Daniel’s Debrief: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool

Well, I thought that this would be a game we might not learn much from and in reality, I don’t think we did. The game, from a Liverpool perspective, felt like a continuation of what we’ve seen in pre-season. 

Liverpool look extremely exciting in attack. And very vulnerable in defence. And both of those facts are true because of what’s going on in the middle of the park. In the debuting Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, as well as having Cody Gakpo in midfield and Trent Alexander-Arnold move there in possession, the Reds play a gung-ho midfield which intrinsically creates chances, but of course also concedes them.

There’s no getting away from it; we can’t effectively play this system to its optimum potential without a proper defensive midfielder or a left-footed centre-back. The 3-2-2-3 formation we’re trying to play in possession is nothing like the 4-3-3 we’ve stuck to for seven years. Not just in terms of design but also in its specification and requirements. 

Every single player needs to be a specialist. You can’t really have someone ‘doing a job’ there, all of your outfielders need to know and understand their roles fully because of the intricacies and difficulties involved in successfully deploying this system. There’s only Man City and Arsenal that play it in England, while Bayern gave up on it a while ago. Why’s it so rare? Because it’s so hard to do, and requires a group of players, all of whom are suited to their particular role.

So, back to the learning. Why didn’t we learn much from Sunday’s game? Because we knew all of the issues I’ve just mentioned before Sunday - they’ve been known since the start of pre-season. Jurgen Klopp pretty much admitted that this game was almost a stand-alone fixture after the friendly against Darmstadt last week when he said he had to find a plan for the Chelsea game, then look at the rest of the season.

He obviously thought he would have a signing, or maybe signings, through the door around the time of the Chelsea game. Liverpool went big for Moises Caicedo. They aren’t going to get him. But looking at Sunday’s game, you can see why they so desperately wanted him.

Klopp’s stand-alone plan for this game seemed to be to blow away an extremely youthful Chelsea team early on in the game. Liverpool started much better and tried to capitalise on some uncertainty in Mauricio Pochettino’s back three system - Levi Colwill (who Liverpool were keen on) in particular struggled early on. Thiago Silva, who was magnificent, as always, really guided him through the early stages.

The Reds actually had a few chances to go in front early on before they eventually did through a gorgeous goal. It’s the kind of goal you probably associate more with Pep Guardiola football (more on that later) but it was great to see the ease with which Liverpool moved through the thirds in just a few passes.

Mac Allister’s pass to Mohamed Salah is stunning. The technique and the delicacy on the pass is top-class. I thought he was Liverpool’s best player on the day and this was one of his many highlights. Salah does really well up against Colwill and himself delivers a terrific ball into Luis Diaz, who at full stretch finishes into the bottom corner. 

It was very Salah to Mane at Watford in 2021, really. It’s good to see Diaz operating in and around the penalty area, making those late runs, because for a while he’s been doing some quality stuff but in non-threatening areas.

One of the best team goals of this era, a bit reminiscent of Emre Can’s against Hoffenheim in 2017. A wonderful goal and the next ten minutes belong to Liverpool just as the first period of the game already had. Diogo Jota should do better with his pass to Diaz, Salah hits the bar, and later has a goal rightly ruled out for offside - Alexander-Arnold’s incisive pass and Salah’s run not quite timed to perfection, for once.

That was probably the sliding doors moment in the game. If Liverpool go 2-0 up there, I don’t think Chelsea come back into it. However, they do and it all goes crazy for a while. Liverpool fail to clear their lines from a set-piece (winning second balls has been such a problem for this team for two years now) and Axel Disasi connects with the ball to score on debut.

Then Ben Chilwell rounds Alisson Becker to make it 2-1 but like Salah’s strike, it is correctly disallowed for offside. Both goals looked offside from the outset, particularly Chilwell’s, yet neither is flagged by the linesmen, which is somewhat alarming.

This is where it all went a bit wrong for Liverpool. At 0-1 they should’ve tried to slow the pace of the game down a bit and put their foot on the ball. Instead, and I think this is largely due to the system, it ends up being a game of basketball - you attack, we attack. This ridiculously fast-paced nature meant several players tired and the Reds struggled to live with Chelsea’s threats, particularly out wide.

Liverpool aren’t without chance in a second half that felt like it belonged to the home team, though, and early on had a very strong penalty shout. Nicolas Jackson has both hands up and touches the ball. I couldn’t believe VAR didn’t give that as a penalty. And let’s not have all this ‘natural position’ horseshit - if I start walking round with my two hands up parallel to my ears, is that a natural position for them?

For 30 minutes, that is about as good as it gets for Liverpool in the second half as Chelsea go through the gears. Pochettino tactically evolved during the game and Chelsea continued to target Liverpool’s left flank. Andy Robertson is a fine footballer and one of the best left-backs of his generation but he is badly struggling in the left centre-back role. 

I was impressed with Chelsea. They were better than I expected. Enzo Fernandez was absolutely brilliant, the best player on the park, the ball was glued to his feet for much of the second half and he enabled much of their dominance as the game wore on. Liverpool just couldn’t see the ball and for much of it were chasing shadows. 

Their wing-backs of Reece James and Chilwell were causing real problems too, as was Raheem Sterling, and Liverpool at times looked very narrow - most of Chelsea’s space was found out wide. They had a couple of second-half chances and with a more clinical, or experienced, striker than Nicolas Jackson, they’d have surely taken at least one.

Despite this though, Liverpool defend stoically and are good value for the point in the end. Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Virgil Van Dijk have good days defensively, particularly the new captain, who I thought was imperious. Konate always goes up a level in the big games and was particularly good in the first half.

