Topic: Round Table: Liverpool 0 Chelsea 2

[Corkboy]

Well, that was a very good run of wins and all good things must come to an end. Pity then, that it ended with that shitstain of a contest. Chelsea made no real attempt to play any discernible football and while one can almost, in a certain light, appreciate the expert and obdurate nature of their defending, the sight of a supposed European heavyweight curling up like a hedgehog and stalling from the first minute was a pitiable one.

Lumpball was the offering from the visitors when they had the ball. In an obvious homage to Big Sam, they didn't bother putting any passes together before punting it up to Ba and hoping it stuck. It is a style of football first mined by Jack Charlton a few decades ago with a Republic of Ireland team that had many fine players who were told to tuck in, run around like mad and when you got it, thump it at the big man up front, where it will hopefully bounce at a fortuitous angle towards whichever team mate had managed to leg it up there in support. 

The first goal was a mistake by our captain. Two, if you count the slip but the first touch was what got him into trouble. These things happen and it was heartening to hear his name being sang within a minute. As Shankly said, if you can't support us losing, don't bother supporting us winning. The second was largely irrelevant in circumstances where we had practically gone to a back two, counting our keeper.

As for us, we weren't great. They stifled us well, giving up possession to Gerrard, Flanagan, Johnson and saying go on, do your worst. I'm not sure what Flanagan's worst is, but Gerrard and Johnson both had off days, as did Suarez. Not one of those three senior pros could find the code needed to unpick the plastic bastards, and on another day they all might have. Many of the reviews will say our manager had no Plan B but I don't buy that line of thinking. He went 4 4 2, he threw on another striker, went 3 4 3, you can't accuse him of being paralysed by indecision.

So an inevitable end to a great run but a hugely disappointing result, both in terms of our league aspirations and the game itself. I would personally have preferred a beating than a strangling. It is a small consolation to us and all lovers of football that we are still above them in the table.

Incidentally, I am aware who the visiting manager is and what sort of person he is, and for that reason I didn't see any reason to discuss him in this post. I would appreciate if you would all do likewise.

[royhendo]

For me, in another game Coutinho scores that at the back stick or Sakho doesn't sky the ball over the bar, and it's a different game. They started out doing the kind of yard dog job on Sterling that Pepe used to get stationed to do on Messi. They kicked. They stalled. They drew out the tempo. They were Porto in the UEFA Cup Final of 2003. They were horrible. But they were allowed to do all that, both by the rules of the game and the officiating on the day, so who's to say they're not entitled to.

It was interesting to see our youngest player show the qualities his seniors will need to learn to muster. The level we need to reach in these circumstances is the level of Milner to Nasri to Silva in our box the other week - micro-manipulation of the football. Precision and calm and concentration, and inexorably mounting pressure. Tactical masterclass all you like in those circumstances, you'll still have a hard time dogging it out. But we got startled and froze in the face of it - we're a young side and we'll learn, or we'll grow out of the players who can't take us on the extra level. The manager will insist on it, because he has vision.

The manager did us proud at the end I felt. There were no excuses, depsite how the media are trying to spin his 'two buses' comment. No bitterness. His vision is of a team that calmly copes with the obdurate. That dismantles the blockage with stifling precision. It's easy to neglect in talk of 'tactical masterclasses', but we showed some penetration in a few key moments, mostly centred around Sterling. We'll be more and more able to do that with time. This won't be our last title challenge (and it's important I say this - I still think we're going to win this league - I just have a feeling about it).

I'm proud of the team and its approach to the game. I'm proud of our manager. I'm proud of the whole thing and enjoy the contrast with the team we faced today, appealing to nonsensical post-match claims of being the best team in the country. They know they faced the best team in the country today, and they did a bloody good job of doing it. But they won no friends in the process, and will have given our young side a valuable football lesson in the process - the kind our manager will make sure they absorb and improve from. We'll be more calculating and patient as a direct result in future, and the likes of Mourinho will learn what that means when the time comes.   

[Gnurglan]

From the first minute, it was obvious Chelsea came to play another time wasting, negative display. Same as vs Atletico Madrid. Thought we'd have enough energy to open them up. Instead it became their type of game. The game they wanted. We got a bit lucky not to concede a penalty when Flanagan blocked a shot with his arm. We were unlucky that Sakho missed his chance. And then, when the first half was over, we got very unlucky when Gerrard slipped. We owned the game. It was our game, but it was played the way Chelsea wanted.

Expected us to change something early on. It was natural Sturridge would come on. Play him central, stay 4-3-3 and move Suarez wide. That was what I expected. Meaning Coutinho was off. Rodgers opted for Lucas-Sturridge. Hard to complain. The only question was if we'd find a way to score, or not. So Lucas off - can't complain. What bothered me was rather that Johnson saw too much of the ball. I wanted Gerrard, Sterling and Suarez on the ball as much as possible. I reckon those were out best bets to open up the Chelsea team bus. It didn't work. Thought we became passive and too slow. The only way for me to counter that, would have been to get Sterling run at them, or slip balls through to Suarez. He always finds a way to get past his opponent. But all we got was Gerrard, move the ball around, back to Gerrard and then the odd shot.

We've now lost the opportunity to decide the outcome all by ourselves. But it's not over. We are still top of the league. It won't be easy to win all the remaining games, for any team. Whatever happens though, I hope Chelsea won't win it. Their anti-football doesn't deserve it.

About the way we played today, credit to Rodgers and the team. We played our way. Just like we did vs City. We play the right way. Today it didn't pay off. It happens. But I much prefer to play our way (and be top of the league), over Chelsea's way. People want to watch football being played our way. It wasn't enough today. However, we are still top of the league. This ain't over, but it hurts.

[E2K]

Having avoided the post-mortem of yesterday’s game in a manner that resembled an agitated ostrich, I can’t speak to anything that was said or done in its aftermath. I simply don’t know. Maybe I’ll feel like revisiting it later in the week and have something else to add then, maybe I won’t. What I can say for sure is that, as disappointments go, yesterday was crushing to an extent that no mere game or sport has any right to ever be. But then, even if few of us would have predicted back in August that a loss in the third-last game of the season would see a first League Championship in 24 years snatched away, more than likely for keeps, we all know what we’re getting ourselves into at the start of every season, don’t we? Football doesn’t change and if the disappointment of days like yesterday ever starts to outweigh the joy of results like the eleven preceding it, then it’s probably time to pursue something else in your life because this is the game. Football will still be here next week, along with all its attendant madness and sadness, thrills and spills, love and hatred, pomp and circumstance. That’s the bigger picture. And at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

Just as single results don’t have the power to change the game, they don’t have the power to change players and teams either. This early iteration of Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool was flawed when it beat Arsenal, flawed when it beat Fulham, flawed when it beat Swansea and Southampton, Manchester United and Cardiff, Sunderland and Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester City and Norwich. It was flawed but it made us dream, often at the expense of all else. This team was moving through its evolution so fast and achieving such impressive results that the temptation was always to forget its limitations, to forget how brittle this squad is (brought into sharp focus with the introduction of Aspas yesterday), so brittle that the absence of one player (Henderson) and lack of fitness of another (Sturridge) can inflict a substantial body blow, to forget the inexperience, the 19 year-old with 50 appearances to his name at Premier League-level or the 21 year-old with 30 or the manager coming to the end of only his third season in the top division, or the fact that virtually no one at the club has been down this road before. Those flaws and more were always there and they were exploited to the fullest extent yesterday afternoon by a team, a squad and a manager which have been here, many times.

