http://www.thisisanfield.com/2014/04/top-league-know/
My buddy Anil sent me this and it highlights how far we have come this season.
Having said that I was not happy on the weekend because if we would have taken a point we would have still been in the driving seat for the title.I thought we deserved a point.
I think this was part of the reason we won:
http://www.teamtalk.com/blog/16129/9288740/Reds-lack-of-depth-shown-up-by-loss
Analyzing the game it is hard to fault Rodgers for his tactics. I think we suffer from not having Sturridge fully fit in this one and that comes back to the point in the introduction to this blog post.
Lukas and Allen had to come in with the personel
We kept possession well and considering Moses was not able to play and Sturridge was injured I did not see many other ways we could have done a lot different in this game.
With LFC seeing the majority of the ball and Chelsea sitting deep they were looking to catch us on the break and for us to make a mistake and in the end you have to say the tactic worked so credit to Jose.
I thought in all honesty we played well but struggled to penetrate. Coutinho had a chance on the volley in first half and Sakho had a chance as well and both could have finished better but Chelsea sat deep and did not allow us a lot of space.
Both Ashley cole and Azpilaqueta were instructed to sit deep and not come out and leave space behind and for long periods they were playing 3 defensive mids. It worked in that we could not score goals but we came close on a few occasions.
Considering that tactic and how tight it was we were not able to get in behind, Suarez was marshalled very well by the new boy Kallas and Ivanovic and although Sterling tried early to run in behind and looked for pockets of space it he could not find it.
He came close but chelsea defended well.
We had a lot of the ball a little further out and I think considering Gerrards mistake at the end of the half I think it gave the Chelsea players belief and it forced us to try more of the same.
To be fair to Rodgers he pushed up our wing backs and instructed shots from distance because we saw a lot of possession in their half but further out in front of their box (probably another 10-15 yards) and we came close. Gerrard especially kept shooting but couldnt just catch it right. Another one who saw a shot or two that went close was Joe Allen but in that game we needed a lucky bounce or a great shot from Gerrard from distance to score I thought.
Alternatively, a dead ball could have done it but Chelsea is strong in the air and their defensive discipline was impressive on the day.
I want to single out especially Ashley cole and Tomas Kallas for praise who I thought both had impressive games.
I think a sturridge on form could have made a difference today cause we did not see a lot of him and he could have opened up more space for both Sterling and Suarez but he was clearly rusty.
It is easy to say in retrospect but considering how the game went I probably would have switched Lucas for Gerrards in second half consdering they were letting us have so much of the ball and it was hard to penetrate past their "2 buses" of defense as Rodgers called them. That comes back to Gerrards strength for picking a killer ball but more than that I would have wanted him to take even more shots because we have seen him come up with big long range goals a fair few times before and we do not have a lot of other players that can shoot from distance.
The other thing that I thought was obvious to me was that Gerrard couldnt pick passes into the space on the wings or behind because of Chelsea sitting so deep (not only with their central players but their wing backs as well).
In his deeper lying role he has been able to transition defense to attack quickly and counter in that he hits a ball down the wing or switches play quickly to a second winger (wing backs) to get dangerous crosses into the box but both these options were mostly shut down due to dicipline from both the wingers (Schurle and Salah) and as mentioned above because wing backs were instructed not to move up beyond midfield at anytime.
In the end Rodgers pulls Flanagan for Aspas and tried to nick an equalizer sacrificing being even volunerable on the counter attack and quite frankly I cannot blame him for going for it.
A point in that game would have been invaluable because I believe we will beat Palace and Newcastle in the last two. Sadly now it is back in City's hands and we have to hope that our neighbours over at Everton pull off a grabbing a couple of points off Man City.
To end on a positive note, whatever happens from now until the end of the season it has been a great one and I am just looking forward to Champions league next year.
It should be brilliant.
YNWA,
Stian
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