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.