16 Key Conclusions After Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool Clash – Slot Under Pressure as Maresca Shines
Officially, Arne Slot and two players in particular appear to be exacerbating Liverpool’s “mini crisis.” Enzo Maresca and Chelsea took advantage.
1) Confirmation of the Liverpool crisis
This was a refreshing conclusion to a day that was characterised by the surprisingly high levels of skill demonstrated by the more absurd Premier League powerhouses.
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Before two crisis-adjacent preseason title contenders faced off at Stamford Bridge in an absurdly expensive game marked by a bizarre epidemic of failed five-yard passes, Spurs and Manchester United dispatched promoted opponents, and Arsenal easily avoided their typical West Ham obstacle.
Having a dramatic winner and, more importantly, a dramatic loser makes these games better in the end. Before the international break, the defending champions in second place have graciously stepped up with their first straight Premier League losses since April 2023, proving that there must always be a crisis club.
2) Such fragmented champions
Inherently, it seems exaggerated to characterise a squad that began the season with seven consecutive wins under progressively absurd conditions. However, this week has been a destructive return to the norm.
Even the most enthusiastic supporters will acknowledge that those early victories were never sustainable, but they may have ultimately diverted attention from the core structural problems with this side for too long.
Chelsea, Galatasaray, and Crystal Palace weren’t the first teams to expose them; they were just able to exploit weaknesses in a way that the previous teams couldn’t.
Under the direction of a fantastic coach, these are outstanding Liverpool players. These two things, however, appear completely distinct for the first time, frequently even completely at conflict. There is no doubt about the transitional season.
3) Odd slot machine choices
Since Arne Slot set a world record for summer spending, he must bear a large portion of the blame for any failure this season.
With Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez on the bench, the actively harmful Mo Salah playing another full ninety minutes, Wataru Endo coming on as their final substitute while chasing a winner, and Federico Chiesa, who has two goals and two assists this season in 153 minutes, unused, Liverpool finished that game with midfielders at center-half and right-back.
Whatever outcome Slot was trying to achieve while the scores were equal, it was devilish game management.
Enzo Fernandez struck the post, Jamie Gittens should have scored, and only a bad touch by Marc Guiu stopped him from going through, but Estevao clinched the victory.
Liverpool continued to attack with reckless abandon, and the Chelsea winner had been on the horizon.
4) Carragher was spot on
Jamie Carragher deserves all the praise for not just putting Liverpool on fire over the first weekend but also for confronting Slot about it.
With an awkward move, the Dutchman eased any worries about the defence and sending too many players forward when games are close.
Ange said, “That’s also who we were and who we are,” which is why watching Liverpool makes for such a pleasant game. We won’t defend by going to a low block.
With Ryan Gravenberch at center-half, Dominik Szoboszlai at left-back, and a brand-new Chelsea offence, it might have been a late-game notion.
Although a point would have been a good outcome, Liverpool lost because they were so vulnerable right up to the very end.
5) A significant victory for Maresca
Chelsea, the team that was considerably superior in the first half and briefly lost control in the second, were worth the win because of their ridiculous player hoarding. This was a momentous day for Enzo Maresca.
Despite numerous defensive injuries and Cole Palmer’s absence, he used a clever game plan to earn his first significant Premier League victory over any of Liverpool, Arsenal, or Manchester City.
All five of his replacements were beneficial and included what was arguably the most significant distinction between his strategy and Slot’s. Szoboszlai was moved from No. 10 to right-back, while Gravenberch was dropped into the backline when the latter had to remove Konate.
Despite losing two more centre halves to injury, Chelsea managed to finish the game with a Gusto-James-Hato-Cucurella four that provided consistency and security. His calls at Old Trafford were undoubtedly better than this one.
6) The ideal send off
Maresca also personally kept Chelsea’s illustrious red card record intact by sprinting down the touchline in celebration of Jose Mourinho.
Getting sent off in stoppage time in the second half might be crucial in order to prevent the Italian from ruining everything.
7) Estevao is remarkable
At the very least, Guiu and Gittens were quite complimentary, albeit a little crude. The game was appropriately decided by Estevao, who was younger than both yet appeared to be a far more experienced player.
Fernandez nodded against the post after his spectacular cross, and his positive energy spread to the rest of the team.
Only Marc Cucurella produced more chances, three Chelsea players made more tackles, and Estevao had more shots than any other player.
Chelsea had no shots to four from the 60th to the 74th minute and let up the equaliser; Estevao entered the game in the 75th and changed the result.
8) How Chelsea exploited Liverpool’s vulnerability
The Chelsea wingers were all excellent. After pulling a foul from the right-back shortly before halftime, Alejandro Garnacho’s brilliant play helped prompt the substitution of Conor Bradley, who was booked.
Pedro Neto was unable to get anything to pay off, but at least he aided with tracking back and made the ball stick in a rather wasteful game.
Chelsea knew what they were getting into, even though both players spent an excessive amount of time on the floor pleading for fouls.
Estevao altered the course of events, and Gittens outperformed everyone in stretching what can be considered Liverpool’s defending. Chelsea took advantage of the serious full-back problem the Reds were facing.
9) Liverpool’s departure
Liverpool also seems to have trouble making seemingly easy passes to teammates. It was absurd how many simple square balls failed to find their aim.
