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Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 (Jan 20 2015)


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Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
 
 
 

We’ll win next week. There, I said. I might end up looking stupid but after seeing this performance I’m confident we’ll go there and get the result we need. I’m aware of Chelsea’s home record and I’m aware they won’t approach that game in the way they did this one. I don’t care about any of that; we’ll go through, I can feel it.

 

That might sound overly bullish considering we didn’t even win this game and we’re currently 8th in the table, but my eyes are telling me that this team has clicked and they have a belief in themselves that wasn’t there even as recently as two weeks ago. Additionally, look at our progress so far in this competition, the crazy penalty shoot out and the late, late “Balotelli and Lovren show” against Swansea. A mate said to me after the Boro game we were going all the way in this competition, and after seeing how we played in this one I’m inclined to agree. We’ve been playing better for a while now, but this was the best yet and you can tell that the team now believe “they’re back”.

 

Maybe I’m overstating the performance a little, I’d have to watch the game again on TV to know for sure, but I thought we were absolutely brilliant and completely played them off the park. My mates all felt the same, we were all buzzing when we came out of Anfield. This was the Liverpool of last season (without the goals, obviously) and but for the fact they’re such a good defensive unit with a great goalkeeper we’d have hammered them.

 

Until Sturridge returns this is probably our strongest available eleven. The system is working well and everyone in it looks comfortable and happy with their role. I don’t see any square pegs in round holes anymore, even if 3-4-2-1 is unfamiliar to most - if not all - of them.

 

Chelsea on the other hand have been playing the same system for years and they were more or less at full strength. Mourinho left out Oscar in preference to playing two defensive midfielders in front of his back four, but Fabregas, Costa and Hazard were all out there which shows how seriously he was taking this.

 

When they beat us in the league a few months ago they didn’t even have to break sweat. They just kept us at arms length and did what they had to do and no more. I always had the feeling they had another couple of gears they could run through if they needed to. They didn’t need to though, because at that time we were shite. We were playing “Hodgeball”.

 

Now? “Rodgeball” is back. There have been strong signs it’s been coming back for several games now but this was the definitive proof that we’ve finally got our swagger back. Poetry in Motion, as the song goes.

 

We were on top of them from the off without really working the keeper much. All the buzzwords Brendan likes to use, pressing, intensity, dominance, tempo, control etc were all there in abundance. Some of the first half build up play was really good but it rarely ended with any kind of shot as Chelsea were defending in numbers (I know, I was shocked too!).

 

We worked numerous good situations but kept coming up just short. Moreno, Markovic and Henderson all got into good crossing positions and delivered dangerously into the box, but it was always a Chelsea boot that got there first. The best effort we managed was a brilliant 35 yard shot from Stevie that was tipped over by Courtois. If he wasn’t such a big bastard that may have gone in.

 

Then Coutinho left Mongo on his arse on the edge of the box and tried to roll it through to Sterling, but it was too close to the stretching Cahill and he diverted the ball back to Courtois, who picked it up.

 

It felt like I was the only person in the ground kicking off over that as to me that’s a backpass all day, he knew where he was playing the ball to. None of the players appealed so maybe I’m talking bollocks, I don’t know. I’ve seen the replay though and I still say that should have been an indirect free kick to us. Not that there was a hope in hell of Martin Atkinson giving us anything of course.

 

It was pretty galling that Chelsea went ahead with their first attack of the game. Even more galling is that it was probably their last too, such was our dominance after falling behind. I thought it was harsh at the time and having seen it a few times from different angles I feel the same. Hazard had sort of mis-controlled the ball and it went straight to Skrtel who cleared. Can does make contact with him but Hazard is just waiting for that so he could hit the deck. He was on his way down even before the contact arrived. He was doing it all game, in fact he’s been doing it since he first walked through the door at Chelsea. Great player, massive twat. That applies to most of them though doesn’t it?

 

I wouldn’t say we have particularly strong grounds for complaint about the decision but what I would say is Atkinson just couldn’t wait to give it. In contrast, when Costa handled in the box as he lay on the floor Atkinson wanted no part of it. A lot of his other - more minor - decisions left a lot to be desired too. Can we not just clone Mark Clattenburg and have him ref every game, as all the others are in way over their heads.

 

I’ve always said about Hazard’s penalties that a keeper needs to stand up and not commit himself, as he ALWAYS waits to see where the keeper is going before he makes his own mind up. I did think that maybe Mignolet would be wise to that having surely faced him on countless occasions in training with Belgium, but alas no, he dived early to his right and Hazard just rolled it the other way. It wasn’t even in the corner, they rarely are. They rarely need to be.

 

It’s hard to take but it’s typical Chelsea isn’t it? Defend, make it hard for the opposition and take advantage of any mistakes made or generosity from the referee. You have to be flawless when you play them, and we almost were. That minor error from Can (who had also been beaten by Fabregas a second earlier) was enough to send us in at half time a goal down despite dominating the half. We didn’t create too much as it’s always difficult against such a well drilled unit, but we’d played very well.

