Chelsea v Liverpool - post match thread

[red g]

The problem remains: When Torres and Gerrard have an off day, the others rarely threaten!

Rooney had an off day on Saturday didnt he? what was there score???

Oh yeh lucky not to lose.......

[red g]

The problem remains: When Torres and Gerrard have an off day, the others rarely threaten!

If Drogcunto had an off day it would have been 0-0

[vonk]

The problem remains: When Torres and Gerrard have an off day, the others rarely threaten!

Spot on. I thought our defence was decent yesterday. To be honest the last goal was sort of irrelevant at that point. It just confirmed the result. The first was a mistake by Masch but he played well the rest of the game, as did Lucas for what he was asked to do.

The problem for me wasnt the defence, it was that we were toothless in the final third. Gerrard was man marked by Essien and Torres was up against pretty decent defenders in Terry and Carvalho, you have to say. At this point its pretty easy to see that in order to get a goal we need Riera and Kuyt, our only other attacking options to cause Chelsea problems and pull their defence out of shape, perhaps creating some space for Torres and Gerrard themselves. Not a ****in chance. This pair did nothing to hurt Chelsea all game. Kuyt has been a good player for us and is vital in games where we need to scrap. He runs around a lot and occasionally plays a nice lay off to a team mate. But him and Riera were totally ineffective yesterday, and this decided the match for me. As we've done for 5 years we need more quality in wide areas and we still don't have it. Our next money much be on a wide player and get Benayoun in there.

[cream]

The problem remains: When Torres and Gerrard have an off day, the others rarely threaten!

Thats why we need Aquilani fit asap and someone like Silva on the left.

[paulc]

I agree with this 100% sadly, doesn't hurt like it used to for this very reason

agreed

i used to get all up for these "big games" but its not got the same draw for me anymore. i used to go to around 10 games a year too but just not got the buzz anymore

[TartanTerror]

Bit ambivalent over the return of Agger and what it means for the team. Shoring up the defense against top 10 teams doubt he will add much. Helping break down the bottom tier is a different matter although that doesn't really appear to be our problem this year.

The main advantage we possess is that we are the only team in the top 6 that can take their play up another level. Even in the absence of possible game changing players I do not believe the team is playing its best. Chelsea are playing as you expect with their roster, United while obtaining results are not the team they were, and Arsenal are playing as well as they can. Tottenham and Man City are playing well in the beginning of a long season. Assuming Aquilani can perform as the vital cog that provides a seamless midfield to forward line transition then we started the season with an injury to a major player. If Aquilani proves to be a flop Rafa may still figure how to sort the midfield. I may be blinkered, blinded, or [place derogatory term here describing relative myopia regarding our piss poor play] but I remain positive that this squad will be playing great football in the coming months.

[blondie]

Some of the comments in this thread are ridiculous and embarassing. I thought we played ok in what was a tight game, we had some half decent chances that on another day would have buried. We then concede a goal after a mistake, these things happen against good sides. When Drogba wasn't rolling around like a drama queen, he caused us quite a few problems and in the end was the difference.

As for us, I thought the defence looked a lot stronger for most of the game compared to previous games. It's very unfair to criticise Lucas for not being anywhere near as good as Alonso. He isn't, but they are 2 completely different players, and he isn't a like for like swap. Aquilani is the direct replacement for Alonso, so we just have to be patient and hope he is as good as rafa thinks he is. Btw, does rafa play masher and lucas as 2 holding midfielders against the good sides because he wants the 2 full backs to attack more? Just a thought, and if true it's taking a bit of time to work properly but there are signs we are slowly improving if you fotget about the Fiorentina game.

As for having a go at Torres and Gerrard, again a bit harsh imo as against the good teams they get starved of any decent service from our midfield because we aren't quite creative enough. We huff and puff with the likes of kuyt and riera, but there's no real quality in there who can make those killer passes to the front 2. Is gerrard in the middle, kuyt up front and benayoun on the right the answer while we wait for aquilani to get fit? personally i'm not sure - yes it may improve us going forward but wouldn't it give us less ptotection at the back?? i think that whatever team is played, we just need to start keeping clean sheets again, this will bread confidence through the team and then we should do better against the better teams.

[badpiggy]

Some of the comments in this thread are ridiculous and embarassing. I thought we played ok in what was a tight game, we had some half decent chances that on another day would have buried. We then concede a goal after a mistake, these things happen against good sides. When Drogba wasn't rolling around like a drama queen, he caused us quite a few problems and in the end was the difference.

