Three down before half-time... Rafa needs another miracle

By Liam Mackey

Monday, October 05, 2009

NOT for the first time where Rafael Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti are concerned, it’s the Liverpool manager who finds himself three down – except it’s not even half-time yet.

Last season, the Merseysiders were beaten just twice in the Premier League: this time they’ve already managed to lose three out of the first eight. Still early days, of course, but already it’s beginning to look like the end to that long title drought will require something in the order of another miracle.

If Liverpool are to take any heart from the defeat to Chelsea, it’s that for a full hour of this contest they gave about as good as they got – and away from home against one of the big guns, at that – the game finely balanced right up until the moment when the home side first found the net.

What ought to worry the faithful is how uncharacteristically feeble Liverpool’s response was when they went behind to Nicolas Anelka’s goal just short of the hour.

At that moment, nothing miraculous was required to, at least, earn the visitors what would have been a deserved share of the spoils. But, astonishingly, it wasn’t until Florent Malouda had already made things safe for Chelsea in time added on , that Liverpool finally threatened to find the opposition net.

Even then, they managed to come up short, first through an incredible miss by Yossi Benayoun and then when Hilario denied a Steven Gerrard thunderbolt. Two chances, maybe, but too little and much too late.

Once again, an old concern has come back to haunt Liverpool. Keep Torres and Gerrard quiet and the Reds will struggle to open up the opposition.

Compounded by the keenly-felt absence of Alonso’s ability to pick out the killer pass – Lucas simply isn’t in the same league – the upshot is that Liverpool’s creative options are seriously restricted.

That much was especially clear in the largely one-dimensional nature of their response after going a goal behind at Stamford Bridge.

Turning to the limited options on his bench, Benitez successively threw on Benayoun, Babel and Aurelio but while the tactical reshuffle gave them a width they had previously lacked, the result was little more than a succession of high balls into the box which John Terry, outstanding for Chelsea on the day, was only too happy to gobble up.

Top of the table thanks to a win against one of the big four, Chelsea might not have answered all the questions raised by the defeat to Wigan but yesterday’s result should still prove a huge psychological boost.

In the run-up to yesterday’s match, a lot of attention had been focussed on the contrast in styles offered by Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba, the two strikers Carlo Ancelotti has described as the best in the league.

That the Chelsea man was the clear winner yesterday without even finding the net, tells you something about the tight margins within which the match played out.

While the sides were level, it was always going to take either a moment of inspiration or a lapse in concentration to change the picture and, in the event, it was a combination of both which led to the crucial goal. Unfortunately for Javier Mascherano, one of Liverpool’s more spirited performers, it was his getting caught in possession which set the move in motion before Drogba turned provider with a perfect ball into the box from the left.

And in making a difficult finish look easy, Nicolas Anelka showed how wonderfully blessed Chelsea are to have not one but two top-class goalscorers in their side. In setting up Malouda’s goal, Drogba did even better, employing that uniquely potent blend of strength and skill to create something almost out of nothing close to the end line.

That said, the ease with which he outfought and outthought Jamie Carragher in the process will do nothing to ease doubts about the Liverpool stalwart’s worrying dip in form.

Two-nil hardly tells the full story of a compelling battle at the Bridge but as Chelsea return to the top and Liverpool drop out of the top four, it’s hard not to read the result as a significant sign of things to come.

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, October 05, 2009