Football as we know it is changing; Chelsea's players, at a club which went a whole fifty years with no league titles until last year, look as though they will win the next five with ease. Manchester United, a domineering and frequently fearsome Premiership outfit which won the 1990's inside out, are beginning to look more than a little weak in comparison to the Champions. They're alongside an Arsenal side which went a whole season without defeat just a couple of years ago and have now lost 2 games just a month or so into the new campaign. And just where are Liverpool in all of this, you ask? Good question. If Manchester United and Arsenal have no chance of halting Chelsea, then what hope do we have? That question was asked and answered throughout the course of this week.
Playing the same team twice in seven days must be mentally exhausting for players on both sides; 180 minutes up against the majority of the same players can only leave a man wanting the fixtures to be over and done with, no matter how well he plays. You'd get to know each other's moves inside out, become more cautious, more aware of your opposite number's weaknesses and strengths. Chelsea, during the days between match number one and match number two, simply had more resources to call upon in order to ensure victory in that second meeting. Rafa on the other hand had simply to find ways of preparing his players to face the country's best team once more, without changing much in terms of personnel. We had the harder job, but there's no moaning about that because it's just a fact you must accept if you are ever to beat the best, a pre-requisite.
The Matches
The first match, a Wednesday evening clash in the Champions League, went well in all honesty. Mourinho was defensive in what he did for most of the match, and Liverpool set out with the now-familiar 4-5-1 formation, which included Peter Crouch as a lone striker, Djibril Cisse on the right wing and Garcia coming inside from the wide left position. In the middle of the pitch, there was a total flood of players, resulting in a chess match between two fine tacticians, and not a very interesting one at that. Robben tested Reina with one memorable stinging shot, but otherwise, Liverpool had most of the play and did exert a good amount of attacking pressure on the Blues. Yet with just Crouch alone up front, albeit with superb control and terrific aerial threat all night, Liverpool couldn't threaten the opposition goal effectively.
Our only shout of scoring was truly when Jamie Carragher's header, by all accounts goalbound, struck the arm of French defender William Gallas and the referee refused to point to the spot. The official saw it fully, as television cameras confirm, yet was all too happy to give Liverpool a corner and wave away accusations of handball; I don't want to sound bitter, but I had flashbacks of the occasion on which Tiago punched a corner clear last season and the ref simply played on without so much as listening to any Red protests. Chelsea can claim that Garcia's goal never crossed the line, but they can never claim that we've had more luck in the matches we've played against them: Drogba crunched Hyypia in the box earlier on in the match on Wednesday night, getting nowhere near the ball, and again a corner was indicated. Liverpool were denied victory by poor officiating on Wednesday, I do believe that. But that's football for you. Roll on Sunday and the managers have had their chance to change things around in order to win the much-talked-of 're-match' between the two teams. Mourinho decided to bring in Joe Cole, whereas Benitez opted to play Riise wide left, leaving Garcia to occupy that far right role with which he is becoming increasingly familiar. Cisse sat on the bench once more, probably wondering exactly what he's done wrong to deserve to be dropped from his favourite position, and even the team altogether; perhaps Rafa felt that he wasn't in the best mental state having slapped a 15-year-old lad this week and been questioned by Merseyside police.
The first 25 minutes, as the boss reiterated constantly after the match, went well and Liverpool surged forward, the ball bouncing off Crouch just yards out and taking an unlucky deflection away from the big man. The Reds pressed the Champions and went for a goal, whilst Chelsea feverishly walloped the ball up to Drogba or Cole or Duff for a long-ball counter-attack. Just as Liverpool were becoming increasingly dominant, the long-ball approach paid off for Mourinho's men. Traore, who struggled massively up against Drogba and Cole all day, hit a supposed clearance against the Ivory Coast international. The ball fell kindly for Drogba, who knocked it past the Liverpool left back and then won a penalty for his team; and it was a definite penalty if I've ever seen one.