 

We were even better after the break; just as good defensively (without the error this time) but much more creative in the final third. All that was lacking were the goals the performance deserved. It wasn’t as though we were wasting chances though, you have to give credit to Courtois who made some good saves to keep them in it, while they also rode their luck and were saved by the woodwork when Gerrard’s precise shot struck the post after wonderful work by Coutinho.

 

We did find the net once thankfully (he idea of losing after playing this well doesn’t even bear thinking about) and what a goal it was too. Raheem hadn’t had much joy in the first half although he’d looked quite sharp and some of his one touch interplay with Coutinho was great to watch. Generally though he’d not had much to feed off but he took matters into his own hands when he came deep to collect the ball in midfield, turned away from 'Static Matic' (I just made that one up, get me) and drove at a petrified Cahill who retreated towards his own goal. Sterling got to the edge of the box and it opened for a shot which he duly despatched into the bottom corner with his left foot. Great goal that.

 

After that we battered them and had plenty of shots on goal. Hendo hit a cracker from 20 yards that Courtois parried to Sterling, but the keeper got up to save the follow up too. Skrtel headed over from a free-kick, Coutinho forced another save from Courtois and Sterling had a couple of efforts off target when reasonably placed and was denied by Courtois whose momentum then caused him to handle outside the box. Can't blame Atkinson or the linesman for not spotting that, the keeper's body was completely obscuring their view of it.

 

At the other end Mignolet may as well have been sat in the front row of the Anny Road with his feet up on the advertising boards, as he had nothing to do aside from playing the occasional one two with his defenders. Chelsea were clearly just hoping to defend and then use Hazard on the break, but he got no change from Can who was helped out by the once again excellent Markovic when necessary. The two of them shored up that right hand side and Hazard did nothing in the second half. A couple of times he tried to run past Can who just mugged him off using his strength, it was great to see. Markovic and Can have a good thing going down that right flank.

 

Rodgers made a change after 70 minutes, Gerrard going off to be replaced by Lallana. It seemed to be pre-planned, but this is something Stevie may have to get used to now. It felt strange but not only was it the right call, it was an obvious one. It’s not that Gerrard didn’t play well, but you’re not going to take off Sterling or Coutinho in the form they were in, so who else was going to make way for Lallana? Under different circumstances maybe you’d take off Lucas and move Gerrard back into midfield, but Lucas was having a stormer and he was needed to prevent Chelsea hitting us on the break. So yeah, Gerrard was the one to make way and probably will have to do so again throughout the remainder of the season.

 

Lallana almost ended up as the hero too when Sterling cleverly chested the ball into his path and he struck a stunning half volley that was flying into the corner before Courtois got his fingertips to it to turn it around the post. Hell of a strike, hell of a save too. Courtois may look like Postman Pat and is guilty of being a twat by association, but he’s a terrific keeper and unlike many others, he acknowledged the applause of the Kop as he took his place in goal at the beginning of the 2nd half, so fair play for that.

 

Costa took a blatant dive to try and win a penalty late on but Atkinson ignored his appeals. He should have booked the arl man faced twat but it was no surprise he didn’t. The Kop let their displeasure be known with chants of “Diego Costa - the Elephant Man”. That was funny, the continued singing about John Terry’s ma less so. I really wish we’d knock that on the head.

 

There was so much to admire about this performance. Apparently Chelsea only had two shots, one of which was the penalty. I can’t even remember the other, it may have been Matic or someone blasting one miles over the bar from distance in the second half. Who'd have thought we could defend this well though?

 

Mourinho bemoaned the lack of quality his team showed on the break, spouting off some coach speak about how many times they won the ball “in the low block” but did nothing with it. He’s right, there were a few occasions when we lost the ball and it looked like we might get undone with a counter, but each time we got back and defended it well. He can blame his players all he likes, I’d prefer to give credit to ours as this kind of scrambling defence is something we’ve generally not been too good at.

 

Can, Skrtel and Sakho were all excellent though and in front of them I thought Lucas was brilliant, breaking up attacks before they got started and winning countless tackles. Not even a ridiculously harsh yellow card in the first half slowed him down, he was like a tackling machine, similar to how he was playing before he got that bad knee injury.

 

Gerrard got booked for nothing too. I don’t know if the stats back it up or not but it felt like they were both booked for more or less their first fouls, whereas Matic was allowed to repeatedly offend around the halfway line without being cautioned. It was doing my head in, even when he wasn’t fouling it was only because he wasn’t quick enough to do it. Ditto that big fucking shitbird Jon Obi Mikel. Coutinho dancing in and out of those two while they tried to kick and grab him was like watching a Hobbit being chased by a couple of Cave Trolls.

 

Every one of our players performed really well, there were no weak links and it really did feel like last season at times. We didn’t win so it may seem a little bit small time to be ‘celebrating’ a draw, but that would be missing the point. It’s not the result that has people buzzing, it’s the dominance of the performance and the feeling that we’re back to being ourselves again.