Saying that Chelsea’s tactics yesterday deserved nothing is tempting and might be true on some kind of moral or idealistic level, comprising as they did nothing more than a defensive mass in and around their own penalty area, some of the worst time-wasting that I’ve ever seen and dog’s abuse predictably meted out to a spineless referee every time a decision went against them, which is to say nothing of the verbal diarrhoea to which we were subjected during the week preceding it, but on the only level that matters in the real world they schooled Liverpool in a way that was awful to watch if you were of a Red persuasion, all the more so because the home side was simply powerless to do anything about it. Nothing about José Mourinho, his tactics, his players or his supporters in the media who can only seem to utter banal trivialities such as “box office” and “tactical masterclass” like the world’s most annoying Tourette’s sufferers should give anyone pause, not anymore. Mourinho is modern football, a winner where winning is all that matters, a media-anointed prince in a world where judgments are handed down by a man who once accused Liverpool Football Club of throwing a game and his worthless opinions then held up as gospel because he happens to be somewhat better than downright incompetent at his job. I reiterate: at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

And yet, being football, even this bastardised, branded version of it as owned by Sky, there has to be something more than winners and losers written down in black and white because, ultimately, modern football has an exclusive guest list and very few would get through the door if that’s all that mattered. The game no longer represents the universal escape for the likes of you and I that it once did, and yet this season has undeniably flown us to the moon. These lads have done us proud and they’ve only just begun, whatever happens next.

[Hinesy]

Ah he eternal argument style over content, results over way, the statistics don't lie over the sweet memory of a jaw dropping game. Shanks himself said winning was all, and whilst part of me knows if we'd gone to the Bridge and done that job there we'd be acknowledging a famous victory. But and there's always a but... We are Liverpool and I wonder how pleased Roman is with spending all that money on a team who don't even grind out results in gritty displays, they just swarm around the ball in their area and wait. Like a lazy bastarding bee.
But yesterday had 0-0 all over it til the Gerrard slip and whilst they attacked even from the start, in fits and starts, I know full well that their 'weaker*' (*my arse - full of internationals and ne'r do wells) team would have been privately embarrassed to play that way.

I don't have much to say except I would've brought Danny Agger on instead of Aspas and played him as a lone centre forward, hanging about the box and I don't care for their manager one little bit. Small teams, lower league teams, teams on micro budgets, the giant killers, they all play that way. A billionaire owned team of millionaires managed by someone who managed to hoover up all the left over graceless-ness that Fergie left on the pitch? Shame on you.

We'll still win the league tho.

[No666]

Having avoided the post-mortem of yesterday’s game in a manner that resembled an agitated ostrich, I can’t speak to anything that was said or done in its aftermath. I simply don’t know. Maybe I’ll feel like revisiting it later in the week and have something else to add then, maybe I won’t. What I can say for sure is that, as disappointments go, yesterday was crushing to an extent that no mere game or sport has any right to ever be. But then, even if few of us would have predicted back in August that a loss in the third-last game of the season would see a first League Championship in 24 years snatched away, more than likely for keeps, we all know what we’re getting ourselves into at the start of every season, don’t we? Football doesn’t change and if the disappointment of days like yesterday ever starts to outweigh the joy of results like the eleven preceding it, then it’s probably time to pursue something else in your life because this is the game. Football will still be here next week, along with all its attendant madness and sadness, thrills and spills, love and hatred, pomp and circumstance. That’s the bigger picture. And at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

Just as single results don’t have the power to change the game, they don’t have the power to change players and teams either. This early iteration of Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool was flawed when it beat Arsenal, flawed when it beat Fulham, flawed when it beat Swansea and Southampton, Manchester United and Cardiff, Sunderland and Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester City and Norwich. It was flawed but it made us dream, often at the expense of all else. This team was moving through its evolution so fast and achieving such impressive results that the temptation was always to forget its limitations, to forget how brittle this squad is (brought into sharp focus with the introduction of Aspas yesterday), so brittle that the absence of one player (Henderson) and lack of fitness of another (Sturridge) can inflict a substantial body blow, to forget the inexperience, the 19 year-old with 50 appearances to his name at Premier League-level or the 21 year-old with 30 or the manager coming to the end of only his third season in the top division, or the fact that virtually no one at the club has been down this road before. Those flaws and more were always there and they were exploited to the fullest extent yesterday afternoon by a team, a squad and a manager which have been here, many times.

Saying that Chelsea’s tactics yesterday deserved nothing is tempting and might be true on some kind of moral or idealistic level, comprising as they did nothing more than a defensive mass in and around their own penalty area, some of the worst time-wasting that I’ve ever seen and dog’s abuse predictably meted out to a spineless referee every time a decision went against them, which is to say nothing of the verbal diarrhoea to which we were subjected during the week preceding it, but on the only level that matters in the real world they schooled Liverpool in a way that was awful to watch if you were of a Red persuasion, all the more so because the home side was simply powerless to do anything about it. Nothing about José Mourinho, his tactics, his players or his supporters in the media who can only seem to utter banal trivialities such as “box office” and “tactical masterclass” like the world’s most annoying Tourette’s sufferers should give anyone pause, not anymore. Mourinho is modern football, a winner where winning is all that matters, a media-anointed prince in a world where judgments are handed down by a man who once accused Liverpool Football Club of throwing a game and his worthless opinions then held up as gospel because he happens to be somewhat better than downright incompetent at his job. I reiterate: at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

And yet, being football, even this bastardised, branded version of it as owned by Sky, there has to be something more than winners and losers written down in black and white because, ultimately, modern football has an exclusive guest list and very few would get through the door if that’s all that mattered. The game no longer represents the universal escape for the likes of you and I that it once did, and yet this season has undeniably flown us to the moon. These lads have done us proud and they’ve only just begun, whatever happens next.

Beautiful post, and accurate too.

[007.lankyguy]

I think first of all, it's worth pointing out that it's very difficult to break down a team that plays as deep and condensed as Chelsea did. People talk about us being 'naive' yesterday but when a team plays that deep and narrow, it's hard to break them down whoever you are. Chelsea's structure was to deny us space in the two areas that we love to have space - behind the backline and between the backline to play penetrating passes. Although people talk about teams playing deep in their half, it's rare to see a team do it as overtly as Chelsea did yesterday. They contained us through their positioning rather than through pressuring us on the ball. Usually if a team adopts that, they fail - it's not usually enough to just defend in your shape if you don't put pressure on the ball because it's too passive and the pitch is too big for you to control space simply through structure. But Chelsea carried it out in an extreme way by defending so deep and so narrow, which meant we had to create our own space.

Chelsea functionally defended with nine outfield players. Their backline was generally narrow because they didn't want us to be able to play through balls or have players free in the channels. About 7 or 8 minutes in, we had a move where Johnson enticed Cole out to mark him, leaving Sterling to run into the space created in the channel and Kalas had to come across to cover. That was pretty much the only time Chelsea allowed such a situation to occur - generally it was Schurrle and Salah who went out to our full backs when play was switched, allowing their back four to stay narrow in the middle. What that meant was that when Salah and Schurrle marked our full backs on the flanks, Matic and Mikel had to cover a lot of space horizontally. Lampard, even though he was technically playing in front of the two holding players, generally played very deep and often ended up alongside them or even behind them when play was switched and space opened up, in order to help them cover the gaps in midfield. Gerrard was therefore left unmarked in the middle - Chelsea were more interested in covering the space in deep positions than they were in getting out to him, and Ba, who could have marked him, generally stayed higher up to be a reference point for them on the transition. I think it was probably something Mourinho planned for: Gerrard's switches of play can be very dangerous but if they sat deep and very narrow then he probably knew that we'd need more than Gerrard's passing ability from deep positions.

I think the problem when you face a team playing the way Chelsea played is having to entice them out. They effectively gave us two thirds of the pitch vertically and also space in the wide areas in the final third. We needed to use that space to entice them into giving us space in and around the box. In terms of width, we generally had the full backs wide on their own. It didn't help us hurt them - the full backs didn't overlap and generally were only there for us to switch play to and then either cross it harmlessly into the box or play a pass back inside and cycle would begin again. We actually had a similar problem against Sunderland - the centre was really condensed because Sunderland were playing five at the back and we didn't try and pull them open by combinations in the wide areas. What would have helped would have been to not only stretch the pitch horizontally but to try and get 2v1s on the flanks. That would have forced Chelsea's full backs to come out of the box to support the winger on that side and therefore open up the channels and the half spaces (the areas between the flanks and the centre) to penetrate in. Either we could get free in those areas and start pulling Chelsea's defence out of shape and position or one of their midfielders would have to drop into the channel between FB and CB, thereby leaving space in front of the backline for the cutback. That's what Man City did really well against us in those 20 minutes that they dominated a couple of weeks ago: three or so players close together linking with each other in the wide areas to open up the defence horizontally and then playing wall passes to get in behind. We only did this notably a couple of times within the game: once in the 53rd minute where Sterling and Johnson forced Cole to come out to the flank to support Schurrle, leading Johnson to come inside and free Suarez in the space that had been created between Cole and Kalas, and then when Aspas came on and played a wall pass to Sterling to get in behind on the left and Chelsea just about got it out for a corner. We didn't really open them up on the flanks because we generally only had one player (a full back) in that area and they were forced to cross or play it back inside (and Flanagan often shifts it to his right foot which can shut off options or slow down the attack).

