Before we get into the bulk of this, let me preface this blog by saying that I missed much of the match. Sometimes life takes precedence. Having said that, on to the game. Liverpool did what they needed to do for a decent portion of this game with one of their rivals, Chelsea. The Blues are one of the best teams in the world and showed it at the end of the extra time.
It can be hard for Liverpool supporters to stomach, especially those that have friends who support the Blues, but this season they have shown themselves to be one of the best in the world. It is a good showing for the Reds in that they have put themselves in a position to challenge Chelsea. The Liverpool from the beginning of the season would not have even reached extra time in this sort of matchup. In fact, the contest may have been decided long before had the Reds played the way they were at the start of the season. However, there really is no silver lining. Regardless of any positivity in terms of progress, the simple fact is that at the end of extra time, Liverpool were dreadful.
Liverpool had their chances during the game. They put 15 balls toward the goal and 4 on target. Thibault Courtois made a few really good saves, but Liverpool just lack that critical finisher, regardless of the amount of potential talent they have on the field. The second half of extra time was a prime example of this. As mentioned, Chelsea is one of the top 5 clubs in the world right now, but Liverpool just don't have the ability to break down a defense at the moment. Even with great talents like Raheem Sterling and Phillipe Coutinho, world class players like Gerrard, or decent players like Jordan Henderson they simply cannot consistently slice through a defense the way they did last season.
They have moments of brilliance. The passing to set up Coutinho's chance that was kicked away by Coutinho was clinical. We've seen glimpses of that throughout the year. Simply not enough though. The imminent return of Daniel Sturridge will improve things. If he returns to even part of the form he had last season, he immediately improves the club's ability to score. It is just frustrating that even though we see glimpses, there is still a huge disparity from what the club performed like last season and the big difference has basically been two players missing.
The extra time was extremely disappointing from a tactical standpoint. The Reds looked decent enough until the goal. After that, they really fell apart. They had a few opportunities, but really nothing that troubled the Chelsea goalkeeper. Again, all credit to the Blues. They won the game. However, the disparity in positive possession was quite astounding in the last 15 minutes. Liverpool looked lost. They blindly booted the ball around the pitch or headed the ball aimlessly up field with not inclination of where it might go. The Blues, on the other side, were cool and calm and knocked the ball around with ease. The Reds looked clueless when presented with opportunities on goal. They sailed several balls well over the goal, not even troubling the defense or goalkeeper.
From a Liverpool perspective, it was simply not good enough. Liverpool scored a quality goal at Anfield and had small windows of quality play. But in the grand scheme, over two full matches and two full periods of extra time, they just simply did not do enough to earn the wins. That is something that has to be rectified if Liverpool hope to return to the true upper echelon.
Despite the huge disappointment of not gaining a finals appearance in the league cup, Liverpool can still accomplish good things this season. They have fixed enough of their problems to make a good run at a top four spot. They still have an opportunity to reach Wembly with a good performance against Bolton and a reasonably favorable draw against Crystal Palace. Good things can still come from the rest of this season, but for one match they simply were not good enough. Walk on.
Personal thoughts:
- Blogs are, by nature, somewhat personal. I usually try to separate my deeper feelings from the blog, but I'm going to let a few out here.
- I am a big Brendan Rodgers fan. Most people, from what I've read, hated the reality series Being Liverpool. I loved it. I was really drawn to Rodgers' philosophy and feelings regarding the importance of the supporters and work ethic. However, sometimes he is clearly off his rocker. In the post match interview, he said Liverpool were the better side over the two days and were denied by Courtois. Courtois was the reason Chelsea drew in the first game, but to say you were the better team for two contests when you really weren't isn't reality. I understand trying to set a positive notion in the mind of the team, but some of his attempts to do so are completely from left field.
- Mario Balotelli is lost. I am one of the few, if only, supporters of Super Mario. Having part of my family be Italian makes me bias in that instance and I've seen the man's talent. But right now, even I have to admit he is terrible and just appears lost. I feel bad for him because I do think he wants to perform at Liverpool and wants to play well. However, you can see in his performance that he shoots when he should pass and passes when he should shoot and seems incapable of making the right decision. I hope he turns it around, if for no other reason than I own a Balotelli jersey, but the experiment may be a failure even for this dedicated supporter.
- Sterling and Coutinho have oodles of talent, but they are maddening. Similarly to Balotelli, but on a much smaller scale they like to shoot when they should pass and pass when they should shoot. When challenged by defenders that are actually world class, they seem to shrink. They still attempt to challenge them, but they get way too close to the defenders and often give it away. This is fine for early in matches because you want to test your opposition. When you are in extra time, with a finals appearance on the line, you simply must retain the ball. Too much carelessness. They are young though, so plenty of time to still learn it. Just frustrating for the moment.
- Jose Mourinho is one of the best managers in the world of club football, but he makes statements that make Rodgers look like a lyrical genius. I completely understand sticking up for your team, but to simply ignore anything negative any of his players ever does, from diving to stomping, and yet whine about every single thing that does not go your way is aggravating at best.
- Whether it's FIFA or the FA, if they want to retain credibility they must suspend Diego Costa. Taking all bias out of it, he may have gotten away with the stomps during the match but you cannot allow a player to deliberately stomp on an opponent and not be punished. It would not matter to me if it was a Liverpool player that was the offender in such an instance. Those things cannot be allowed in the game and regardless of who does it, they should be suspended.
15 chances, 4 on target.
BR says they were better side?
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