Chelsea took on Liverpool at the Bridge in the Sunday afternoon match this week. After the international break, the Chelsea blues returned without any injuries or worries for Villas-Boas. His biggest decision was whether to start Didier Drogba who was back from his suspension or Fernando Torres against his old team.
The two teams had met 28 times since October 2004 in various competitions, with the Blues coming out on top with 12 wins compared to Liverpool’s nine.
Having said that, the Blues have not managed to score in five of their last seven Premier League games against Sunday’s visitors.
Most Chelsea fans would have predicted a win before the game and with the recent Chelsea form a win was exactly what was needed.
The teams lined up as follows:
Chelsea
Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, JT (c), Cole; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Mata, Drogba, Malouda.
Subs: Turnbull, Sturridge, Meireles, Torres, Bosingwa, Romeu, Anelka.
Liverpool
Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Kuyt, Lucas, Adam, Maxi, Bellamy, Suarez.
Subs: Downing, Carroll, Henderson, Carragher, Spearing, Kelly, Doni.
The Blues looked to utilise Mata and Drogba early on but Liverpool defended well.
Chelsea’s first sight of goal came in the 9th minute when Mata arrived at the far post to get on the end of a Malouda cross, sadly his effort rolled across the danger zone before being cleared.
Liverpool took the lead in the 33rd minute, after pressure from the reds that came in all directions. A Cech pass put Mikel in trouble, and as the midfielder lost the ball, Bellamy released Maxi just inside the penalty area, and the Argentinian added the finishing touch.
Sturridge replaced Mikel after half time and the move paid off nine minutes later when Malouda was allowed to roam, before firing across goal; the Liverpool defence failed to clear the danger and Sturridge netted home from close range.
Chelsea were almost in front a minute later when Ivanovic’s header from Lampard’s free kick was saved, expertly, by Pepe Reina.
Chelsea were dominating in terms of possession, but the visitors were still causing problems, particularly on the counter attack. Dalglish appeared to be content to play for a draw as he reshuffled his side, bringing Henderson for the dangerous Bellamy in the 65th minute and leaving Suarez up front on his own.
Chelsea could have gone in front again in the 74th minute when Malouda volleyed an Ivanovic cross across the danger zone, but again, nobody reacted quickly enough. It can’t be said that the Blues don’t create changes, it’s the finishing touches that seem to be the problem for them now.
The introduction of Torres came in the 83rd minute when he and another former Liverpool man, Meireles, came on for Drogba and Ramires. With only three minutes remaining and most fans thinking a draw was the better option,Liverpool took the lead. Ex-Chelsea man, Johnson was allowed to skip past two defenders and cut into the Chelsea penalty area before expertly sliding past Cech.
The game finished Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2 and not a great day at the Bridge for Chelsea players, fans or indeed manager Villas-Boas who now have a mountain to climb and more to prove.
As you can see above Petr Cech only had to make one save in the game and one of the goals has been attributed as an error on the part of John Obi Mikel. However the worry was that John Terry didn’t complete any successful headed clearances whilst his counterparts Skrtel and Agger completed 8 out 11 combined. Even when clearing the ball Liverpool seemed more composed as the stats show as most of their clearances were successful and finding their own players (22/29). Chelsea seem to have a panic at the back at the moment and this is something they need to overcome. On another day Chelsea could have been punished further as Liverpool were getting behind at will but just couldn’t find the finishing pass.
So the big talking point of the game for Chelsea fans is the poor defensive performance recently.
From the match stats it’s clear to see that compared to Liverpool, the Blues are still performing well and creating chances. As you can see from the passing stats on the right apart from Drogba, Chelsea passed the ball accurately against Liverpool with some very impressive stats. Juan Mata was the stand out with 43 out of 45 passes whilst John Terry had the most passes and most accurate passes (Key TP – Total Passes, AP – Accurate Passes, PA – Passing Accuracy).
The shooting shots were off in the first half where Chelsea had no shots on target. They rectified this at the start of the 2nd half with three on target in a matter of eleven minutes. However there wasn’t much after this as shots were mostly off target again.
It’s the finishing touches that require the work and with more and more matches coming up where Chelsea have to win, it’s about time the manager was having strong words with his players and creating some stability and partnerships within the squad.
Chelsea drop to fifth place following a Tottenham win against Aston Villa on Monday night.
Chelsea’s next game is away at Bayer Leverkusen for the Champions League on Wednesday night before a home against against Wolves on Saturday.
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