Firstly, it's a good result and I'm made up to end another weekend in top spot. However, at the risk of sounding like a spoilt, ungrateful little shit, that felt somewhat unfulfilling and my confidence levels for the coming weeks were certainly not boosted, despite a win over what will probably be a top four or five team that took us to the top of the table.
Just reading that sentence back to myself makes me squirm. I know how how it sounds, you don’t need to tell me. I’m fully aware. Here me out though, I'll try to explain why I'm not as thrilled as I probably should be.
It’s hard to explain because I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, unhappy, worried or any of that. All of those are too strong. I just think that despite winning yet another game, we’re not necessarily passing the eye test and as such there is a little bit of concern there.
Not by the performance as such, more so by the approach. In terms of the performance I think the players probably mostly did what was asked of them, although you’d need to ask Slot about that. I guess what I’m saying is I didn’t see what I would have asked of them, or what Jurgen always asked of them.
Yet I’m probably going to have to tailor those expectations accordingly if this game is anything to go by. We treated Chelsea in a way that only Manchester City have been treated at Anfield in the last nine years. And even then, we only played like that against City a couple of times and only at times when we weren’t at our best level and Klopp went more pragmatic than he normally would. While Klopp obviously gave due care and attention to tactics in the bigger games, it was always applied with the mentality of “we’re gonna run all over these fuckers today”. Didn’t matter who it was, if they come to Anfield they’re getting the kitchen sink thrown at them.
I think back to what we did to Chelsea at Anfield last season, and then I look at what happened here, and it’s night and day. Granted, both coaches are different and Chelsea are in better form now than they were then. They have a different tactical approach too, so it’s not the same game. I get that, and I’m not suggesting we would have destroyed them the way we did last season. For one thing Bradley was missing this time!
I just think we paid them far too much respect and I don’t like seeing us passively sitting off teams and letting them have the ball at Anfield, and then when we have it we just pass it around going nowhere for long spells. That being said, it’s not a criticism, it’s just a personal preference.
Recommended Comments