A Tale of 2 cities - Rafael Benitez & Jose Mourinho
I still can’t believe my eyes at the end of the match, the scoreline read 1 – 4 after 90 mins of play. It was supposed to be close between the rivals, who would have thought?
We played relatively well for the first 30 mins, save for a penalty given against Pool; thanks to Traore when he fouled Drogba in the box. Lampard stepped up for the spot kick & Reina nearly stopped it, damn. 1 – 0 to Chelsea. I thought we were visibly disappointed after Chelsea took the lead, it’s clearly shown during the play after the penalty; for a couple of mins after we were behind.
Of course, Liverpool never gives up. We responded with a Steven Gerrard’s goal in the 36th min, Riise’s swung in the ball from the corner, Carra’s flick of the ball off his head had the ball falling into the path of Gerrard & it was 1 – 1 from then. We were level within 9 mins after Chelsea took the lead.
Chelsea was contented to sit deep & struck when the opportunity came for counter-attacking. The game plan worked perfectly for Jose Mourinho’s team. Duff had his goal in the 43rd min, after Drogba’s work in the midfield; shaking off Finnan & Hyypia. Pool was once again 1 – 2 down at Anfield.
Chelsea continued to add more pain to the Liverpool fans at the stadium, by scoring a third through Cole in the 63rd min. Drogba was going for goal, but his shot went wide by miles. Luckily for him, Cole was around to tap it in. Easy goal for Joe Cole, Chelsea are 1 – 3 up.
Rafa then replaced Hyypia with Sinama-Pongolle, hoping to add more attacking power. However, it was a case of too little, too late. Cisse was then brought on for obvious reasons. Moments after Cisse got on the pitch, Chealse scored the 4th one in the 82nd min through Geremi.
Having played Chelsea so many times, whether for Champions League or the Premiership; this has to be our worst performance to date. We played more attacking football, but were let down by our finishing in front of goal & the defending of Chelsea trio – Terry, Makelele & Cech. We certainly took more risks by pushing more players foward & resulted in a laspe defensively. Traore & Hyypia were outta sorts & made mistakes that Chelsea capitalised on & converted to goals.
Our formation of 4-5-1 didn't work with Chelsea, though Crouch was good in the air; almost winning every ball in air, there just isn't enough support from the other players. Sinama-Pongolle & Cisse should have started for the side, i'm really baffled by Rafa's play yesterday. The 4-5-1 formation gave them strength & control in the midfield, but support is seriously lacking in the attacking department. The formation also allowd Gerrard a more versatile role, hovering behind Crouch & playing in the midfield.
The scoreline was certainly not a clear indication of the gap between the 2 teams. However, we lost. We should not dwell on the manner of defeat, we lost.
(click to enlarge)
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