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Mignolet error allows Chelsea to a point

Liverpool missed out on the opportunity to draw level with Chelsea on points after Willian’s late effort cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s second-half opener.

Liverpool

Liverpool made wholesale changes after their 3–3 draw with Sevilla midweek. Mignolet started and Klavan came in for the injured Lovren. The English trio of Milner, Chamberlain and Sturridge came in for Wijnaldum, Mane and Firmino who were on the bench.

Chelsea

Chelsea just made the one change from their established starting lineup with Drinkwater coming in for Fabregas.

First Half:

The game began as expected with Conte’s side happy to let Liverpool enjoy territorial and possessional advantages as Chelsea’s defense prevented any real chances from developing. The game was still end-to-end stuff although clear chances were few and far between.

The first half largely revolved around Mohamed Salah and Eden Hazard with the best chances for each team intrinsically linked to their talismans. First, in the 18th minute, Salah wriggled his way through the right side of the box and managed to stay on his feet despite being clipped by Cahill. His resulting shot was blocked although he could have earned a penalty had he gone down.

A few minutes later, Hazard was involved in two of the best chances of the half. Drinkwater’s lofted ball from the halfline found Hazard on the left flank from where he cut inside before unleashing a powerful shot which Mignolet saved low to his right. Two minutes later, the duo linked up again as Hazard played Drinkwater through on goal after dribbling through the Liverpool midfield. Mignolet came to the rescue again as he charged and put the midfielder of his shot.

Four minutes before halftime, Salah tried to create something out of nothing again as he went on a tear down the right before cutting inside and unleashing a curler with his left foot but the ball went past the far post.

HALFTIME

Second Half:

The game didn’t see a substitution until the 66th minute but the second half was a different game from the first. This was due to Salah moving to the left while Chamberlain played on the right and Coutinho stayed more central.

Liverpool continued their possession and territorial advantage and were able to create more chances. Henderson had a long-range effort in the 55th minute and Azpilicueta’s last-gasp tackle on Sturridge prevented a rather easy chance in the 63rd minute. Chelsea had a very good chance of their own in the 60th minute when Zappacosta’s whizzing cross in from the right drew Mignolet out who missed his punch and the ball fell into the path of Morata but Matip’s sliding effort managed to put off the Spaniard enough to miss the attempted shot.

Five minutes later, Salah broke the deadlock utilizing his trademark pace and movement. Coutinho made a mazy run from the left but his attempted pass deflected off Bakayoko. Chamberlain reacted quickest and poked the ball into the path of Salah who continued his run and finished low to Courtois’ left.

Wijnaldum was then brought on for Sturridge as Salah moved into the middle as striker and Coutinho moved back out to the left. It appeared as though Liverpool took their foot off the gas and didn’t try to force the issue, despite having the likes of Mane and Firmino on the bench. In fact, Chelsea made all three of their changes in between Liverpool’s first and second.

Fabregas came on for Drinkwater in the 74th minute with Pedro following suit a few minutes later for Bakayoko. Finally, Willian came on for Zappacosta in the 83th minute and scored less than 3 minutes later.

Hazard’s sideward pass found the Brazilian in the middle and he chose to run at the defense down the right. After entering the box, he chipped in a ball toward Morata and Alonso at the far post but the ball looped its way over Mignolet into the back of the net. Accidental but effective.

Mane and Lallana were brought on for Coutinho and Chamberlain, the Englishman was making his first appearance of the season after being out with a thigh injury. Salah had the chance to have the last laugh with a rocket of a snapshot with his left foot from the edge of the box but Courtois’ diving effort to his left kept the game level.

FULLTIME: Liverpool 1–1 Chelsea

Liverpool’s frontline vs Chelsea’s defensive discipline

Jurgen Klopp’s teams are renowned for their high pressing and attacking fluidity; Antonio Conte’s teams are known for their defensive stability and transitions. Today’s matchup saw Liverpool make a ton of changes which saw a deviation from their regular style and strategy of play and made the first half extremely formulaic.

Liverpool made sweeping changes to midfield and attack with Coutinho, Henderson and Salah as the only first choice players and Wijnaldum, Mane and Firmino being dropped in favor of Milner, Chamberlain and Sturridge. Chamberlain and Coutinho would frequently overlap and switch positions on the left.

