Any match between the teams of the “Big Four” in England stands apart - it was painfully purebred these century-long confrontations. Chelsea, however, has been among the grandees not so long ago, but the latest history of the London club only added pepper to Saturday's roast. Twice winning the championship, the “blue” more than once or twice lost to “Liverpool” in the cup matches in England and in Europe. However, the battle of Chelsea at Anfield Road is always ready to give. And Jose Mourinho, focused on personnel issues, completely forgot about the tightly clenched fists and the fire in the eyes of the "red".
Yes, Chelsea before the match resembled the ship of Captain Vrungel, whose name suddenly became shorter by the first two letters. The loss of Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, Petr Cech, forced to play in a rugby helmet, Makelele’s injury, the problem with Shevchenko and the conflict inflated by the press with the club’s leadership is a misfortune, you cannot say otherwise. Mourinho was forced to plug a hole in the center of defense with right-backing Paulo Ferreira and station wagon Essien, and put young Obi Mikel in midfield. The Portuguese can only sympathize. But through the adjustments made by him, a certain neglect of the opponent was visible. Mourinho replaced the retirees with whom he could, but at the same time he chose a frankly attacking 4-3-3 lineup, intending to play the first number at a party at Anfield, losing the main defense players.
But it was necessary to solve another problem - how to "bounce", finding himself in such a difficult situation. Liverpool is not Watford to put bench players against it and try to play as before. The psychology of the winner Mourinho, who refused to be cautious (although you can understand him too - you have to catch up with Manchester United), gave a serious malfunction. And it became clear in the first minutes.
200 seconds after the start of the match, a long serve from the right flank found either the head or the back of Crouch, and Dirk Kate skillfully took advantage of the rebound, obscenely defeating Paul Ferreira and knocking his cheek in the opposite of Cech. The goalkeeper who returned to service clearly did not expect such connivance from the defense and began to reprimand Jeremy, who two minutes later made an even more rude blunder, allowing Riisa to go one on one. This time, Czech saved and said nothing - apparently, already having lost hope of explaining something. Two minutes later, an inaccurate pass back to Paulo Ferreira led to a corner. Chelsea at that moment had to be taken with bare hands - which Liverpool did. Trying for all, Essien brought the ball with his head out of the box to Pennant's foot - exactly where Essien would be located if Terry was healthy. And he would hardly have made it so cool to punch the right-handed “midfielder" on goal. But - 2: 0.
Angry Mourinho immediately replaced Robben, who in theory was supposed to insure the area where Pennant scored. But Sean Wright-Phillips, under the Portuguese who did not play at full strength on his own right flank, could not do anything on the left. And right after the starting goal goal segment, Liverpool began to skillfully “dry” the game. Indicative was the 10-minute absence of Xabi Alonso, who had a lip sutured. During this time, Chelsea did not create a hint of danger.
After the break, nothing has changed. Liverpool could have scored again: Riise launched the ball from thirty meters into the crossbar. Wright-Phillips still earned a free kick on the left edge, but Chelsea could not even play it. The ball was blown away by the wind, Ballack looked at the judge, Drogba at Ballack - as a result, the “blue” appeared to be a laughing stock in the eyes of even their own fans. And in the last 20 minutes, the main characters were the Anfield Road stands. They sang “Farewell, Mourinho” to the motive “The heart of a beautiful woman is prone to treason”, and in the added minutes they charged the famous “You will never be alone”.
Chelsea, who is experiencing certain game problems, has saved the game more than once this season in the last minutes - at will, at will. However, this time Benitez’s correct and error-free installation on the game turned out to be much more true than Mourinho’s strategy - exactly at that moment when the players who were in a difficult situation had to count on it much more than usual. Undoubtedly, Chelsea lost due to personnel problems. But one of these cadres was the "head of the department."
LIVERPOOL - CHELSEY - 2: 0 (2: 0)
Goals: 1: 0 - Kate (4), 2: 0 - Pennant (18).
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Riise, Pennant, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Crouch (Bellamy 85), Kate (Gonzalez 90).
Chelsea: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Ashley Cole, Jeremy, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Obi Mikel (Shevchenko 73), Robben (Wright-Phillips, 21), Drogba, Kalu.
Warning: Paulo Ferreira (70).
January 20th . Anfield Road, 15.45.
Judge : Rob Styles (Hampshire).
Match Goal Video