Klopp named an extremely attacking team with four of his five senior forwards starting - one of which in midfield, in Cody Gakpo. His plan was to blow Chelsea off the park but Pochettino reacted well tactically to resist the early Liverpool onslaught.

All four of the forwards ended up being subbed off. Gakpo had surprisingly little influence in his midfield role that he excelled in so much at home to Spurs last season. A couple of cheap concessions of possession as well as some poor defensive plays meant he was always going to be one of the first ones off.

I thought Jota looked lively but lacked the quality in the final action - the overhit pass to Diaz and taking a shot off Szoboszlai spring to mind, but he did come up with at least two excellent headers in his own box from set-pieces in the first half.

Diaz tired as the game went on and his influence waned, so I wasn’t surprised to see him subbed, but the Salah substitution really catches me - and him - by surprise. He hadn’t been involved much in the second half but we ended up with a really makeshift attack and he’s the one player that you really shouldn’t be taking off in the big games, for me.

Ben Doak has six touches of the ball. A really poor decision from Klopp. I guess he was hoping to play on the counter with Doak’s pace, but he’d have been better putting Salah central and Doak and Darwin Nunez on the flanks, maybe taking off Szoboszlai or Mac Allister. I don’t think he had a great day tactically, Klopp.

Credit to the other subs he brought on, Harvey Elliott in particular is superb and does exactly the right thing in terms of tempo. The introduction of he and Curtis Jones actually puts Liverpool on the front foot late on. 

Nunez had an interesting cameo and in truth really should’ve been deployed out on the left, for his pace as a counter-attacking option. Still, he has the one chance where he gets it out of his feet well and it deflects just wide. His hair all came out as he hit that, too. Would’ve been some away end scenes.  

Chelsea have a final chance through Mykhailo Mudryk, who, given the problems he caused at Anfield in January on debut, I think Pochettino probably should’ve started. Alisson does impeccably well for this chance and sees him wide. He’s the best keeper in the world and while he didn’t make any jaw-dropping saves on Sunday, it’s probably also true to say that with a less good keeper, Chelsea win.

Still, Liverpool’s man of the match was Mac Allister, who produced the best debut I can remember from a Red since Sadio Mane in 2016. In an unfamiliar role, he was sensational. Creative, disciplined and intelligent. 

The pass for Salah is world-class, as mentioned earlier, but he had a chance to cap off a great debut with an assist, when Robert Sanchez plays the ball straight to him. Mac Allister fizzes the ball into Nunez and for the first time in the game, his technique lets him down. 

I thought Mac Allister would fulfil a bit of a Georginio Wijnaldum-type role, but he was more Xabi Alonso yesterday. I can’t wait to see him playing as an 8. Because to get the best out of Alonso, we needed Javier Mascherano behind him.

Szoboszlai had an encouraging debut as well. Technically very good and thought there was some grit to his performance too, his dribble towards the back end of the first half was excellent and I think everyone was surprised by that turn of pace. Jota certainly was, as he ended up hitting the ball for him, just as Szoboszlai was about to swing his left foot at it.

Liverpool only had one shot on target, which was the goal. They really needed to test Sanchez more than that, particularly given his lack of gametime for Brighton last season and being thrust into the starting berth after Kepa’s departure.

That’s probably one real disappointment to take from the game, is the lack of execution comparative to the chance creation, which was good (albeit almost entirely in the first half). Perhaps surprisingly, the two teams ended up identical on xG, which given Chelsea’s perceived dominance, shows that Liverpool defended well on the day.

Last season, if you take away the three blowout scores against Bournemouth, Leeds and United (9-0, 6-1 and 7-0), Liverpool only score 52 goals in 35 games. That needs to be improved upon this campaign and that’s one positive that this system, and the two new signings, will certainly bring about.

It’s a big few weeks ahead for Liverpool, though. They need a DM so desperately. It’s not just about stopping attacks, but it’s about winning the ball, protecting the ball, having a base to play from. It’s about having some physical presence. Which yesterday, in the middle of the park, was badly lacking.

Rodri made six tackles on Friday night and that’s with City having 69% possession. They’re also going after Lucas Paqueta, who made eight in West Ham’s draw at Bournemouth on Saturday. Paqueta’s eight is more than Liverpool’s entire midfield on Sunday (Gakpo and Mac Allister three, Szoboszlai one).

We have become a team of technicians, which enables us to score the goal that I described as Guardiola-like, but it’s also meant that we are desperately lacking physically. And when you consider that Klopp’s most successful team was built upon a brick wall of a midfield in Fabinho, Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson, it’s a bit of a baffling departure. Hopefully the balance will get redressed with the signing of a DM and a left-sided CB.

Speaking of signings, how good is Peter Drury? Best commentator around. He and Daniel Sturridge were great.

It’s a good point. A point at Stamford Bridge is always a good point, really. And it was a lot better than last year’s opening day draw at Fulham where we looked goosed after ten minutes. It was obvious that day that a tough season lay ahead. What we saw yesterday is what we already know - with two more quality additions we can have a very competitive season.

The season won’t be defined by a draw at Chelsea. You don’t have to win loads of the big away games. Last season, City only won two of their away games against the top ten in the league (Arsenal and Fulham). 

What you absolutely have to do, is win your home games. And get whatever you can on the road. Liverpool need to beat Bournemouth on Saturday and will probably need to beat Chelsea when they come to Anfield at the back end of January.

Winning home games is key. Liverpool can still do that, whereas Chelsea have already dropped two points at home.

Daniel