As for us, I thought the defence looked a lot stronger for most of the game compared to previous games. It's very unfair to criticise Lucas for not being anywhere near as good as Alonso. He isn't, but they are 2 completely different players, and he isn't a like for like swap. Aquilani is the direct replacement for Alonso, so we just have to be patient and hope he is as good as rafa thinks he is. Btw, does rafa play masher and lucas as 2 holding midfielders against the good sides because he wants the 2 full backs to attack more? Just a thought, and if true it's taking a bit of time to work properly but there are signs we are slowly improving if you fotget about the Fiorentina game.

As for having a go at Torres and Gerrard, again a bit harsh imo as against the good teams they get starved of any decent service from our midfield because we aren't quite creative enough. We huff and puff with the likes of kuyt and riera, but there's no real quality in there who can make those killer passes to the front 2. Is gerrard in the middle, kuyt up front and benayoun on the right the answer while we wait for aquilani to get fit? personally i'm not sure - yes it may improve us going forward but wouldn't it give us less ptotection at the back?? i think that whatever team is played, we just need to start keeping clean sheets again, this will bread confidence through the team and then we should do better against the better teams.

top stuff

[dww]

I actually think you could argue that we had three good chances to their two, they simply scored both. Kuyts cross for Torres, Benayoun dancing through and the one Torres put wide in the second half. I honestly don't think we match up badly against our competitors but against Chelsea our finishing was poor. I think we need to work on our patience and control in midfield more than anything - it was the platform from which we build our excellent attacking last year and I think starting there is the best place to help both defense and attack.

I said in the games leading up to Fiorentina that I saw a good argument for pairing Lucas and Mascherano as that was probably the way we would play (and I feel will give us the most success) in the the big games. It's not a straight of natural pairing but I think it has promise and it would appear Rafa does too. I really hope that we see more or less the team against Chelsea given a run, perhaps with Benayoun and Riera swapped depending on the opposition.

[Shaggy]

Everyone at work - Mancs, Citeh, Bitters, lower league people - is unanimous that Chelsea 'deserved to win'. How? How was it so clear cut? People are chuckling at me for saying we created more and better chances them, without playing particularly well. What's so ****ing funny about that?

[Slim]

Everyone at work - Mancs, Citeh, Bitters, lower league people - is unanimous that Chelsea 'deserved to win'. How? How was it so clear cut? People are chuckling at me for saying we created more and better chances them, without playing particularly well. What's so ****ing funny about that?

On the radio straight after the game they said Liverpool could have no compliants and were beaten by the better side. Now I don't think we were great, but I don't think we were that bad either, and nor do I believe Chelsea were any great shakes.

It was quite a dull game IMHO and one of very few chances. Pepe had one save to make from Anelka and that was it. They took their chances and we didn't, but no way did they outplay us.

[dww]

A lot of people on this thread seem to concur but I can't help feel that it is an easy narrative bought into by people because of the rest of our season we have had. The media have universally gone with that story so it becomes accepted truth - I wouldn't be surprised if half the people you were talking hadn't seen the match or change their view when talking to Chelsea fans.

[The Birdman]

I've refrained from posting until the hysteria had died down a little bit - I actually thought we did well/ok when you consider we were playing away to Chelsea which is arguably the hardest ground to go and play over the past 4-5 years.
I thought Carra did a lot better, I thought we created a decent number of chances again considering it was Chelsea we were playing and they weren't all out attack and conceeded the 2nd in injury time.
We were not outplayed, they didn't walk all over Lucas in midfield and on recent form and any other day Torres would have scored 1 of his 2 chances and Benny would score in the same situation 99 times out of a 100.

We are going to lose games this season, I'm not bothered about that the important bit is we win at Anfield against Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal and probably City and keep battering the 'lesser' teams home and away.

[Chris]

All the "Chelsea clearly deserved to win" stuff has baffled me aswell. Spurs on the opening day? Yeah, they definitely deserved it, I dont think Chelsea did though.

It was a pretty poor match with defences on top though we created the better chances imo. We just got done by a mistake which is often the way in these games, missed our own chances then thats that.

Despite the defeat I felt a bit more encouraged on sunday, its annoying but being realistic it was Chelsea away and you cant ever really expect to win there as they're very good. We just have to keep going and get revenge on our own ground.

[Fierce]

Good stuff chaps, this page makes up for the earlier silliness in the thread