The other thing was midfield. We really needed to entice them out with our ball circulation. There are a few ways you can do it. Guardiola and his Barca side were very good at playing the ball into pressure or provoking pressure in order to create space inside the defending team's block. Other teams have done it differently but watching it yesterday (and then re-watching it) it was clear that we seemed to have little idea of how to entice them out with the ball. Simply circulating it wasn't going to be enough (against most teams it would be). Too often (especially in the second half) Gerrard, Coutinho, Allen and Lucas would try and position themselves in space in front of their block to get on the ball, instead of working together to entice the midfield out by provoking them with the ball or positioning themselves in pressure and trying to be marked and then drawing them out that way. So Chelsea would drop into their deep position around their box and then we'd have two or three midfielders look for 5 or more yards of space in front of their block. Then either it would be passed sideways without enticing them out or a hopeful cross or through ball would be played in leading to an inevitable loss of possession. We weren't composed enough to keep moving the ball around and try to draw them out. One of the issues I think we need to resolve in the transfer market in the summer is to buy an 'orchestrating' midfielder - Gerrard does it to an extent in deep positions but higher up we don't have a player with that ability to associate play and provoke players to come out with the ball. Next season I think we'll come up against more teams who did what Chelsea did yesterday (and what Sunderland tried to do a few weeks ago) and it's important we try and combat that. Coutinho is too impatient to play that role and is more of a penetrating player than an orchestrating player, which is why he can have mediocre games against teams who play deep and don't leave space for penetrating through balls. Yesterday we could definitely have done with a Xavi type of player!

I thought Rodgers' change to a diamond didn't help theoretically because Chelsea were playing very narrow in defence but at the same time it should have freed up Sturridge and mainly Suarez to play wide of the full backs. I thought Suarez might have tried to position himself wide of Cole more yesterday to try and get 1v1 situations there but at the same time if we'd tried to get overloads wide or at least draw them out to the flanks, he could have been able to move into the channels.

The second half was a little bit disappointing. Our pattern of play became too predictable - midfielders in space in their half, two passes sideways at a slow tempo, play it to one of the full backs, cross or play it back inside, then a Gerrard shot from outside the area with four or five Chelsea players in the way of the goal. I read a stat from Colin Trainor on Twitter today that over the last two Premier League seasons, Gerrard has  taken 15 shots in open play from outside the box when we've been in losing positions. 7 of those were in the second half yesterday. It pretty much summed what ended up becoming our approach. Too little patience, failing to try and create space through use of the wide areas and then forcing a penetrating pass or shot through the middle.

Having said that there are clearly very positive things to take from the game yesterday (not even considering how unbelievably good we've been the rest of the season and how much of a success this season has been). First of all, we will get better at learning to defeat this type of approach. Our squad seems to learn very quickly from their mistakes and you can already see just two seasons into Rodgers' time here how determined the squad are to play good football and win. We're only going to improve and get better at beating teams who set up with Chelsea's type of approach.

The second thing is I read a knowledgeable Chelsea fan online (there are a couple that exist!) defending Mourinho's approach by pointing out how we've destroyed so many teams who have left even the smallest amount of space at the back this season. For an expensively-assembled team like Chelsea to willingly give us the initiative and to concentrate their game on keeping space extremely tight in the final third speaks volumes about how dangerous we've become. As Rodgers pointed out afterwards, Chelsea pretty much played with a back six for a lot of yesterday's game. They had to take a defensive game plan and play it in a relatively extreme manner in order to stop our attack getting space. That's only testament to how good we already are. And hopefully we'll sort out our base defensively and in possession and really start challenging for things over the next few years.

We're still very much in this title race.

[RainbowFlick]

Having avoided the post-mortem of yesterday’s game in a manner that resembled an agitated ostrich, I can’t speak to anything that was said or done in its aftermath. I simply don’t know. Maybe I’ll feel like revisiting it later in the week and have something else to add then, maybe I won’t. What I can say for sure is that, as disappointments go, yesterday was crushing to an extent that no mere game or sport has any right to ever be. But then, even if few of us would have predicted back in August that a loss in the third-last game of the season would see a first League Championship in 24 years snatched away, more than likely for keeps, we all know what we’re getting ourselves into at the start of every season, don’t we? Football doesn’t change and if the disappointment of days like yesterday ever starts to outweigh the joy of results like the eleven preceding it, then it’s probably time to pursue something else in your life because this is the game. Football will still be here next week, along with all its attendant madness and sadness, thrills and spills, love and hatred, pomp and circumstance. That’s the bigger picture. And at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

Just as single results don’t have the power to change the game, they don’t have the power to change players and teams either. This early iteration of Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool was flawed when it beat Arsenal, flawed when it beat Fulham, flawed when it beat Swansea and Southampton, Manchester United and Cardiff, Sunderland and Tottenham, West Ham, Manchester City and Norwich. It was flawed but it made us dream, often at the expense of all else. This team was moving through its evolution so fast and achieving such impressive results that the temptation was always to forget its limitations, to forget how brittle this squad is (brought into sharp focus with the introduction of Aspas yesterday), so brittle that the absence of one player (Henderson) and lack of fitness of another (Sturridge) can inflict a substantial body blow, to forget the inexperience, the 19 year-old with 50 appearances to his name at Premier League-level or the 21 year-old with 30 or the manager coming to the end of only his third season in the top division, or the fact that virtually no one at the club has been down this road before. Those flaws and more were always there and they were exploited to the fullest extent yesterday afternoon by a team, a squad and a manager which have been here, many times.

Saying that Chelsea’s tactics yesterday deserved nothing is tempting and might be true on some kind of moral or idealistic level, comprising as they did nothing more than a defensive mass in and around their own penalty area, some of the worst time-wasting that I’ve ever seen and dog’s abuse predictably meted out to a spineless referee every time a decision went against them, which is to say nothing of the verbal diarrhoea to which we were subjected during the week preceding it, but on the only level that matters in the real world they schooled Liverpool in a way that was awful to watch if you were of a Red persuasion, all the more so because the home side was simply powerless to do anything about it. Nothing about José Mourinho, his tactics, his players or his supporters in the media who can only seem to utter banal trivialities such as “box office” and “tactical masterclass” like the world’s most annoying Tourette’s sufferers should give anyone pause, not anymore. Mourinho is modern football, a winner where winning is all that matters, a media-anointed prince in a world where judgments are handed down by a man who once accused Liverpool Football Club of throwing a game and his worthless opinions then held up as gospel because he happens to be somewhat better than downright incompetent at his job. I reiterate: at times, it’s utterly grotesque.

And yet, being football, even this bastardised, branded version of it as owned by Sky, there has to be something more than winners and losers written down in black and white because, ultimately, modern football has an exclusive guest list and very few would get through the door if that’s all that mattered. The game no longer represents the universal escape for the likes of you and I that it once did, and yet this season has undeniably flown us to the moon. These lads have done us proud and they’ve only just begun, whatever happens next.

Perfect response.

[Bergersrightwingviews]

I haven't been that devastated by a game of football since I played in a side that got battered 5 -1 by Greenleas in the Wallasey cup final when I was about 14.

