1) The first half was one of the best individual contests of the season. Mo Salah vs Eden Hazard was a treat สโบเบ็ต to watch with their contrasting styles. Salah showing phenomenal strength when receiving the ball with his back to goal and then turning to run at defenders versus the exhilirating sight of Hazard starting a counter attack from his own half as the Liverpool midfield and full backs converge to try and stop him. Fair to say, Salah won that particular battle with the goal.
2) Chelsea’s change to 3-5-1-1 means there is always a third man runner which usually is Bakayoko. But with Coutinho in the left central midfield position, Drinkwater was asked to make those runs and twice had good opportunities when he got beyond the Liverpool defense.
3) A word on Liverpool’s defense. Gomez was as usual magnificent and the best Liverpool defender, Matip was steady while Klavan was lucky. With regard to Moreno, I’m not sure about the statistics, but I’m pretty sure most of the Chelsea attacks came down the Liverpool left. The reasons for that were 3 fold. Coutinho not tracking Drinkwater’s runs, Zappacosta having a phenomenal first half, and the presence of Salah on the Chelsea left tearing Alonso to shreds. Despite this, I thought Moreno did admirably and it was a good call by Klopp to continue playing him.
4) I have to talk about Liverpool’s game management again. The number of times we have let leads this season as well as the previous one slip is shocking. And here is my problem with Klopp. I thought he made the right call with his initial selection ( we have two important PL games within a week and rotation was necessary), and the change on bringing Wijnaldum for Danny was equally brilliant. It allowed an extra man in midfield, Salah to play center forward and twice Coutinho almost played Salah through on goal.
But his substitutions continue to defy logic. From minute 75-80, when it was clear that we needed to defend the lead and when Pedro, Willian and Fabregas came on, Klopp dithered. He claims the referee did not allow him to make subs, but how about one of his players show game intelligence in clearing the ball out of play to allow for them. 30 seconds before the goal, Milner was in the right back position looking absolutely spent and instead of clearing the ball out of play, he played it straight back into midfield and the resulting move allowed Willian to score. Also, Mane should have come on for Coutinho way earlier to provide fresh legs for counter-attacks.
5) The biggest issue to resolve till January is Liverpool’s backup striker. When Danny plays like that against a big team at home, you know that his time is over. Klopp should look to sell him in January as we have a backup striker in Danny Ings. Ings is a runner in the Firmino mould and fits our system way better than Sturridge. I would be happy with 20-25 mil in Jan for the Studge. สโบเบ็ต
