Depending on whether you’re a glass half full or half empty person, there are two ways in which you could view Liverpool’s Capital One Cup Semi Final second leg 1-0 defeat away to Chelsea last night.
Firstly, if you’re a glass half full person and predisposed to optimism you would likely suggest that, over the two legs, Liverpool bested the League’s best side and had they had their most potent striker, Daniel Sturridge, available to them that the Reds would have, in all likelihood, secured a place in the Capital One Cup final. Brendan Rodgers’ charges created ample chances over the first leg to kill the tie off and were similarly creative in the second leg, but as was the case in the first leg, were profligate in front of goal. Here, one would imagine, Sturridge-the Premier League’s second highest scorer last season- would have made a telling difference.
Conversely, though, there is a school of thought that Liverpool have failed to beat any of the League’s top sides, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea(X2) in the last month, despite playing well in each of the games. Worryingly, the teams whom at the start of the season would have been classified as Liverpool’s main rivals don’t have to play at their best to garner positive results against the Reds. A template on how to play Liverpool has emerged: Cede possession to Liverpool and remain solid and defensively compact in order to draw Liverpool out before hitting their generally shaky defence with rapid counter attacks. In their 2-2 at Anfield in December, Arsenal recorded their lowest possession percentage in the League in well over a decade and, despite this, it took a late Martin Skrtel goal for Liverpool to win even a point.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
The truth, in my estimation, is somewhere in between.
There are many positives that Liverpool can draw from their two recent clashes with Chelsea and, despite losing the tie overall, these shouldn’t be forgotten.
Encouragingly, the Reds were back to their best off the ball, with the pressing game on which much of Liverpool‘s success last season was predicated on having returned. Through Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva, Steven Gerrard & Phillipe Coutinho, the Reds hassled and harangued their esteemed Chelsea counterparts, Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas, and to good effect with the ball being turned over to Liverpool on numerous occasions. Last season, Liverpool hunted the ball aggressively in numbers before releasing the triumvirate of Sturridge, Suarez and Sterling to wreak havoc with their trademark quick transitions. Now, although the parameters in terms of personnel have changed, it appears that Liverpool are reverting to type, off the ball.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
On the ball, too, the tempo with which Liverpool play has been turned up a notch and is closer to the levels which eviscerated most of last season’s Premier League defences. Earlier in the season, in an attempt to shore up what was at the time a woefully inept defence, Brendan Rodgers adopted a rigid 4-2-3-1 formation which curtailed the attacking abilities of many of the Reds players. Now, however, whether by accident or design, Liverpool have stumbled upon a formation, 3-4-2-1, that enhances the strengths of many of their players and also masks the deficiencies of others, mainly Martin Skrtel and Lucas Leiva. Although Chelsea were happy to cede possession to Liverpool over the course of the two legs, the fact that the Reds looked defensively robust in both legs and had no problems in creating chances or retaining possession, particularly in the first leg, will be a source of encouragement for fans of the Merseysiders.
The negatives from last night, however, are failings that are all too familiar to Liverpool. Firstly, poor defensive aligning from a set piece, an Achilles heel of Liverpool under Rodgers, ultimately cost Liverpool the tie as Branislav Ivanovic headed past Simon Mignolet unscathed from six yards out. On review, the closest person to the Serb in the box was Mario Balotelli. Under no circumstances should a forward such as Balotelli be assigned to mark one of the opposition’s most obvious threats from a set piece and Chelsea’s goal is indicative of a typical lack of leadership and organizational nous in Liverpool’s backline. Although, it has to be said that Mamadou Sakho’s withdrawal due to injury exasperated Liverpool’s defensive problems and while it was an unfortunate blow, Brendan Rodgers’ reaction and subsequent actions were, to say the least, curious.
After Sakho’s injury, Rodgers opted to replace the Frenchman with Glen Johnson, a natural right back, and ignore Dejan Lovren, the left sided centre half for whom Rodgers sanctioned a move in excess of twenty million pounds for earlier in the season. To the chagrin of most Liverpool fans, Glen Johnson has been abysmal for the past eighteen months in his natural positions, right back or left back, so to expect him to make a solid contribution in the unfamiliar role of centre half was foolhardy. Undeniably, Lovren has been poor for Liverpool this season but it is hard to envision the Croat playing any worse than Johnson.
Furthermore, Rodgers’ decision to play Steven Gerrard for the entirety of the 120 minutes mystified many Liverpool fans. The captain was visibly jaded towards the end of normal time and the decision to keep Gerrard on and ignore Adam Lallana, another player- like Lovren- for whom Rodgers paid massive money for, raises legitimate questions over both his transfer strategy and, indeed, his in game management.
Liverpool’s profligacy, too, will concern many, although, with the absence of Sturridge, the origin of these problems are clear for all to see. Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson, players who can’t boast the most prolific of goal scoring records, were guilty of missing big opportunities last night and, upon their introduction, Rickie Lambert & Mario Balotelli were relatively ineffective. With the transfer window closing in five days, it looks unlikely that Liverpool will be doing any business and that, once again, they will be placing their stock in Daniel Sturridge remaining fit, which, at best, is a risky strategy.
Overall, there are definitely reasons, looking at last night’s game against Chelsea, for Liverpool fans to be enthused but there will need to a marked improvement in certain areas for the Reds to claim the coveted fourth spot this season.
John O'Sullivan
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