Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool: Groundhog Day

The Modern Age reflects on what should feel more like a point gained than two dropped for The Reds

I make that seven games in a row against Chelsea that have ended up as a draw. And at that, seven very similar draws. No goals in the second half in any of the games. End to end. Missed sitters. Disallowed goals. The games coming at a bad time for one team or the other.

Indeed, the last time a crowd saw one of the two sides win in this league fixture was in September 2019, almost four years ago.

My point is these games seem to be following a pattern, where there just isn’t much to split these two sides every time they cross paths.

I did think this would be a draw as well, with the only thing making me hesitate being the idea that it couldn’t be another draw. But then again, both teams will be content with the result, and the way the game panned out was hardly surprising.

What I saw were two teams determined to prove a point off the back of a poor season, two teams feeling the pressure of starting off on the right foot (which is how every time feels at the start of the season, but more so if you’re a big club trying to put things right), two teams with new players and new systems, and most importantly, both in desperate need of a ball winning midfielder.

Despite that, the stars of the show were undoubtedly Enzo Fernandez (my man of the match), Dominik Szoboszlai, and Alexis Mac Allister. Salah and Diaz looked bright first half and linked up superbly for the goal but drifted out the game, Jota and Gakpo were poor, as were the fullbacks.

Szoboszlai is tall, quick, athletic, supremely confident, a great presser, and technically brilliant; he’s everything we were looking for. It was just a shame we didn’t get to see him take a proper shot at any point. Mac Allister was mostly excellent and perhaps playing deeper than we would all like, but that’s just the situation The Reds find themselves in.

Unfortunately, the Argentine did pass up what was probably the chance to snatch the three points, as he got caught in two minds between passing and shooting and ended up blasting the ball at Nunez, at an awkward height. It was a tired ‘pass’ or moment, and both teams screwed up chances to grab a win late on. In the grand scheme of things, I like how effective that press was so late on.

The game just felt chaotic, no different to Liverpool’s games in preseason. They looked like they could score every time they went forward, but then also looked like conceding every time they were on the backfoot, and just like last season, time and time again, if it wasn’t for Alisson, Liverpool would have lost. I’m getting sick of him being player of the month, player of the match, or player of the season- it’s great having the best goalkeeper in the world but we could do with giving him a bit less to do.

Van Dijk cleared up a lot of mess but at times could have been more aggressive, while Konate was imperious off the ball yet still shaky at times on it. I struggle with Andy Robertson, who is looking less and less like the Robbo I once considered the best left back in the world.

I really want a sprinter there, like Rico Henry (he’s too short, but someone like him), someone who can beat his man and provide quality crosses on a more consistent basis, and isn’t prone to passing the ball to the opposition. But in fairness to Robertson from a defensive viewpoint, the left-hand side was getting overloaded, and that may well be a more structural issue.

I know that Robertson is also a very important leader in the core group, and it’s not that I don’t think he’s good enough. His defensive awareness and stamina are still incredible. I just wonder if it’s time to start thinking about the future of that position.

I’m quite happy for the Gakpo centre mid experiment to end here, as the Dutchman looked lost, and only looked dangerous/ effective when he got closer to the goal. Alexander-Arnold was quiet and potentially to blame for what was such a soft goal to concede. Then again, it was his ball for Salah that led to the disallowed goal, which was very unfortunate rather than good judgement from Chelsea’s backline (although the same can be said about Chilwell’s goal), and probably the turning point of the game.

When that went in, I thought Liverpool could be winning by 3 or 4. But people need to be reasonable; Chelsea played well and given how much they’ve spent you would expect some good individual performances, which is what we saw- and they have a great manager.

There are plenty of positives to take; I’ll say it again, the goal was superb. I am loving the way in which Salah is adapting his game as he gets older. What it does mean is that sometimes when the team needs someone fresh, who can beat his man with ease, go inside or out, Doak is a great option and Salah needs to come to terms with the fact that he will be getting substituted for Doak in these circumstances more often.

I like that he never wants to come off and I don’t mind him being pissed off about it, but it was too much of an overreaction, especially in the very first game of the season. But these things do happen and it doesn’t need to become a huge deal.

At the same time, the issues with the team are very clear, and we know that the club are trying to address those issues, and that they’re willing to spend a fair amount to make sure they get solved. Once the transfer window shuts and the team is a bit more settled, we will have a better idea of where Liverpool are. But for now, it seems to be a case of outscoring their opposition until players are integrated and the system is in full working order.