I did have some hope of Reina keeping Lampard's penalty out: the big 'keeper was renowned in Spain for spot-kick stops and saved 7 of the 9 he faced last season for Villarreal. As the Chelsea midfield man struck it, I thought Reina had a save in the bag but the ball somehow slipped under his body and agonisingly into the corner, leaving the new man furious with himself and Liverpool 1-0 behind. Liverpool had the initiative to push on and enjoyed the lion's share of possession for a good period after conceding, during which an unusually poor Xabi Alonso ball was swung out to the left. Ferreira unnecessarily knocked it out for a corner and the Reds were gifted a good opportunity from the dead-ball situation; what followed was ironic and, at the time, fitting. The ball floated over the mass of heads waiting to pump into it and came to the feet of galloping Steven Gerrard; a second later, and the score was level, with the ball nestling firmly in the Chelsea net.
The cheer that went up around Anfield when the captain showed Chelsea exactly what they were missing in him was utterly deafening; joy reigned on the Kop as grown men hugged each other and danced whilst it sunk in that we'd destroyed the deficit. Not for long did this happiness last.
Dependable Sami Hyypia is now decreasingly so. As Chelsea kept the ball for around 15 passes in midfield and defence, good football was coming from the visitors and Liverpool were chasing momentarily. There was, however, little danger. Then, a long, slinky pass through to Didier Drogba had Hyypia chasing the £24 million man and in control of the situation - oh, no, wait a minute, something utterly freakish just happened. Drogba, all 14 stone of him, actually appeared light-footed as he out-skilled and out-paced Hyypia in a split-second before pulling the ball back for Damien Duff to score an open net: the defence had been split open so easily, and Liverpool were losing once more.
It stayed that way until the second half, when Liverpool began to push on and attempt to get an equaliser. Then, the exact same thing happened once more and Drogba came into possession just by our box, before slicing it to Joe Cole to finish off and make it 3-1. Rafa threw on a few substitutes, changed the tactics, put three at the back, and then the fourth goal arrived with a now similar foolishness around it. A throw in - yes, you heard right, a throw in - cut open the defence and Drogba set up Geremi for yet another open net, leaving Jose Reina wondering what he had done to deserve this thrashing. The Kop was infuriated, desperate, disbelieving; I hope the simple nature of this paragraph shows just how simply Liverpool threw away that match on Sunday.
Where to go From Here?
4-1 at home looks bad. The fans calling for Rafa's head after the game were probably drunk with rage or drunk with alcohol - the poor bloke did very little wrong all week in terms of tactics. I myself was devastated on the way home and tried to make sense of what I'd just seen: key question: How did we lose that match 4-1? I arrived home and immediately scanned what Rafa had to say about the disgraceful score line and he echoed my thoughts with exact replication. Liverpool had that match by the scruff of the neck until Traore undid all the hard work; it's not fair just to blame the Frenchman for our downfall though. Hyypia was at fault for number two and arguably number three as well. The whole defence, I hope, was berated for number four, which even my Sunday league team wouldn't concede - on a bad day.
The worst of all of this is perhaps that Liverpool must now wait a fortnight to put to bed the demons which they will have surely taken out of the second match. On international duty, Gerrard will have to sit near Lampard in the canteen knowing that almost the entire country thinks the Chelsea man outclassed him on Sunday. Carragher will be faced with grinning Joe Cole. Crouch must come up again Terry in training. How can the Liverpool lads focus for the upcoming international break when their minds must be racing over Sunday's disaster?
But I'd have calm words for them only. Yes, the defence crumbled. Yes, Liverpool couldn't score after Gerrard's effort. Yes, Liverpool lost 4-1 at home. Technically though, the points lost from this game are just the same as the points lost last year in this game, when the score was a close 1-0. Liverpool were chasing the game and were hit hard on the counter-attack by the best team in the country; hey, it happens. Yet now, Rafa must get them back after the World Cup qualifiers and instil some much-needed confidence in the lads. In fact, I'd go as far as saying they need some more courage, especially going forward. Yes, you lost, but it's the first time you've lost this season in 7 games. You outplayed them on Wednesday and matched them for periods on Sunday. Liverpool need urgently to bounce back and get some points together in the Premiership, because the potential is there; now, Rafa just needs to bring out the beast within the team that we all know is there.
We stayed and sang for them when things looked bad. Now the team needs to stand up and be counted for us, because we all desperately want that to happen - we need it to.