 

I was listening to Talksport on the car radio as I drove home after this, and there were Reds ringing up to complain about Chelsea’s negative tactics. That criticism was more than valid after the league game in April, they were a disgrace that day and for a team with the talent they have it’s inexcusable for them to play like that. This was different though, I don’t have a problem with their approach at all, as it was the first leg of a semi final (and they’re at home in the second leg). They approached it exactly how you’d expect and how teams (including us) have approached it since two legged ties were invented: keep it tight, try and get a draw or narrow win to take back for the second leg. Nothing wrong with that at all, even if their squad has cost billions.

 

They didn’t come here and time waste like they did last season and they didn’t get everybody behind the ball and not even bother counter attacking, they just came to keep it tight and when you’re as good at that as they are, then why wouldn’t you? No-one loathes Chelsea more than I do, but let’s keep some perspective here eh? Complaining about their approach in this game is pretty lame and pointless. Far better to just focus on ourselves and how well we played.

 

There’s no reason at all why we can’t go there next week and win. None. We did it a few years ago when Bellamy ran riot and I can see us doing it again with Sterling following the Welshman’s example. We’ll need to defend well again but we are doing much better in that area now as the three at the back is working. It’s been said by others who know far more than I do, but while you wouldn’t entirely trust any of them in a two, as a three they’re working well together and we aren’t getting exposed.

 

Chelsea might think they’ve done the hard part by avoiding defeat at Anfield. I hope they do think that way, because it’s pretty clear from looking at the body language of our players that we’re planning on going there and clinching a place at Wembley. Let’s face it, we owe them one big time after last season.

 

Come on Reds, let’s do these bastards!

 

 

Team: Mignolet; Can, Skrtel, Sakho; Markovic, Lucas, Henderson, Moreno; Gerrard (Lallana), Coutinho; Sterling:


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First half, we had 3 fouls against, 2 of which were yellow cards!

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Really? That's actually even worse than I realised. I'm pretty sure I saw Lucas kicking off after his booking and saying it was his first foul.

 

I bet all three of those fouls were on Hazard, and all three were probably dives.

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First half, we had 3 fouls against, 2 of which were yellow cards!

 

I heard that on commentary. Chelsea committed six fouls for their one yellow, if I recall...

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Both yellows were ridiculous.

Gerrard's was a nothing one & made worse by the fact that full back with the greasy centre-part had just done one identical . The Lucas one he was chasing the ball and Hazard just deliberately stopped in front of him so he skidded into him.

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The detail is a little hazy but there was one moment around the 80-minute mark when Can or Henderson played a 10-yard pass forward to Lucas in the centre circle. The pass was a little wayward and Lucas couldn't reach it despite stretching. Chelsea picked up the ball and looked to counter. Lucas just decided to take out one of the runners with the ball nowhere near (not sure if it was Fabregas or Matic) but the ref let play go and Chelsea lost possession soon afterwards. The referee could have handed out a second yellow but thankfully decided there was nothing doing. It was one of those where you knew that we'd foul the opponent as soon as possession was lost.

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It's great to see a good bit of the swagger back in our play. Rodgeball is back on the table and it looks and feels good!

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Repped for the opening paragraph, Static Matic and Postman Pat. 

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Great report Dave, I thought it was a back pass too. Spot on about Hazard too. preferred his Dad Micky!

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Really? That's actually even worse than I realised. I'm pretty sure I saw Lucas kicking off after his booking and saying it was his first foul.

 

I bet all three of those fouls were on Hazard, and all three were probably dives.

5 fouls and two bookings the whole game, they had 13 and the same amount of bookings. Albeit Skrtel had a nasty elbow on Elephant Man that went unpunished so we got away with a bad one too (payback from last time of course, a Slovak always pays his debts).

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5 fouls and two bookings the whole game, they had 13 and the same amount of bookings. Albeit Skrtel had a nasty elbow on Elephant Man that went unpunished so we got away with a bad one too (payback from last time of course, a Slovak always pays his debts).

Skrtel just got his retaliation in first. Costa had a quick look and was lining him up.

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Agree with the comment about their tactics, but the issue with this bunch is their attitude....and Atkinson's compliance with their dirty tricks. If they'd had 7 or 8 yellows it would have been more representative of the game...... Fabregas knocking the ball away (with his knee!) to stop our free-kick, Matic trying to destroy Lallana's achilles after he'd been turned, Terry holding Sterling down, several blatant dives....

This is a Revie's Leeds for our time....exceptionally talented team, but dirty,nasty,snide,cynical,cheating.... the perfect extension of the odious little man who manages them.

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There was a story going around suggesting Hendo and Costa had a scrap in the tunnel; anyone able to confirm?

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There was a story going around suggesting Hendo and Costa had a scrap in the tunnel; anyone able to confirm?

 

Apparently they squared up to each other but nothing more than that.  Something about Costa standing on Hendo's foot, the massive gypsy cunt.  Get in Jordan.  Tuesday will be spicy.

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Since when did calling someone a gypsy become acceptable?

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The gypsy anti-defamation lobby will be up in arms about this when they wake up.

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The gypsy anti-defamation lobby will be up in arms about this when they wake up.

 

That's what happens when you slut around the North-West looking for a copywriter's job when you're a perfectly terrific journo, M.

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