Firstly, I want to talk about this anti-football stuff. I am glad we don't play like Mourincunt's side and I would take to the streets if he was ever given the manager's job here, but sides are entitled to play however they like. BR is right though, it is much easier to play that way than it is to play the way we do. We are ahead of them in the league because we play better football. We couldn't edge them in a one of pitched battle, but we are beating them on the war. When you spend that much money on a squad I don't know how you can look at yourself in the mirror when you make them play like that.

Like I say, there is no right or wrong way to play. If they want to watch shit on a stick every week good luck to them. But, and it is a big but, there are rules and CFC broke them repeatedly without punishment. Time wasting is as much against the rules as two-footed tackles and handball. Mourinho and his players cheated plain and simple from the very first minute, and it makes my blood boil that they were only punished for it in the 92nd minute. Taking over a minute to take a goalkick is cheating and the ref should have done something about it.

In terms of our performance, I think this highlights how brilliant a job BR has done with limited resources. With Sturridge injured we were a man light in attack. We have no adequate replacement. Chelsea have Torres, willian, Hazard, Oscar, Ba, Schurle, Salah and probably others I have forgotten for those forward positions. We have Aspas, and Moses who also belongs to Chelsea for Christ's sake.

It is a miracle that BR has us where we are. If he gets to add to this squad in the summer then we have an amazing chance of winning a boat load of trophies. We are still a work in progress, and agree with the poster above that we are not quite good enough playing in tight areas compared to say Man City. That's probably a personnel issue, at least in part, but we are not as good at playing quick one-touch stuff as the very best sides. You have to be absolutely exceptional at that to have any chance against a side set up like Chelsea.

It is not over yet, I still think we can do it. Let's hope Everton do us a favour. Whatever happens though, that BR has us challenging with 2 games to play is unbelievable. It is his second season, his SECOND season, and he hasn't been able to get in a lot of his targets. Even getting CL is an exceptional achievement, and hopefully one that will give  him the resources he needs to turn us into a side so bloody good that they will have to send a team from bloody Mars to beat us.

[Wiss_LFC]

This may not be a popular opinion to some, but I think Brendan got it a bit wrong yesterday. We were far too open at times during the match and at points in the game, we barely had 1/2 players in our own half and the 2/3 counter attacks Chelsea had 1st and 2nd half could of been alot worse had Ba and Schurrle had not messed up there link play.

In a game this important when we could of settled for a point, I think we had to be a bit more patient and not go all gung-ho on Chelsea. The thing that really annoyed me was there first goal, why was we so pushed forward with barely 2/3 minutes before half-time? Surely the better thing to have done was to pull back a bit, keep position and see the half through and start again 2nd half. It was really surprising that nor Brendan or any of the players realised that we should of been a bit more safe in our play and told the players to come back.

We played well in parts of the game, a bit wasteful at times with miss-placed passes or the constant shooting when there was better options available but overall I don't think we did enough personally. Honestly this game reminded me of one of Brendan's first game in charge, we huffed and we puffed but couldn't create enough clear cut chances.

I thought Chelsea were a disgrace with their time-wasting and constant diving to get fouls, and what is it with 2nd choice keepers having worldie's at our ground? Is there some kind of curse or something! Overall I thought we played right into Chelsea's hands and given how great Brendan is with scouting other teams general play and weakness I expected a bit more to be honest.

I think we showed a bit of inexperience in our game-management, but the main thing is that we learn from this and when another big important game as this comes I hope we show a bit more patience and manage the game a bit better.

Also feel for Gerrard massively, it must of killed him to make a mistake like that , but he has fantastic character so it won't suprise me to see him bounce back against Crystal Palace and play a blinder.

Special mention to the fans yesterday too, when Gerrard made that mistake it amazing to hear them chant his song straight after and when they scored the 2nd goal to hear YNWA sent shivers down my spine.

We can and will bounce back against Crystal Palace, I am extremely confident that this game won't be the reason why we won't win the league, Believe!

[sattapaartridge]

Great post from E2K. Loved how you signed that off.

I've always said, against the bigger teams, we show our weaknesses. Our weakness yesterday, was our lack of reinforcements on the bench in my opinion.

I thought the lads gave their all. I think some fans who criticise Coutinho and Gerrard for trying to attack the opposition team from distance and with through balls have a very harsh opinion. I thought shots from distance and set pieces were the only way we were going to get a goal in this game. They didnt attack. Men behind the ball. Its like when we went to old trafford, and murphy scored that goal from a free kick, we had a man sent off, and all men were behind the ball. Its always hard to defeat a team 100% defending. This is the biggest compliment we can give to our players and team.

We scared them into playing like Stoke or West Ham. They closed all the free spaces. They had Salah and Shirley playing as double fullbacks, they closed down lucas and allen well (I thought Allen was magnificent to be honest). We did what we always did, we went again, and again, and we started getting close to their goal, the sahko chance was probably the closest we got. The free kick from suarez, he could have done better.

I'm not going to mention the mistake, but if anyone is going to score from distance than its one of 2 people. And those are Gerrard and Suarez. Maybe they were being to smart with their shots, but they tried. It was always going to be hard to break them down on the left and right hand sides, Man City tried, they failed too.

At half time, everyone thought the same thing, Lucas off for Sturridge, we need something out of this game. On 60 mins he came on and was anonymous. Blatantly unfit, but a half fit Sturridge is probably better than anything we had on the bench. Effectively, we played with 10 men as soon as sturridge came on it felt. Passes didnt go to feet, or probing passes werent getting read by the attackers, when coutinho and gerrard were trying to create openings.

Our result against chelsea isnt anyone's fault. We reached our limits against them. It could have been different had we fielded Henderson and a fully fit Sturridge, but they also lacked Cahill, Cech, Ramirez, Hazard, Oscar, Eto'o.

We can still do this, West Ham on the last day, and Everton away for Man City will take this one to the wire.

[Upinsmoke]

Don't have a massive amount to add, especially when E2K posts nail it time after time.

All I can say is that Mourinho and that Chelsea team had me confused, when I saw how defensive they were, how they looked for any opportunity to kill the clock they had me believing a draw wasn't enough, a draw was my worse result of you like leading up to this game, I actually forgot a draw was sufficient and still kept it on our hands, we threw everything at them and that was before they went 1-0 up.

So proud of these lads though and we're still top and in with a shout, who would of said that with two games to go back in August.

[Yorkykopite]

We knew they'd time-waste because they had done it at the Bridge over Xmas. But it was surprising to see it start in the second minute! It's annoying. Yes, the referee can make the time up at the end of the half (although we saw how that can back-fire yesterday), but what you never get back is the rhythm and the flow. Mourinho deliberately set out to ensure the first 20 minutes were disjointed and stop-start so that we couldn't do what we normally do to teams in the first quarter. Quite smart you might think. But I'd like to see the ref give the first time-waster a warning and the second one a yellow card. That would have soon ended the cheating. They do this at the end of games; why not at the start?

I was actually quite calm coming to the end of the first half. The great fear with a team like Chelsea is that if they get their noses in front it's very hard to get back into the game. But where was a Chelsea goal going to come from? A long throw perhaps, but we'd dealt well with those. A shot from distance? But that's Mignolet's forte. So it looked like a point was ours at the very least. And then the error.

I notice quite a few supporters now saying we should have called Chelsea's bluff and set out to get the point. I didn't see anyone saying that before the game though. It never even occurred to me I must say. It's a measure of how far we've come under Rodgers and how sold we are on the idea of Liverpool playing aggressive, attacking football that the idea of the home draw now looks defeatist and wrong-headed. I like that, despite what happened yesterday, and I can't see it changing next season - even in Europe.

Could anything else have changed about our approach though? There are some interesting suggestions above. I too would like to have seen Suarez on the right flank once it became obvious that Chelsea were surrendering that area of the pitch. But Sturridge would probably have needed to have been on the pitch to make that worthwhile. I also think that Royhendo is right when he says Man City were more intelligent about breaking down a packed defence than we ever looked. No player slips into space quite as well as Silva of course and the Pellegrini team has mastered the art of sending supporting players into whatever vacuum Silva has found in and around the opponent's box. That's the way to get 2 v 1, even against a defensive team, and we never quite managed to do that - at least not consistently. Instead we looked to the individual brilliance of Sterling or Coutinho, but there was rarely the room for them to operate in. When Sterling (who had another good game) did beat the first man then Lampard or someone else would come and chop him. It was all extremely well thought through by Mourinho. Boring, cynical and craven but effective so long as they kept us from scoring.

