The Special One against the Normal One. It was always going to be a seismic event with the bristling Mourinho being talked up as the next manager for the high jump should Liverpool inflict a defeat on his embattled champions.
By the end of the game Mourinho looked and sounded like the Spoilt One, refusing to answer questions on his sides performance saying he had nothing to say. His side unceremoniously dismissed by a Liverpool side coming from behind to summarily trance a Chelsea side made took look one paced.
Make no mistake this was a victory of character coming from behind to score three having scored only nine goals in the League all season and with only two goals from those starting today.
The first ten minutes Liverpool appeared to flatline coming off the back of giving their manager his first victory in the week against Bournemouth. That being said, there were nine changes from the Capital One team with only Clyne and Firmino making the starting eleven.
The lack of early intensity cost Liverpool dear with Chelsea go ahead within four minutes. James Milner was left trailing by Cesar Azpilicueta in trying support Clyne before the full-back was giving an eternity to switch the ball back on to his stronger right foot to cross for the newly contracted Ramires to head home powerfully with Moreno caught out disappointingly ball watching.
We proceeded to get our pressing game into gear without managing to get Lallana and Coutinho into the game. Firmino, playing in the False no 9 position, dropped deep which left us without a focal point up top. As a consequence, the pressing and possession as effective as it was only led only to half chances for Lallana and Lucas.
Toward the close of the half Milner fashioned a superb ball across the face of goal without anybody on the end of it.
Without that focal point Liverpool were only ever going to get back on track through the creative brilliance of Coutinho and Lallana.
Two and half minutes into time added on we were back on terms with a piece of sublime brilliance.
Milner and Firmino managed to work the ball into Coutinho where the impish Brazilian dropped a shoulder to ghost past Ramires before curling a brilliant left-footed shot inside the far post leaving John Terry trailing on the ground and Begovic flailing.
Chelsea appeared more energetic in the second-half without being able to gain control an semblance of control with Can, Milner and Lucas working overtime across the Liverpool midfield.
Chelsea and Mourinho will complain of Mark Clattenburg’s failure to send of Lucas with a second yellow card, but if he had seen Diego Costa’s petulant kick out against Martin Skrtel, Chelsea would have been down to ten men before that juncture.
The turning point came on 64 minutes with the substitution of James Milner for Christian Benteke. Liverpool suddenly had an unplayable no 9 adding a different dimension to our game.
Oscar from fully 40 yards almost chipped Mignolet after a mistake by Lucas only for keeper to claw the ball away in spectacular fashion.
Nine minutes after coming on Benteke made his presence felt. Pinpointed by a long angled ball from the immaculate Mamadou Sakho the Belgian rose to header the ball across the edge of the area to Coutinho who once again showed his amazing ability to make room, before seeing his shot deflect of Terry to loop beyond Begovic to put Liverpool ahead.
It was nothing more than Liverpool deserved having been the more dominant and creative side. Moreno, blistered down the left, after being set free by Can, outpacing the Chelsea rearguard only to see his lowly driven shot well saved.
The game was put to bed with 8 minutes to go after Jordon Ibe cut in from the right and rolled his pass toward the Lallana who in turn stepped over leaving Benteke to work his way onto his right foot to shoot past Begovic aided by a slight deflection of Cahill.
Man of the match: Philippe Coutinho – Goals oozed class. Didn’t take part for 47 minutes of the first half and a flash of brilliance from his normally lesser left ball saw Liverpool all square. His second goal showed just good he is at fathoming out space for himself before unleashing the coup de gras.
Critical eye: It’s not very often that Chelsea are outplayed for the majority of the match. The failure to go in with a lead could squarely be put down to the lack of an penetration without an orthodox front man and it showed once Benteke entered the fray just after the hour as he was unplayable.
What it does show is just how different a proposition Liverpool are with a natural no 9. If we are to make a consistent challenge for the top four it requires a fit Benteke and hopefully Sturridge.
Moreno’s defending on the Chelsea goal was as poor as it gets and while he has been promising in the other facets of his game, his primarily in the team to defend and one hopes his raises his concentration levels doing his defensive chores in the future.
With each game that goes by Sakho is showing reassurance of the highest order and his passing out of defensive is all about pinpoint accuracy. He is fast becoming the rock within the Liverpool defence.
Interesting to see Liverpool shut down Eden Hazard and Willian who has been in brilliant form.
Questions might be asked about the players playing for a new manager, but in saying that Emre Can was hardly ever used in centre midfield and Adam Lallana has only recently began to start.
Teams:
Chelsea: 1 Amir Begovic, 5 Kurt Zouma, 24 Gary Cahill, 26 John Terry, 28 Cesar Azpilicueta Falcao –76 mins), 7 Ramires, 12 John Obi Mikel (Cesc Fabregas – 70 mins), 22 Willian, 10 Eden Hazard (Robert Kenedy Nunes do Nascimento – 59 mins), 19 Diego Costa
Subs: 4 Cesc Fabregas, 6 Baba Rahman, 9 Falcao, 16 Robert Kenedy Nunes do Nascimento 18 Loic Remy, 21 Nemanja Matic, 32 Marco Amelia
Liverpool: 22 Simon Mignolet, 2 Nathaniel Clyne, 17 Martin Skrtel, 17 Mamadou Sakho, 18 Alberto Moreno, 7 James Milner (Christian Benteke – 64 mins), 21 Lucas, 23 Emre Can, 20 Adam Lallana (Dejan Lovren - 90+1 mins), 10 Philippe Coutinho, 11 Roberto Firmino (Jordon Ibe – 76 mins)
Subs: 6 Dejan Lovren, Christian Benteke, 24 Joe Allen, 33 Jordan Ibe, 34 Adam Bogdan, 53 Joao Carlos Teixiera, 56 Connor Randall
Referee: Mark Clattenberg
Attendance: 41, 577
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