There was no shortage of excitement Sunday evening when Liverpool travelled to Stamford Bridge to lock horns with Chelsea. Jurgen Klopp was vocal about the Blues’ summer spending spree despite the pandemic whereas Frank Lampard, the iconic Englishman, took little time to respond, highlighting the Reds’ investment over the previous windows during the German’s initial years in Merseyside.
The outlets across the country projected the war of words as a modern-day rivalry and both the sides, determined to build momentum banking on previous week’s outcome, were quite cautious as well as concentrated, unlike their previous meeting. Although it started off as a game of chess, the hosts blinked first towards the closure of the first-half when Andreas Christensen brought Sadio Mane down who was through on goal. VAR suggested the young Dane’s dismissal and a couple of goals from the Senegalese after the break knocked down the ten-man London giants.
However, there was no shortage of excitement throughout the course of time. The Premier League debut of Thiago Alcantara, yet another goalkeeping howler from Kepa Arrizabalaga and a rare miss from specialist Jorginho from the spot made the Super Sunday an eventful one. Here are a few observations from the outing that require attention beyond the sending off.
Comedy of Errors
It looked pretty straightforward in naked eyes. Christensen’s rugby tackle and Kepa’s erroneous goalkeeping cost Chelsea severely despite a headstrong display early into the game. But if we go through the replay a few times, the Danish centre-half was not at fault entirely. It was an outrageous long ball from Jordan Henderson, and Mane’s pace would have beaten outrushing Kepa who committed already.
The Spaniard was out of his position from the very beginning which left Christensen with no choice but to pull the Senegalese down. Mane is terrific with his touches and would have easily taken control of the ball like he has done on numerous occasions before. Having said that, a goal down leaves you in a better position over being a man down against a side like Liverpool. Christensen did not make the right call there. The youngster will learn from his mistake going forward.
Lampard opted for the patience game provoking the Reds to press high up the pitch. Mikel Arteta, so far, has implemented the same successfully at Arsenal and it was going good for Chelsea too during the first half. However, the lethal front trio of Liverpool combined majestically while breaking the deadlock and the second goal they scored should be labelled as a collective failure. They were still playing way too many back-passes putting Kepa under further pressure against the high-press. With Thiago’s inclusion in the centre of the pitch, the Merseysiders were more ruthless in the attacking third, and a lethargic defending from Reece James allowed Mane a free run.
It was undeniably a howler from the custodian who should have been shown more composure in receiving Fikayo Tomori’s pass and placing it for Jorginho right in front of him. But the run Mane took here could have been stopped in the first place and these fine margins proved costly yet again.
No Centre-back, No Problem
Liverpool endured a double blow when both Joe Gomez and Joel Matip were ruled out with injuries before the contest. Questions have been raised over Klopp’s decision of deploying Fabinho as the fourth-choice centre-back following Dejan Lovren’s exit, but the spirited show from the Brazilian must have relieved the fans now. He never looked uncomfortable against Timo Werner, instead kept on winning the duels with timely challenges, tackles and interceptions. His game-reading traits, along with concentration, made him look like a veteran in that particular role. Van Dijk effect? Well, it’s too early to make such audacious claims!
The Curious Case of Timo Werner
It would be too harsh to criticize the German hitman after two games in Chelsea colours, but some observations need to be addressed here which might trouble the Blues once Christian Pulisic returns to action. Firstly, Werner has already made his presence known inside the box having won spot-kicks in successive fixtures. He is smart enough to break the high-line and hammer the opponents with his pace and power.
However, the attacker has often been seen operating from the left-flank as he finds it comforting cutting back from the wide over occupying the central slot. The same was observed during his Leipzig tenure, and it is to be seen now how Werner attunes to a ‘number 9’ role with Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech featuring down the wings. A free role up-front might not be what Lampard is expecting from his mega-money recruit.
“Thiago…Thiago Alcantara”
Liverpool have never signed a player of Thiago’s profile before and the Spaniard, too, depicted why he is termed as ‘world-class’ despite only one training session at his new club. He was thrown into action straight away after the break in place of injured Henderson and the 29-year-old orchestrated the tempo effortlessly with his range of passing and vision.
He completed 75 successful passes in 45 minutes – a new Premier League record set by a player who played a maximum of 45 minutes since Opta started producing passing statistics at the start of the 2003-04 season. The penalty he conceded (looked soft!) later on was saved by Alisson, and the eventful Liverpool debut would be worth-remembering for the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich stalwart. The supporters are buzzing across the globe and humming the new tune for a reason!
Moaning Does not make you Mourinho, Strategy Does!
Gone are the days when the likes of Sam Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, Neil Warnock and Roy Hodgson used to be the most hyped English managers despite some dull, tedious and old school football. The emergence of Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker is a breath of fresh air, but the Chelsea great is losing the plot due to his arrogance and moaning nature. This was his fourth defeat in five meetings against Klopp’s Liverpool as the Blues boss and his touchline tirade towards the closure of the previous term left a bad impression. He went aggressive to counter the Reds chief while defending the transfer strategy and questioned the marching order overturning the yellow card after consulting VAR.
Chelsea, meanwhile, looked purposeful from the beginning, were composed while playing it out from the back and opted not to commit themselves in search of goals which refrained Liverpool from scripting their trademark counter-attacks. The decision of bringing in Tomori replacing Kai Havertz made sense too, but he should have been more direct after the break being a man down. The pressure was immense before Mane’s opener, and the same could have been avoided if they had utilized the width of the pitch and whipped in crosses into the box bringing in Olivier Giroud.
Lampard has just begun his managerial career and games like yesterday would enrich his attributes in the long run. But he must work on his attitude first, accept the mistakes made and sharpen his skills beyond the Liverpool rivalry.