We laboured under one severe limitation on Sunday though. Never has Flanagan's lack of a left foot been more evident. With Coutinho also preferring to come on to his right it meant that Chelsea were never horizontally stretched as far as they should have been. Remember they had a left-footed right back playing in an unfamiliar position there - and we didn't test him at all. We had a similar problem at the Bridge on the left which Brendan tried to solve in the latter stages by sending on young Brad Smith. Nerves got the better of him. I would have though that this is an area where we'll look to strengthen over the summer.     

Is the season now over? I don't think it is. If Man City do win the next three then they'll have done very well and that bitter taste I'm feeling today will have gone. But I don't think they will. Therefore we must be on our mettle at Selhurst and recover some momentum there for the last game. I'm sure we can do that. I'm thankful that we don't have to visit Goodison and get three points, that's for sure.

Finally, I know we shouldn't fixate on Mourinho and I'm not doing. But how chuffed I'll be this week if his team fucks up v Atletico Madrid. A one-all draw would be beautiful. 

[Durlmints]

One thing the game was crying out for was someone with a decent shot. I would imagine this is one reason we're interested in Konoplyanka, who by all accounts can score regularly from outside the box. Stevie hasn't got it in his locker anymore, and the days of him rocketing them in from 25 yards every other week are over.

[stockdam]

Were do you start? I remember (just) a game we played against Leeds and we battered them. We were all over them and try as we could we just couldn't score. I think it was late on that they ventured into our half, put in a cross which was headed down for Brenner to score on the volley. All I remember is the commentator (Coleman?) saying that it was the sucker punch. It left a very sour taste in my mouth as it was clear who the better team were but we lost. Years later, the Arsenal win on the last day of the league to deny us also stung.

Yesterday's game was in the same sickening category. It was like Ali's rope-a-dope. We came forwards swinging punch after punch but very few really landed. Suddenly we slipped and were floored by an uppercut. We carried on swinging away and then let our guard down and were knocked out in the last minute.

We need to learn from this game. It was a painful lesson from a team that had no intention of entertaining. Their plan was to pack their box and score from a break away or set piece. We just couldn't find the gaps to make our superior attack hurt them. They knew that we were so dangerous in open play so they throttled everything to negate us.

At one stage Skrtel was up in their penalty area in open play and at that stage I thought our discipline had gone. However maybe that's what we needed to do. Throw Skrtel and Shako into the box and keep throwing crosses in with the hope that something would fall to our smaller players. Against negative plans like that I think the only option is brute force. We should have thrown two big guys into the box which would have forced Chelsea to try to step out and push them back thus freeing up space to run into.

We huffed and puffed and never really liked like scoring for all of our play. I know it is against our philosophy but we should have kept our shape and only thrown one or two big defenders into the box. I think eventually we would have got some knock downs or clear headers. We needed to rough them up in their own penalty area.

[Bergersrightwingviews]

We knew they'd time-waste because they had done it at the Bridge over Xmas. But it was surprising to see it start in the second minute! It's annoying. Yes, the referee can make the time up at the end of the half (although we saw how that can back-fire yesterday), but what you never get back is the rhythm and the flow.

It is so frustrating. Adding time on that end is not enough because it does not punish cheating it just restores the wasted time, although it doesn't even do that because Chelsea wasted way more time than was added on. Extreme example, but if I steal something just giving it back is not enough. I would be punished too. Refs need to crack down on this. People seem to think that diving and dangerous tackles are the only forms of cheating in football, but as Jose showed there are far more ways to cheat.m

 Do Barca still do that "multi-ball" thing where if it goes out of play another ball is immediately placed in the right spot forma throw in or whatever? I would love us to have something like that. Jose picks the ball up? No problem, the ballboy lobs a new one straight to our lads so they can take the throw in straight away.

On another note, I though we were really wasteful from set-pieces. I think the Anfield Wrap lads were right to say that we maybe thought that Chelsea are too good in the air so we were playing it short. I think that was a mistake as we have been very good in the air, and someone like Skrtel can compete with any CB in the world on corners.

[Koplord]

I sat there from the first minute with two words in my head 'Football Cancer'  what they did slowly grabs a hold of everything and kills it. The Atmosphere , The Excitment , The Enjoyment are quickly turned into Anger , Frustration & Detest.

I didn't think we played well overall but I'm not sure if that was us being dragged down or just a bad day, either way I didn't think we moved the ball quick enough or with our usual fluidity then again is that just down to them leaving 6 players sitting ?.

Massively unlucky for the goal and given the day I have had in terms of hurting and feeling down then I can't imagine how Stevie feels he must be beating himself up every second. I accept and understand that if a team want to defend then that is their prerogative but what I can't accept is the manner of their play Time Wasting , Faking Injury , Stoke City throw ins , this is ment to be one of europes top sides who arrived playing football that even Allerdyce would refrain from.

For me I want to keep believing but my head looks at those City fixtures and thinks it's 3 from 3 for them, although who expected the Sunderland result, but still it's a very big ask.

[Bergersrightwingviews]

I didn't think we played well overall but I'm not sure if that was us being dragged down or just a bad day, either way I didn't think we moved the ball quick enough or with our usual fluidity then again is that just down to them leaving 6 players sitting ?.

Couldn't agree more. Chelsea are the best in the world at this sort of defensive performance, but as a general point I think we can be a bit slow in possession. If you look at this video even in the middle of the park Barca have real zip to their play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2gZbDXb7jo

We will get there though with Brendan. I have no doubts about that.

[steveeastend]

I notice quite a few supporters now saying we should have called Chelsea's bluff and set out to get the point. I didn't see anyone saying that before the game though.   

Well, I did but overall there was, and still is, no sympathy around for the idea of not taking any risk and going for a boring 4-2-3-1 in order to grap the point needed. On a normal day, there is nothing wrong with insisting on our attacking mindset but it's hardly business as usual with three games to go and the chance of bringing back the title I suppose. Of course I am proud of everything we achieved this season, I love Rodgers idea of football and wouldn't swap his vision for anything but I don't think that insisting on playing attacking football for the sake of it in a game where it was all about getting the right result in order to get us the first title in 20 years is a good enough reason for the way we played in this one.

I had my say in the post game thread but to me it was being adventerous against a team which actually didn't even try us, a little bit like kicking ourselves in the balls while our opponent already lying on the ground, something like that. Whether it was because of Chelsea being tired or Mourinho simply adjusting to our attacking qualities doesn't matter in hindsight. What will matter though is the fact that the majority of our opponents will come to Anfield with a similar game plan next season, CL & PL and I hope this game was a reminder that we need to work on some very important details like being able to vary the pace, to sit back in neutral periods of a game (at the end of first halves!!!), tempting our opponets out of their comfort zone... overall being clever while making use of our strengths and still being able to react when things won't go our way. 

Of course I am proud of the team, Rodgers and the incredible football we played so far this season but today I am still a little dissappointed as I think it was more about us, being a little overconfident and stubborn and not the actual quality of Chelsea which prevented us from taking a well deserved point into our final two games.

But it's far from over, I hope we raise ourselves again, as Rodgers mentioned, and win those last two games which could be enough to get the reward for the hard work so far... the players and Rodgers would deserve it, that's for sure.

[Jaron]

Heart racing
Palms sweating
Here we go again.
Stakes are even higher now.
Eleven times our winning streak.
Place your bets.
Lay your emotions on the table.
Every one, staked on Red.
Such joy accumulated.
Now all is wagered.
On one more spin.
So close to winning everything.

What fools we are
To stake our happiness
On such a capricious wheel of fortune
And its minuscule divisions
Separating joy and despair.
A momentary lapse. A tiny slip.
The ball lands on blue.
And all is lost.