At some point, under little to no pressure, Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister, and Giorgi Mamardashvili all passed the ball out for a Chelsea throw-in, albeit it was arguably Virgil van Dijk’s fault.
This has been a frustrating trend as Liverpool fought for rhythm and momentum due to their constant sloppy possession turnover.
10) Mac Allister’s perform woefully
Mac Allister’s performance was appalling, yet it seems unfair to single out one Liverpool player for criticism.
As he drowned in the midfield skirmish, it appeared as though a Chelsea shirt would float past him roughly every ten minutes.
The most obvious example was the Moises Caicedo goal (we’re thinking of John Aldridge right now), where a straightforward sidestep removed the admittedly lonely Mac Allister from the game completely.
Caicedo was still able to position himself up and line up a shot a few times before finally putting one into the top corner, but it took an excruciatingly long time for the rest of Liverpool’s defence to step off him.
However, it resulted from those problems in the middle, which was the one area Liverpool didn’t significantly alter this summer.
Retrieving the ball from one of his own blocked shots and then blasting a straightforward five-yard pass to the overlapping Gakpo out for a Chelsea goal kick, Mac Allister reserved his best for the end. Soon after, he was replaced, and he hasn’t played 90 minutes since April.
Slot used Mac Allister’s comeback to fitness and form in his August criticism against Carragher. Liverpool is still awaiting it as of October.
11. Salah issues
Mo cut in from the right, then curled a similarly damaging display high and wide above.
Despite an amazing trivela cross for Alexander Isak, the Egyptian’s recent downward trend remained concerning.
It felt terrible to see those wasted Liverpool counters where he turned away a lot of his teammates and never looked like he was going to score.
Salah should have performed better from a lavish Florian Wirtz flick at the beginning of the second half as well.
He is the biggest victim of this disjointed assault of extraordinary people who are still far from cooperating as a group within a system.
12) Van Dijk reveals an unsettling reality
The insular football community was momentarily reminded of the particular difficulties Liverpool faces this season by Salah’s tears following the emotional release of the Bournemouth victory.
After the game, Salah remarked, “I didn’t prepare myself for that, so it was pretty tricky for me.” After the game, I usually give the spectators a round of applause to express my gratitude for attending. They were singing for Diogo, though, as soon as I was in front of the Kop.
“ Then my feelings surfaced, and I started to think about him. Then you simply have to deal with it. However, as you can see, a lot of individuals in the Kop are expressing their feelings or emotions as well. After that, you begin to lose it a little.”
When applauding Liverpool for their handling of the Jota situation, Maresca, who suffered the loss of colleague Antonio Puerta as a player, was clearly upset and described it as “difficult to explain because there is no solution.” You simply need to handle it.
“I told you all many times that this season is going to be very difficult for us, not just because of what’s happening on the pitch, but because of what happened outside of it,” Van Dijk said after the game, implying otherwise.
It isn’t a justification. It is not an exception that Liverpool can or will invoke with each unfavourable performance or outcome.
It serves as a reminder that these are real individuals coping with sorrow in real time, in a setting that is already quite critical and public, while still being expected to perform at a high level two or three times a week.
Football, a sport and media-dominated industry, has never been able to handle real tragedy, calamity, or loss without continuously presenting everything in an extremely competitive light. It simply serves to highlight how we have all failed to recognise the significance of Jota’s passing.
The fact that these players may carry this burden for the rest of their lives should not be overlooked, nor should it be laughed at or derided when one of them makes reference to those personal struggles in an attempt to understand why things aren’t working out in their professional roles. Liverpool can and should find ways to move past it.
13) Chelsea gets two more shines
Where Chelsea decides to sell Josh Acheampong in the summer will be interesting to watch.
The teenager made an impression on his fourth Premier League start, although neither he nor Benoit Badiashile were flawless in less than ideal conditions.
Isak’s clean tackle and subsequent sprint past Mac Allister into the Liverpool half were fantastic.
Jorrel Hato was a great substitute for him for the last thirty minutes, particularly when he managed to avoid four Liverpool players in the middle third to create the counter that Gittens squandered. Chelsea may be fine as long as the defensive injury curse is broken quickly.
14) Chelsea’s midfield is crucial
From the bench, Romeo Lavia also made an impression. His body feints and quick passes ripped open those gaps in the midfield and defence of Liverpool.
When Caicedo was doing it all with him, it was one of those times when it was hard to ignore the technique behind Chelsea’s seeming insanity. It’s still funny that they both turned down Liverpool.
15) We have not yet seen the Wirtz
For the Salah opportunity, the pirouette flick was amazing. It implied that the German was in the mood to put aside his problems and win the match when Wirtz entered the game and called Stamford Bridge home to the four most expensive players in Premier League history.
That changed in the next forty-five minutes. It’s uncommon to witness a guy so obviously at odds with his teammates, but it seems to get worse the longer Wirtz has to establish himself at Liverpool.
The £116 million football player was hit hard and lost it without being tackled at one point when the ball was on the outskirts of the box.
Perhaps it was very hard to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold after all, especially considering this and the Bradley-Szoboszlai debacle at right-back.
16) The line from Liverpool that we required
“There is no doubt that this is a minor crisis.”
I’m grateful, Jamie Redknapp. I hope Lord Sugar doesn’t do anything this time, dude.
