Frustrating Performance At Stamford Bridge

A frustrating clash at Stamford Bridge for the Red's today resulting in a 2-0 defeat which i don't feel truly reflected Liverpool's attacking force within the game. The away side found themselves pushing for arguably the whole match, we were nothing short of full on pressure. The defence was as solid as i have seen it in a good while and with Masch in the starting line up it was clear that we kept more of the possession throughout the game.

Liverpool made a promising start to the first half piling on the pressure but unfortunately not the chances. We had a few flares most prominently from Riera, Torres and Steven Gerrard. It was a re-run of Fiorentina though with every pop at goal steering clear of the target. Although Liverpool appeared to be having the better first half, Chelsea themselves had their chances, they too were seeing they're efforts dismissed. This game was beginning to have draw written all over it, both teams were cancelling each other out and chances were being wasted.

The best chance of the first half by far for us was a Torres chance at 40 minutes, a beautiful run by the number 9 who got straight into position for the incoming cross from Kuyt, if only the Spaniard could have connected properly the ball would have almost certainly been in the net. This chance was shortly followed by a fantastic effort from Alberto Riera who took the free kick and nearly sent the ball past Hilario after he left his decision very late to make the save.

Second half; and Liverpool start with much of the same, pressure still seems to be the aim of the game but this time the hopes were that this pressure would result in reward. This was not to be the case, Chelsea get a chance on the hour mark and Anelka punishes. Chelsea go into a somewhat undeserved lead after Drogba crosses the ball and Anelka finishes with a close range shot. Drogba interestingly creating the chance for his team after prancing around for the majority of the match and going to the floor with the slightest of touches. What is football when you can't even challenge a striker without being concerned as to whether you can shoulder barge or actually even get near him, considering the man is built like an Ox he doesn't half drop easily, and he wonders why he doesn't have the respect as other prolific strikers do. I would absolutely love it if somebody somewhere could create or dig up a stat that shows the amount of football time played Drogba has spent on the floor compared to standing up, someone ... please do this.Anyway, i don't want to come across as bias or moaning but the fact of the matter is something should be done about Didhishair Drogba and his antics on field.

So with Liverpool down it would appear to anyone who wasn't watching the game that it was time for a Chelsea turn around but this was simply untrue. Again Liverpool persisted to push forward with power and possession. In the latter stages of the second half Liverpool had numerous chances, Johnson had a shot which was sent over the cross bar, Gerrard had a chance which was prevented by Ashley Cole and Fernando Torres had a brilliant chance taken with his less favoured foot the shot lacked power and Hilario saved. The pressure was coming to no avail, time and time again the lads appeared in the Chelsea half but it just wasn't to be and at 90 minutes Chelsea take they're chance again Florent Malouda this time netting for the blues. So it was almost certainly game over, the only other moment of note was a chance from Yossi Benayoun a man who at the moment you would be certain to score from a chance like the one he had but the ball slipped wide of the post. I can't help but feel maybe, just maybe if that ball had went in Liverpool could have ransacked the Chelsea goal within the dying minutes and scraped a draw, desperate thinking but we all know we are capable of doing things like that.

So overall, how do i feel? I feel we were pretty hard done by, the team played well and they're efforts were nothing short of 100% it was the sufficient on target chances we seemed to lack but you could sense a goal, it was almost inevitable the way we were pushing that we would equalize but it just didn't happen. Star man for me was probably Martin Skrtel who played excellent in defence today he and Jamie Carragher seemed back on top even with the conceding of two goals it appears the apparent dip in form is history. I also think Mascherano had a cracking game and was extremely unlucky when he gave away possession which led to the goal. Torres played well but seemed very frustrated with himself, the Chelsea defence were all over him and it was hard for him to get through today.

Where do we go from here then? Well you can guarantee the papers will be jumping on the "Let's Write Off Liverpool" band wagon and using the fact that we have lost more games than last season altogether already but you see last season it was not only the two defeats, it was a mixture of things. For a starters if jammy Manchester United and Macheda hadn't turned around two of their fixtures it could have been a very different story, not only this but the Liverpool team of last campaign suffered a collection of draws which appears to happen season after season. These draws are sometimes what cost us, especially games like Stoke, these are the games where we can make the title ours, just those last few minutes where 1 point can be turned into 3 and here is exactly where we go from now. Let's focus on grinding out those games where we are poised for a draw and ultimately change the outcome. Keep the faith.

It's a marathon, not a sprint.