Just like that.
A four month flight of splendid soaring bliss
Ending suddenly in a brutal crash.
Hurt and aching, I crawl away
To find everything seems much duller now.
Sunshine has lost its warmth.
Even food has lost its taste.
My fire is gone, my laughter silent.
An empty hollow in my chest
Where my joy used to be.

I'm wearing my bravest mask, of course.
With sardonic quips to deflect the jibes.
Perhaps I should have kept something back.
But I staked it all upon a dream
A wonderful glorious possibility
And now I'm broken.

I've felt this way before, just once.
Half time at Istanbul
When dreams were dust
Fifteen minutes when I lost my faith.
Until from deepest darkness
I was gloriously redeemed.
I might never see the like again.
And yet... just maybe...
How much pain would you endure
For the chance to experience
Another fairytale?

[abs-ibs]

I can't believe Roman actually went and sacked a manager who plays decent football (Ancelotti) to employ a man he sacked because it wasn't an attractive enough brand of football. I know Roman sacked Ancelotti for not winning the CL but to then employ some1 who gets his team to play such negative styles is making two steps back imho

I couldn't come on here yesterday after the game. Felt sick after watching that club win the match with that turgid display. Gerrard and co did the best they could and under better circumstances playing a team who actually might gave played football against, they very likely would have won.

As it is unlucky lads it matters not. We go again. Still top of the league. Let's batter palace n n'castle.

YNWA

[Robinred]

I agree with the consensus view that's been so beautifully expressed in the posts above. Which is to say that the wiseacres in the other "BR" thread with 20/20 hindsight, having a sly dig at the manager are not just wrong, but wrong to the soles of their feet.

Oh and as an aside, I learned something from Yorky (hardly unusual in itself). I could have sworn Azpilacueta was right footed, despite him having occupied Cashley's usual berth for most of the season.

[stockdam]

I hope that's sarcastic....

Not really. Chelsea were throttling the space and breaking up play. There are three things that are hard to defend. The first is pace like what Sterling has but he had little room to run into and he was being pushed and blocked. The second is the ball zipping around with quick one-twos in the box. Chelsea were closing down quickly and we also didn't seem to get any space to play into. The last and most direct approach is height in the box. One player isn't enough as he is easily blocked. But get two or three big guys in the box and then anything can happen.

It's not pretty but this was a game for bullying the bully. Keep a good shape outside of the box to prevent break aways and keep throwing the ball into the box. Skrtel and Shako would have done the job.

I don't think we need a tall forwardbwho sits on the bench waiting for this one-off game. Instead throw the centre backs up and keep the midfield and full backs back to stiffle break aways.

[Chakan]

Not really. Chelsea were throttling the space and breaking up play. There are three things that are hard to defend. The first is pace like what Sterling has but he had little room to run into and he was being pushed and blocked. The second is the ball zipping around with quick one-twos in the box. Chelsea were closing down quickly and we also didn't seem to get any space to play into. The last and most direct approach is height in the box. One player isn't enough as he is easily blocked. But get two or three big guys in the box and then anything can happen.

It's not pretty but this was a game for bullying the bully. Keep a good shape outside of the box to prevent break away and keep throwing the ball into the box. Skrtel and Shako would have done the job.

I don't think we need a tall forwardbwho sits on the bench waiting for this one-off game. Instead throw the centre backs up and keep the midfield and full backs back to stiffle break aways.

I think it would have been a different game had Sturridge started. I don't think he was fit enough to play a full game. Even though he didn't do much when he came on, having him on from the off I think would have been key.

[stiffnuts]

Sorry for my succinct post but I think much of what has been said I agree with. I will say one thing though. Their persistent time wasting and slowing down of the game seem to almost take us by surprise, even if it was obvious to some that they would employ these type of tactics. The surprise / time wasting  not only stopped any attacking rhythm but seem to almost put doubt in the minds of the team. They will learn from this (we probe, we be patient, and have confidence in breaking them down instead of being pushed wide and taking long shots). I thought Atkinson was disgusting in dealing with the time wasting. Absolutely appalling. There should have been a number of Yellow Cards right from the beginning for delaying the restart of play. A very poor advert for The Premier League and the beautiful game !!!

[GrkStav]

I've been waiting for PoP's promised analysis. No offense to any of the previous posters, some of whose analyses were great, but i am jonesing for some PoP!

The notion that we should have been pumping in the kinds of crosses that an Andy Carroll (or his functional equivalent) could score from, off a header, is a non-starter.

To the best of my knowledge (and it's not extensive, as we all know), the only 'crosses' that are indicated, given our personnel and the defensive set-up we were facing, were low to mid-height, zipped cross-shots, between the retreating defenders and the goal-keeper. We did attempt a couple of those (Sterling primarily) but we didn't capitalize. Moreover, we tried the other variety; one almost worked for Suarez.  Otherwise, they didn't work at all.

[Wiss_LFC]

I would seriously recommend to go and watch Carra and Neville's analysis of our game, absolute master-class, point by point they were spot on about the mistakes and what not to do when chasing the game.

Also interesting to hear Carra say we all shouldn't be moaning about Chelsea's time-wasting and slowing down the play as we have done it hundreds of times over the years..

[ANFIELDGATES]

question for the more knowledgeable...do u think  3-5-2 formation with agger/sakho and skyrtel at centre...johnson wide right,couts left and middle 3 of stevie/allen/lucas with luis and sterling up top.would have stretched the chelsea back 6/10 or whatever number they had!!!

[robgomm]

This was posted elsewhere on here and is from an article in the Guardian today that outlines how Mourinho sets up against "big teams". It's from a Spanish journo's biopraphy of him. I list it not to talk about Mourinho but to ask a question:

1. The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors
2. Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition
3. Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it's better to encourage their mistakes
4. Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake
5. Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake
6. Whoever has the ball has fear
7. Whoever does not have it is therefore stronger.

If we have a set of principles like this, what would they be? Are there any we would agree on?

3 is an interesting one, as there is a sense in which it is agreeable to everyone that away from home you are better to wait for errors, for gaps and for moments. If you look at all those principles, Gerrard's mistake takes on a different light. Perhaps in statistical terms rather Expected Goals it'd be Expected Errors.

And yet we think back to Newcastle away last season. 6-0. The game was won by the team that made the most positive actions, who did not wait for error but asserted quality, who asserted superiority, who had the ball more (at first) and who had it with courage - Newcastle were not stronger without the ball that day.

Yet the lesson perhaps is that when we have the lead, we have been more willing to cede possession and adhered to maybe several of those principles. But unlike Chelsea, we do not start with those principles. Maybe there are other principes we have, ones that turn those seven around:

1. The game is won by the team that carries out the most positive actions
2. Football favours whoever promotes the best aspects of their game
3. Away from home is a home away from home
4. Whoever has the ball more has more chance of creating a goalscoring opportunity
5. Whoever maintains possession may (may) maintain control
6. Whoever has the ball shows courage
7. Whoever does not have it should be afraid.

I don't wish to claim these as anything other than a spin on those other principles. But they more summarise how I feel about the game. They do hint at the attitude we display though and that is one to proud of. We could not play for a draw when a win would've meant so much more. We have much to learn but we have come so far.

Like Roy, I think the title is still going to be ours. It's not much worse than a coin toss right now.

[robgomm]

I would seriously recommend to go and watch Carra and Neville's analysis of our game, absolute master-class, point by point they were spot on about the mistakes and what not to do when chasing the game.

Also interesting to hear Carra say we all shouldn't be moaning about Chelsea's time-wasting and slowing down the play as we have done it hundreds of times over the years..

This is a pro's view of course. We should moan because it's wrong. We shouldn't do it because it's wrong.

[Bergersrightwingviews]

I would seriously recommend to go and watch Carra and Neville's analysis of our game, absolute master-class, point by point they were spot on about the mistakes and what not to do when chasing the game.

Also interesting to hear Carra say we all shouldn't be moaning about Chelsea's time-wasting and slowing down the play as we have done it hundreds of times over the years..

