Liverpool couldn't quite hold on to their 1-0 lead at Anfield on Saturday with the Reds having to settle for a draw after a Willian equaliser in the 85th minute. It was a strange starting line up from manager Jurgen Klopp but overall a draw was probably the right result.
A starting XI consisting of the likes of Milner and Daniel Sturridge meant players such as Firmino and Mane were left on the bench. It was an interesting decision by Klopp, was he rotating with one eye on the busy fixture schedule ahead? Did he change the line up specifically because he felt it would work well against Conte's Chelsea? Who knows. All I know is, if Mane and Firmino were on from the start, this would have been a different result.
The first half, even with the weird starting XI, went quite well for the Reds. No major chances but Liverpool maintained a lot of possession and looked relatively at ease against Chelsea who looked lacking in ideas to begin with. After neither side found the back of the net it was suspected that early substitutions would kick of the second half but Klopp decided to stick with his original set up.
Just after the hour mark, his decision looked to have paid off when that man Mo Salah found the back of the net, again. A lovely piece of play involving Coutinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and the Egyptian appeared to hit Chelsea hard but the Reds didn't do enough to secure the deal.
As with many Liverpool games this season, the Reds never quite look certain to take all three points, whether that's 3-0 up against Sevilla or 1-0 up against Chelsea, you can never fool yourself into thinking we will see it out until the final whistle, especially against a side like Conte's.
By 80 minutes though to be honest I genuinely thought we might just have this one in the bag but Willian thought otherwise. His effort from the right-hand side was definitely meant to be a cross, you have to feel for Mignolet a bit because I don't think he was expecting the ball to come his way at that point but he looked positioned well enough to deal with it.
At 1-1 with five minutes to go the questions about the starting line up all started to flood back and the introduction of Lallana and Mane with a couple of minutes to go just made the whole thing even more frustrating.
I still don't really know what Klopp was thinking but, I'll take a draw with Chelsea so I'm willing to brush this one aside for now. We'll see what happens against Stoke in the week...
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| Image via The Mirror |
The first half, even with the weird starting XI, went quite well for the Reds. No major chances but Liverpool maintained a lot of possession and looked relatively at ease against Chelsea who looked lacking in ideas to begin with. After neither side found the back of the net it was suspected that early substitutions would kick of the second half but Klopp decided to stick with his original set up.
Just after the hour mark, his decision looked to have paid off when that man Mo Salah found the back of the net, again. A lovely piece of play involving Coutinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain and the Egyptian appeared to hit Chelsea hard but the Reds didn't do enough to secure the deal.
As with many Liverpool games this season, the Reds never quite look certain to take all three points, whether that's 3-0 up against Sevilla or 1-0 up against Chelsea, you can never fool yourself into thinking we will see it out until the final whistle, especially against a side like Conte's.
By 80 minutes though to be honest I genuinely thought we might just have this one in the bag but Willian thought otherwise. His effort from the right-hand side was definitely meant to be a cross, you have to feel for Mignolet a bit because I don't think he was expecting the ball to come his way at that point but he looked positioned well enough to deal with it.
At 1-1 with five minutes to go the questions about the starting line up all started to flood back and the introduction of Lallana and Mane with a couple of minutes to go just made the whole thing even more frustrating.
I still don't really know what Klopp was thinking but, I'll take a draw with Chelsea so I'm willing to brush this one aside for now. We'll see what happens against Stoke in the week...