cautious, boring, shithouse, catenaccio cunt. When Chelsea have a lead, this is what they do, they sit on it and try and play on the break. They hadn't done that in the first half, they'd pressed us and put us under pressure when we had the ball, but after the break they dropped off and that meant we were able to get our foot on the ball a lot more.

We generally dealt with their counter attacks well but we found it difficult to create any really clear openings of our own. The closest we came was a fine header by Sakho that hit the bar, whilst we also had one decent penalty shout and of course one stonewaller. The decent shout was when Mongo clumsily leaned all over Suarez before hooking the ball clear. Outside the box that was 100% going to be given by Webb. Inside? No chance. I wasn't especially angry about that, it was one of those that you'd expect to get at home against a Fulham or West Brom, but not away from home to one of the big boys, and definitely not with Webb in charge.

So I could live with that one, it wasn't that clear cut and Webb could legitimately not award that one without getting too much flak for it. The second one though…. fucking hell. Inexcusable. He's just a fucking scumbag and a complete coward. Only he knows why he didn't give the penalty when he saw Eto'o hack down Suarez right in front of him. The other decisions that went against us - and there were loads, some more serious than others - can be put down to various other theories. From him just being a bad homer, to him being a shithouse who lacks the balls to make major decisions to him being a South Yorkshire copper.

The Eto'o foul though, I honestly don't know what the reason was for him not giving that, only Webb himself knows. I know one thing though, he saw it and it's impossible to see that and view it as anything other than a foul. There's no room for debate, no grey area, he knew it was a foul but he chose not to give it. Perhaps he was teaching Brendan a lesson after having a go at Mason the other day? That's as plausible a reason as any I suppose.

In some ways though Liverpool only have themselves to blame for this. As soon as the findings of the Hillsborough enquiry were released, Liverpool should have immediately insisted that Webb not be allowed to officiate any of our games again due to the huge conflict of interest involved. For his sake as much as ours. I remember writing about it last year, it just seemed like common sense to me and I'm surprised it's been allowed to continue.

How can an ex South Yorkshire Policeman (who still has mates on the force) be refereeing Liverpool games? Think about it, it's fucking ludicrous. Even if he was the most honest, impartial referee on the planet (don't laugh), the element of doubt would always be there any time he made a decision that went against Liverpool. His mates at SYP are facing legal action and criminal charges for their actions at Hillsborough, and even if he is completely on the side of the families (he may be for all I know, I'm certainly not suggesting otherwise) he should not be put in this position as people are always going to be sceptical.

I'm not closed to the possibility that he shafted us because of his links to SYP, or that he was doing it because of Brendan questioning the integrity of Mason. Both could be true, we'll never know though. I'd lean more towards the theory of Graham Poll that Webb deliberately doesn't make decisions because it's a calculated ploy to get himself to the World Cup. I've heard him claim that before and he's said it again today. I thought this was an interesting insight into how refs think, as Poll said: "It could be that World Cup selection is affecting him and he is perhaps trying to avoid controversy in the build-up to Brazil 2014 - the list of referees for the tournament will be announced in May. Referees believe that you are remembered for decisions you make and not those you ‘miss’."

Interesting. Poll said ages ago that Webb tries to avoid making big decisions on that basis, and I've watched him a few times since hearing that and it's definitely true. It may have been personal towards Liverpool, or it could just be Howard Webb doing what Howard Webb does. Incredibly, he's yet to award a single penalty or send anyone off this season. That makes me think Poll's theory is probably spot on, but given Webb's 'previous' with us I can certainly see why others think differently.

It's really infuriating though isn't it? It's hard enough getting results at the likes of Man City and Chelsea even when you have a full team. To get a win you really need to play well and to also have a fair bit of luck. But if a refereeing performance goes against you it's nigh on impossible to win these kind of games no matter how you play. Call it an excuse if you like, but it's a fact. Had Webb done his job properly we would not have lost against Chelsea. Hell, we may even have won as they'd have been playing with ten men instead of twelve.

I'd say that Chelsea were far too streetwise for us, they've been well coached by Mourinho in the dark arts and with Webb an all too willing accomplice it must have been an incredibly frustrating day for our lads. They did well not to completely lose their composure, as had I been in their shoes I'd have unquestionably sparked someone. Probably Hazard (or 'weird whiskered little freak' as my mum calls him) as he's a short arse and I reckon I could take him. Maybe Oscar though, I hate his stupid fucking face, the chinless little dweeb. Lucas should have chinned him, I mean it's not like Webb would have done anything about it. He'd probably have given a yellow, which of course means the FA can't do shit about it.

I'm rambling here, I feel like this report is heading off in all different directions as there's just so much I need to get off my chest. I'm not handling this one very well at all to be honest. The City game I was ok with, but I fucking hate Chelsea, more than any other team if I'm honest, even United. I just hate everything about them, they're just fucking vile from top to bottom. No wonder Juan Mata can't get a game, far too decent a chap to fit into Mourinho's set up. Doesn't dive enough I expect. And for all their expensive attacking talent, they're dull as fuck and I can't wait to get them back at Anfield. Fucking twats.

I'm not even going to get started on Mourinho and his lame cheerleading or the complete horseshit he came out with after the game (lapped up by the London press as usual), I'd be here all day if I opened up that particular can of worms. All we can hope is that one day he gets what's coming to him again, and if there's any justice it will be us that gives it to him. Again. Where's Luis Garcia when we need him?

These hard luck stories in big games are becoming a trend under Rodgers and that's the next step we need to take. He's got us scoring tons of goals and beating everyone outside the top seven or eight, but we let in too many goals and seem to be perennially unlucky against our main rivals. I definitely get the feeling that we're getting there, but we need more depth to the squad as seemingly every other week the opposition has a stronger looking bench than us.