Slowing the game down, and being ultra-defensive? Fine. That is within the rules.

Time wasting is against the rules. It is cheating plain and simple. Cole, it think, was booked at the end for the exact same thing they had been doing all game. If it is a booking in the last minute it should be a booking in the first minute too.

[wige]

Haven't read the thread yet, but some thoughts about the game, title etc after watching first half of tonights sky show...


MNF is fantastic football telly.

Carra is good, Neville peerless. The combo is key though. Plus, the presenter does a great job of linking, making it flow, asking questions and not trying to be the centre of attention.

Plus they (C&N) don't talk TO the camera. Which made me wanna punch Keys and Gray so, so often.

Analysis was fantastic tonight. The lesson from Neville about playing around & past/through the midfield block was great.

I agree with the thoughts that we lost our heads, but not necessarily that is was a management error. Too many shots from distance, too many aimless crosses and slightly careless/weak first touches. We didn't probe and build enough pressure with the amount of possession we had in the areas just outside their box for me.

This team will bounce back. 100%. We'll beat Palace. They'll learn a valuable lesson.

Chelsea were excellent I thought. Azpilcueta, Ivanovich, Matic & Ba especially. Time wasting is a tactic from the dark side, but valid. They used it cleverly early on. I had it as about 6 minutes they'd wasted inside first 18 mins. We were good during that period, but every time the ball went dead in their favour, they killed a minute or 90 seconds. The crowd weren't whipped into a pro-liverpool frenzy, the team didn't get a chance to mount frequent, successive attacks.

I don't think we'd have lost without the slip, though any Liverpool fan slagging Gerrard is an idiot. First goal was always going to be crucial. Still confident we'd have probed, pressured and played with patience had we not been behind. Afraid Stevie's head went for a period for me as well. Clearly trying to atone. Was hard to watch.

Think a fit Sturridge was more of a loss than Henderson in this game. More quick, sharp movement and feet in the box/attack would have been a great asset. Sturridge just wasn't properly fit though.

Lucas wasn't great for me, not his position. Allen would be starting 20-30 games for me next season. Gonna be another cracking player I think. Unlucky with a fantastic volley in second half.

A full-back signing is crucial in summer, glad it's not me making the decision. Would love to snap Shaw up for example. Think Flanagan has to be retained. Johnson maybe to go if money is right and there is an upgrade available.

Anyway, back to now. Not as confident as I was about City dropping points against Everton as I was with their missing central 3. Still, Villa may put up more of a fight than expected if not safe, and Allardyce can dog a game out too. Not done and dusted. Think if City score early in games though, they're very unlikely to drop points.

Us? we need them to drop points in all rational likelihood, and it's possible. Think we'd rip into Palace if they do in the Everton game. Either way, I wouldn't put it past us to absolutely spank Palace if we score early. 4-0 is certainly not out of question.

After that it's Newcastle. We find ourselves 4-0 up at half-time, with Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling, being fed and supported by Coutinho, Gerrard & Henderson. The Kop is rampant. How many more goals do we score against an un-interested Newcastle team. We are Liverpool. Lets win the fucker with a 10-0 final day scoreline.

A guy can dream.

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

I just worry that other teams will want to follow suit in the ultra-negative style that Chelsea played yesterday. Not necessarily just against us, but more of a shift in style that will strangle any joy out of the game just to squeeze out any sort of result. The City game was a complete contrast to this: a full strength, title-chasing team playing the style of football that has got the to where they are with a team full of world class players. They brought their game to us, we attacked them and ultimately won. But I massively respect Pellegrini for not flinching or trying to pinch a point that wouldn't do him any favours, he brought his team to Anfield to win. Sadly, football as a spectacle lost yesterday. At least the plastic fans will have gone home happy, I'd rather lose 10 - nil but watch us play the way we do than endure that shite every week. Masterclass my arse.

[Miltonred]

Nope i am not being sarcastic i just feel what chelsea done to us at anfield is going to happen a lot more next season .....

It happened a lot already this season, but then we get that little bit of luck or that piece of genius and we score, and there endeth the parking of the bus.
All we saw yesterday was a 95 minute display of it, because by some misfortune we didn't sneak a goal to rip it open.

Can't believe how many times I've read or heard what a masterclass that was, when in reality it was a display built on wishes and hopes. One bit of luck for us, and Chelsea would have thrown that "masterplan" out the window and needed to attack.  Mourinho just happens to be able to draw upon 200million in talent which makes them a little bit better at doing it than West Ham.

Don't be fooled into thinking some new era has begun.

[DonkeyWan]

Personally I think the performance of Chelsea is something of a red herring and getting bent out of shape over it is a consequence of a rather strange phenomenon I discerned in the post-defeat comedown, namely an almost visceral sense of desperation of which anger towards Chelsea for their tactics is a mere proxy. There is a strange sense I get from some supporters that somehow this is it, a unique confluence of events that have put Liverpool in pole position and its shit or bust, no win this year means no win for the forseeable. Odd, all things considered, ignoring the media malarkey, the one thing this season has shown is the fallibility of the big boys. The one thing I think that can be taken from Saturday is that the days of domination by the likes of Chelsea, City and United are things of the past. What nobody seemed to pick up on in the media was that Chelsea coming to Anfield and turtling was a long way from when Mourinhio first came on the scene, came to Anfield and bossed teams around. Then it took a superhuman effort that drained teams to overcome their physicality. Now...

So, why did Liverpool lose? Three reasons I think; predictability, managerial naivety and white line fever.

1] Predictability; Rodgers has got a lot of praise over the season for his flexibility and adaptability, but in reality Liverpool have played pretty much one way, attack, attack, attack. While the early stages of the season may not have shown that, it certainly evolved over the middle of the season and had been integral to the unbeaten run. So, Chelsea knew coming to Anfield knowing that if they stopped Liverpool's charge early on they were in with a shout. But Liverpool only needed to draw this game, they knew from earlier in the season what Cheslea's approach would be, yet they did not adapt. I asked a friend why were they so goldarn intent on winning. Sure, the CHelsea goal came from a  mistake at the back under little pressure, but a deeper sitting Liverpool would have limited those chances. So why not a more measured response?

I put that to a friend and his response was "because they have no other way to play". I think their is truth in that, the personnel off the bench to try a containing game just wasn't there. There was quite a gap between the first team and those  that could bring about change from the bench. Had Liverpool got some of its targets from the summer, imagine what a  difference they would have made; Costa offering a physical presence to smash down barriers, Willian as a Henderson like midfielder. The game at the weekend showed the gap between a title challenging squad and a team with more limited resources unexpectedly competing for a title. Suarez said it during the week, the whole club was surprised to be competing... perhaps the transfer policy during the summer and winter reflected that lack of belief in a  title challenge. Whether it will prove their undoing, I don't know, but it's out of Liverpool's hands now, that is what is galling.

2] Managerial naivety; Rodgers will probably get manager of the season, the lamentable 'Pulis first' campaign is just media stupidity. That does not mean Rodgers is infallible (I certainly have had one or two reservations at times, such as the 5-3-2). He is also a young manager learning his game. Its also true that Rodgers is a young manager, learning his game who has never led a charge for a title. This point has certainly not been picked up on by the media. He looks a dab hand so far, carefully ducking the brickbats and avoiding the traps. Still, there is a naivety there and I think it bit yesterday with a vengeance. On the one hand I believe that Rodgers has an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach, he is too nervous to tinker with a winning formula. A more experienced manager (a Capello maybe) would have had looked at that Chelsea set-up and settled for a 0-0, never really pushing the game. They would have made changes to see that game out early in the first half if not before the game itself. Sometimes Rodgers seems to eager to please the fans with a victory, when a dour 0-0 is really called for.