Chelsea’s discipline in defending prevented this from being any kind of serious threat for the first 45 minutes. With their 3-man defense and 3 central midfielders, Liverpool were forced to build from the flanks. They would do so with their full back, central midfielders and wide players circulating the ball while waiting for other players to make a good run. However, Chelsea turned this into possession without purpose as their wider center backs, wing backs and central midfielders would mark each Liverpool attacker forcing them to play back to Matip, Henderson and Klavan at the halfline.

Even there Chelsea were well equipped as Hazard and Morata would act as a front-2 and close down Liverpool’s defense. Daniel Sturridge playing as a more striker is what prevented this system from working compared to Firmino. Firmino doesn’t pick up nearly as many goals as the other strikers in the Big 6 but that’s because his role is to disrupt defensive shape to let Mane and Salah pick up the goals. He does this by dropping deep or running out wide and drawing opposing center backs to him while the wingers use their pace to sneak in behind the backline. Sturridge on the other hand, stayed central and forward and wasn’t involved in buildup as much.

Firmino averages 36 passes a game, Sturridge managed just 21 in almost 70 minutes and just 13 at halftime. More importantly, Sturridge had 8 forward passes compared to Firmino’s 15 in 36 against Southampton. The main significance of this is that it indicates Sturridge’s tendency to play with his back to goal compared to Firmino who plays deeper and builds attacks.

The main advantage Mane and Salah offer is their comfort and talent as being wide attackers. Chamberlain publicly left Arsenal this past summer because of his desire to play as a central midfielder and Coutinho is more suited to a central role anyway. As a result, Liverpool never really utilized the width on the left flank and instead would opt to move the ball to the right and use Salah.

This one-dimensional nature of their attack saw Liverpool figured out fairly early and saw the half become a battle of Hazard vs Salah. Chelsea would exploit Liverpool’s left as Moreno would frequently run forward since he was the only player on that flank with winger-like tendencies and would bomb forward Hazard would exploit that space constantly and go on his mazy diagonal runs.

In the absence of Fabregas and a third attacker, Hazard was the sole creative influence for Chelsea, a role he thrived in. In just the first half, he made 8 dribbles and picked up 3 key passes and played a role in 4 of Chelsea’s 7 shots. However, with both teams being so predictable, the first half was an end-to-end stalemate.

Liverpool’s decision at halftime to play Chamberlain on the right, his traditional position at Arsenal, and Salah on the left with Coutinho almost like a CAM was a huge success and saw Liverpool dominate the second half. The most obvious being that having 2 players with experience out wide saw Liverpool gain options in attack. With Salah on the left, Zappacosta had less freedom than he did before and was pegged back, like Alonso was in the first half.

This also saw Hazard reverting back into his free-roaming role and he moved across the field as opposed to just the right. Coutinho was afforded the same role and it was this interplay and overlap which was missing in the first half for Liverpool. It was very evident in the goal as Coutinho began his run on the left, as did Salah, and Sturridge moved out wide to overlap while Chamberlain played in the middle.

The immediate substitution and decision to play Coutinho on the left and Salah as a striker was interesting and in hindsight poorly chosen. Coutinho and Chamberlain lack the goalscoring instincts and movement of Mane and Salah. Both of them play more like midfielders and this took Liverpool’s foot off the gas. Chelsea were able to buildup play a bit more, especially with the introduction of Fabregas, Pedro and Willian who injected creativity and speed against a tired Liverpool midfield.

Klopp’s decision to wait till the 88th minute before making another change is what let Chelsea back in it. If Mane or Lallana had been introduced earlier, their pace and energy would have prevented the likes of Hazard and Fabregas from having time and space on the ball in midfield leading to attacks constantly being built up.

The game could be seen as being played on each team’s respective right flank for differing reasons. Liverpool lacked a true wide player on the left and naturally had to use their talisman, Salah, on the right. Their players who attacked from the left (Coutinho and Chamberlain) had a tendency to cut inside which was dealt with by Azpilicueta, the Spaniard picked up 7 tackles, another reason to try the other side. With Moreno bombing forward so often, Hazard and Zappacosta would exploit the space down the right to get behind The Reds’ defense, they accounted for 19 of Chelsea’s 27 attempted dribbles. Coutinho and Chamberlain’s tendency to stay ready for the counter meant they wouldn’t commit to defending which created more space on the flank.

A draw is probably fair although Klopp would be disappointed by Liverpool’s inability to keep a clean sheet and especially the nature of the goal today.

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