For about an hour, that was very much a typical Liverpool / Chelsea match, with both defences repelling each others attacks. What separated the sides in the end, was a couple of mistakes and some missed opportunities.
Defensive lapses have become a recurring theme for us this season, and sure enough they've cost us another 3 points. Me thinks some players could probably do with a spell on the sidelines once Agger returns to action.
Aside from that we still had plenty of possession but rarely opened up Chelsea. It's a shame we squandered the few good chances we had (in particular Torres open header and Benayouns unbelievable miss at the end).
Losing to Chelsea is hardly devasting but this was a match where we should have asserted ourselves as title challengers. We've another international break now, hopefully that will allow the lads to regroup.
11 comments:
we must be more realistic with our expectations, given the current squad and the progress of other teams, a top four finish this season will be a massive achievement.
Its a complete mess this season. Totally inconsistent performances. And Benitez confuses me with his team selections. Benny Onion has been great for us and in that kind of form it would make more sense to start him and not Riera !
IMO, Riera started for a better aerial presence at the back. Benny Onion may be great going forward, but no1 can say he is a good header of the ball.
Which is why Rafa only brought him on after we went a goal down, cos it was no longer about not letting Chelski score, but scoring one ourselves.
I thought we were better than them for most of the match, but it's always the little details which make huge differences (such as getting totally screwed on a legitimate penalty claim). We'll get our revenge at Anfield.
A draw would have been a fair result. Losing is a setback but as we have seen anyone can beat anyone this season. I think the eventual champions will have lost more games than usual.
I dont agree with your implication that Carra was at fault for our goals. He has been poor this season but yesterday he had a good game.
funny season already.... last season it was too many draws not enough wins... is this season going to be remembered for having a really high amount of losses?
In any case... something is missing in this team... im no expert and i cant say what it is... maybe the players that left last summer have caused the team to lose a bit of its chemistry(and definitely at least some of alonsos incisive passing)... towards the end of last season we seemed like a well oiled unit... maybe with a bit of time we will improve that chemistry once more... time will tell... definitely it is depressing nonetheless... but those people that are calling for rafa's head on the liverpoolfc.tv forums...definitely do annoy me
@Marcus - I certainly hope we do get our revenge later on.
@Simon - there was times in the match where I thought he was excellent but I also believe he played a part in both goals, he lost track of Anelka and Drogba turned him a little too easy.
@suley - I think the biggest problem has been our set piece defending as the vast majority of our goals were from lazy errors. We'd probably have another 4-6 points were it not for that.
Besides we'll have Agger & Aquilani back in a few weeks. Both of those players will massively change how we play :-)
Tbf i don't think the defence played all that bad, for the majority of that match it was arguably the best they've played so far this season. Agger could definately freshen things up though.
Such a frustrating game, i just don't know how from all that pressure we didn't create something.
http://theliverbirdsblog.blogspot.com
@Kirsty_LFC - like you say, for the majority of the match they played well. But I also thought that both goals were very soft ones to give away :-(
The only real positive I can take from this is Mascherano's distribution and passing really impressed me in this game.
Apart from that a 2-0 score line flattered Chelsea.
Hello, have a nice day :) http://chemikdarkstar.blogspot.com
Post a Comment