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Despite conceding a goal before many of the fans had found their seats today, Chelsea looked like a side that were perfectly drilled in how defend a very dangerous Liverpool attack today. They took control of the match almost immediately after the restart, and the only surprise with their 2-1 lead at the break was that it wasn't a bit larger.
The Blues continued to dominate for the first 25 minutes of the second half, but in typical Chelsea fashion, couldn't find that third goal to comfortably put the game to bed. While that left Chelsea fans with some nervy moments as the game wound down, Jose Mourinho's side held on to take maximum points away from this fixture.
Thoughts:
- I'm pretty torn on the ongoing David Luiz midfield experiment. While Luiz has all the attributes to suggest he'd be better served by touching the ball more often in a more advanced position, he's just never shown any real comfort in that sort of role.
- Branislav Ivanovic's knee injury worries me. I can't imagine anything minor would have Bran requesting a substitution, here's hoping it's just a scare as opposed to anything serious.
- The response to Liverpool's early opening goal was absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure I've seen a better overall half of football played by Chelsea this season.
- A Chelsea striker scored a goal today that wasn't 100% to blame on an opposition mistake. I really didn't think we'd see that happen again until we either dipped into the transfer market or welcomed Romelu Lukaku back to the Bridge.
- Speaking of strikers, the one on the other side looks a bit like Azog the defiler, doesn't he?
- The criticism of the players for swapping jerseys at halftime was idiotic. Do the commentators not realize that most of these guys put on a fresh kit during the break anyway? Who actually cares if it ends up in an opponents locker instead of in a heap on the Chelsea dressing room floor?
- The final substitution of the match by Brendan Rodgers was baffling. With just stoppage time left to play and trailing by a goal, why bring on a center back for an injured defender? A 3-1 or 4-1 loss is no different from a 2-1 loss, while a draw is a far, far better outcome for Liverpool.
- While Lucas had every right to be upset with Oscar's late challenge, he should have seen red for his reaction to the incident. I believe that will be something the FA can review with their new rules, it will be interesting to see if they do so.