The second point that played against Rodgers yesterday is that, not having a premier league tilt experience under his belt, he didn't tinker with the squad all season long to give fringe players more game time. Instead he only used a small group of players, only changing due to injury or lack of form. When he needed to turn to the bench to draw on experienced players, his options were too limited. In other words, while he developed an impressive plan A, there was no plan B. Of course, in part that was a result of a small squad and a lack of expectation. I think yesterday shows the value of rotation, not in keeping players fresh, but giving more options off the bench for late in the season. I think next season will learn that lesson the hard way. I suspect the team won't do as well as they try to juggle so many games, but fuck it, that's a price worth paying and   in the longer term both the new owners, the young manager and the young squad can grow and learn together. Returning to my opening theme, this season is not the only season, win or lose the PL. Laying the foundations for future success is what is happening now, lets see the club and everyone there build on this.

3] White line fever; which brings me to my final point. Liverpool also lost yesterday because this is the first title tilt for everyone at the club with the exception of a handful of senior players.... and even they never experienced anything like this in 2009. Yesterday has been waiting to happen for a few weeks, the team are clearly a bit nervous. Not falling apart nervous, just not quite at the top of their game nervous. yesterday Gerrard panicked; understandable if you ask me, the holy grail in sight in probably his last full season allied to an unfortunate error and he was desperate to make amends. But the whole team was a bag of nerves yesterday and not just because Gerrard stumbled. No, its tough at the top. The one thing Manchester United learned over the years and that Liverpool have forgotten during their long hiatus from the summit is how to see out a season. At home we have a saying 'you have to lose a championship to win one'. That refers to hurling, but the same is true here I feel. White line fever is impacting on the team, but that is an important experience to be built on next year, win or lose -  its a far better feeling than 'seasonoveritis' we have gotten used to around this time every year.

To sum up, I want to return to my original point - this sinking feeling of shit-or-bust. Namely, is this a one season wonder. It very well might be. However, against that are the following observations. United have to rebuild, Arsenal are caught between two stools of get better or get worse, Chelsea have an aging squad and a heap of good but not great players ready to fill their boots. Only City really stand out as PL perennial winners, why shouldn't Liverpool - with a new stadium on the way, a better squad, a more experienced club and the lure of CL be competing with them. Its tempting to point to Spurs and say 'what happens if Liverpool follow suit?' But theirs are self-inflicted wounds. If Liverpool keep up the good ownership, transfer and management decisions I feel confident they can be back up at the top challenging annually. Lets not forget, its not some mickey mouse club made good, Liverpool are one of the biggest and richest clubs in Europe being held in check by petrodollars - perhaps FFP can sort that out too. What's happened this season has been amazing, like a phoenix from the ashes, win or lose the PL, lets build on that without recriminations.

[Crosby Nick]

Even at 0-0 I've never known a game to pass by so quickly. Every time I looked another five minutes had slipped by with a bout of cramp, a loose bootlace, an incorrectly taken free kick. So frustrating.

Jaron that was superb, really captured my feelings.

[UntouchableLuis]

I was angry and hurt after yesterday. I've been deflated all day today (though part of that is just Monday blues!). But now I've had time to digest it all, you know what? I'm not ashamed to admit we were out thought not outclassed or our fought but out thought. Mourinho had a plan to nullify us and it worked. Rodgers had a plan to still find a way through and it didn't work.

When we stop and analyse why it didn't work though it boils down to the Gerrard mistake. Gerrard has been an absolute beast for us this season so anyone slagging him off is very silly indeed. I'm not here to finger point but the timing of the mistake and what it meant for us in the second half was just too catastrophic. We go in 0-0, we sit contently with that until about 70 minutes, we then bring Sturridge on and patiently try and find that chance to take. Instead we were so desperate to atone for the Gerrard error that everything we did was antithetical to our philosophy this season; long shots, silly crosses, ridiculous attempts, poor decisions.

Yet even late on I still believed we were going to find an equaliser. That is testament to the hard work Brendan has done this season in transforming the mentality. We didn't look anywhere near potent enough but late on I was certain we were going to find that equaliser. Suarez nearly did. I think in another game he'd have tried to place that late effort into one of the corners but as it happened it was a panic moment where he just hit it central and Schwarzer was able to tip it over with ease.

It was one of those games where we needed a bit of luck and a bit of magic from one of our attacking players. We got the opposite; a huge slice of misfortune that happens once or twice a season and those players: Suarez, Coutinho and Sturridge when he came on all not quite at their best. Coutinho tried some lovely passes, not one came off. Is that a testament to how Chelsea defended or just a lack of that little slice of luck you need with a fortunate bounce to make that pass? I'm not sure.

Can we moan at how Chelsea approached the game? Absolutely not. Next season in Europe if we go away in a quarter final and do something similar against Bayern or Madrid and get through? Happy fucking days.

We now need to forget this, see what happens with City and play as we usually would against Palace.

[kasperoff]

Well, I did but overall there was, and still is, no sympathy around for the idea of not taking any risk and going for a boring 4-2-3-1 in order to grap the point needed. On a normal day, there is nothing wrong with insisting on our attacking mindset but it's hardly business as usual with three games to go and the chance of bringing back the title I suppose. Of course I am proud of everything we achieved this season, I love Rodgers idea of football and wouldn't swap his vision for anything but I don't think that insisting on playing attacking football for the sake of it in a game where it was all about getting the right result in order to get us the first title in 20 years is a good enough reason for the way we played in this one.

I had my say in the post game thread but to me it was being adventerous against a team which actually didn't even try us, a little bit like kicking ourselves in the balls while our opponent already lying on the ground, something like that. Whether it was because of Chelsea being tired or Mourinho simply adjusting to our attacking qualities doesn't matter in hindsight. What will matter though is the fact that the majority of our opponents will come to Anfield with a similar game plan next season, CL & PL and I hope this game was a reminder that we need to work on some very important details like being able to vary the pace, to sit back in neutral periods of a game (at the end of first halves!!!), tempting our opponets out of their comfort zone... overall being clever while making use of our strengths and still being able to react when things won't go our way. 

Of course I am proud of the team, Rodgers and the incredible football we played so far this season but today I am still a little dissappointed as I think it was more about us, being a little overconfident and stubborn and not the actual quality of Chelsea which prevented us from taking a well deserved point into our final two games.

But it's far from over, I hope we raise ourselves again, as Rodgers mentioned, and win those last two games which could be enough to get the reward for the hard work so far... the players and Rodgers would deserve it, that's for sure.

I had similar thoughts, but I really don't think we have the personnel to play a defensive game to be honest. We don't do it often enough, and I'll be damned if Rodgers sets up like that in training. It's alien to us at this moment. Our best form of defence is attack.

I was lamenting in a similar way after the defeats to City and Chelsea at Christmas. "Why the hell were we trying to slug it out with City and Chelsea away? Draws would have been just fine!" I thought, especially now with hindsight.  But the same was true then.

And at the end of the day, the slip is what cost us. That could have happened no matter how we stacked up.

[Owl]

Many more teams will come to anfield next season with the same tactic. Two defensive midfilders while sitting deep and hoping for a lucky goal.

And our tactics weren't wrong.

This game only reflects to BR what to expect next season while playing at anfield. And the only thing he will change is players we will buy. Players who have the same impact on games like coutinho and sterling in their roles.

There won't be another aspas or alberto. There will be more players to call up on if u can't open a bus.

I was disaapointed we lost the game.. yet somehow also optimistic. As this is only the start of BR vision.

We have one of the youngest and thinnest squads in the league. Yet we are still on top. The fact that one of the biggest and most expansive squads in the league came to anfield to defend shows what a force we are becoming.

Its mind blowing to think BR only has had two seasons and litmited player material to come this far. As time goes we will get better and even more spectacular to watch.

Next season chelsea at anfield will be leaving with their arseholes wide open full of jizz from the fucking they will get. No matter if jose playes him self as an extra man behind the ball. He will also have is arsehole hurting the next morning as if he was giving birth to a fullsized terry.

[killer-heels]

I know we will probably face a number of teams who play like Chelsea did but how many times will we come across teams who play like that, with a team of ours with such little experience, in such an intense atmosphere and at such a time and as good as Chelsea at doing it? I think it's completely wrong to use Chelsea as the barometer as if for the past 2 years teams like West Ham and co have come here and been doing nothing but that.

Maybe you could use that against the 08/09 team, but not now.