We need to put these games out of our mind now and get on with winning the bread and butter games. That's what has gotten us to where we are and we need to keep doing that. We're not done too well in the big games this season but hopefully our luck will turn when we face them all at Anfield over the coming months. In the meantime we simply have to get back to winning ways, as whilst we've dropped from first to fifth, we've now got three games we should win which could get us right back up there amongst the leaders, so there's no cause for alarm just because we've had two tough defeats.

It won't be easy beating anybody given how threadbare the squad is looking at the moment though. Our bench at Chelsea showed just how dire things are right now, and that's why any criticism of Rodgers or the players for either of these two defeats is incredibly harsh in my opinion, and hints at an unrealistic level of expectation.

Let's be honest here. Manchester City are better than us and Chelsea are better than us. I wish they weren't, but they are. With a first choice eleven there's not a great deal in it and we've shown we can give them a game even with players missing, but in terms of squad depth the difference is night and day. It would have been difficult enough taking on Chelsea a full week after playing at the Etihad, but doing so just four days later, with so many players missing and others playing through injury because there was nobody else to come in and take their place? Factor in the presence of Webb and it was close to being an impossible task.

Looking at it from that standpoint, I'm really pleased with the players that they managed to make such a close game of it and that merely adds to the utter contempt I have for Webb. Having battled so hard to stay in the game and then managed to take control of the second half, those players deserved more than to have Webb spit in their faces the way he did.

I've seen Rodgers taking some flak for sending on Brad Smith for his debut rather than using the likes of Aspas or Alberto. Some are suggesting he was sending out a two pronged message to the owners. Firstly, "give me money for new players, I'm having to send a 19 year old left back to try and save a game at Chelsea" and secondly "those players you gave me last summer are so crap I've got to send on a 19 year old left back to try and save a game at Chelsea".

Maybe that's true, only Rodgers knows what his thought process was there, but that wasn't the conclusion I leapt to when I saw Smith coming on. My first thought was that he must have fancied Smith to surprise them with his searing pace. Chelsea probably know nothing about Brad, but he's the quickest player at the club and he has played on the wing for the under 21s this year, so it's not completely alien to him. It didn't work because Smith got off to a bad start and then it snowballed from there. He had a 'mare to be honest, but the thing is you never know how they'll do until they get out there. Look at how well Flanagan and Robinson did when they were first thrown in at the deep end?

Had Smith made a better start then who knows what could have happened, and I certainly wouldn't criticise Rodgers for that move. In fact at the time I applauded his bravery. I have zero confidence that either of Alberto or Aspas would have fared much better than Smith, and clearly Rodgers felt the same. For me it was a calculated gamble that didn't pay off, but in hindsight maybe it would have been better to give Smith his debut next week against Oldham rather than throw him in at the deep end like that?

Still, there's an excuse for Smith struggling. What's Glen Johnson's excuse? He has had some awful games in his time here, but he's never had a run of them like this. He's been crap for weeks now, even when we've been winning. He'll snap out of it eventually and probably turn in a few great performances before the end of the season, but it doesn't matter any more, he needs fucking off as we can't afford to carry someone on his kind of wages.

If he was a £6m signing on wages that reflect that, I could live with who Glen Johnson is. But he's not, he cost us £18m and he's one of the top earners at the club. Until a couple of weeks ago he was on more than Luis Suarez for Christ's sake! Liverpool wanted to extend his contract but not on it's present terms. Johnson is having none of it and since then his performances have gone down the shitter. That may or may not be a co-incidence, I'm past caring. I just know that on current form he's not worth even a third of what he is being paid.

If he seriously thinks he's worth 120k a week or whatever it is he gets, I'd love to know how much he thinks Seamus Coleman should be on. Is there anybody out there who would take Johnson over the Everton lad right now? On his day Johnson is brilliant, sadly those days no longer appear to be matchdays. As soon as Flanagan is fit Johnson should be dropped, as it's unacceptable for someone to play as consistently poorly as he has been doing and still keep their place. It sends out the wrong message to the rest of the squad.

Enrique can't come back quick enough for me now. Get him back in and move Flanagan to the right. Of course, by the time Enrique is fit Johnson will probably have started playing well again and will keep his place. He's an extremely talented player so that wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. It won't change my mind about him either.

On the other side I thought Agger did a decent job at left back, he had his difficult moments in the first half but show me a left back who isn't going to have problems with Hazard running at him? Overall he was fairly solid but he's clearly not comfortable playing there. Fortunately for him, he'll be back in the middle now after Sakho popped a hammy late on. We've been shipping goals all season no matter who has been in the back four, but Sakho's injury forces Rodgers' hand now and - injuries and form permitting - he'll have to stick with Skrtel and Agger for the next couple of months.

We're still in good shape all things considered, just six points off the top and even closer to the fourth place that we simply need to get. Other teams will have to play some difficult fixtures over the next few weeks whilst we have an opportunity to get more points on the board before facing Everton at Anfield. The worry is the injuries we're carrying. It's almost at crisis point now, we need those injured players back and we need two or three new recruits. If we can do that, we can have a strong second half of the season as the fixture list is much easier than it was in the first part, and we're averaging close to two points a game despite that.

Star man is tough. I thought Allen played well until he was eventually forced off through injury, but I'm going to go with Sterling who stood up the challenge well and took the fight to them whenever he could. I liked his positivity and the fact he was more than willing to try and run at Ashley Cole any chance he got. With Hull up next, it's a chance for Raheem - and everyone else for that matter - to make up for the horror show he put in at their place the other week. Unlike these last two fixtures, that is a game we simply have to win.

Team: Mignolet; Johnson, Skrtel, Sakho (Toure), Agger; Lucas, Allen (Smith), Henderson; Sterling, Suarez, Coutinho (Aspas):