Analysis: How Salah and Jones led the match from front against Chelsea
Analysis: How Salah and Jones led the match from front against
Chelsea
Liverpool have passed their first major test under Arne Slot
and risen back to the top of the Premier League table- and yet Chelsea have
just as important cause for sanguinity after a flourishing, gritty and
unevenly- matched 90 twinkles at Anfield.
Pretensions from Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones – the
outstanding players on the pitch – sealed what sympathizers will understandably
see as a justified three points for Liverpool.
But Chelsea had their moments, fought right to the end and
showed a politic dexterity to suggest Enzo Maresca’s side are the real deal.
Then’s a look at how Liverpool beat Chelsea and why it could
so fluently have been a different story.
Salah and Jones play starring places in an hassle that
demanded a clear politic narrative, it was individual performances that
eventually made the difference.
Nothing played better than Jones, whose all- action part in
central midfield significantly helped Liverpool keep a lid on the midfield
battle.
Jones’s forward runs led to one penalty that was capsized by
VAR and, of course, the match- winning thing, but there was a lot further to
his game than that.
He recovered the ball six times and created two chances,
with no Liverpool managing to do either more frequently.
Salah was just as sharp, scoring the penalty and aiding
Jones’s winner in a generally searing performance from the right sect that
easily formed a big part of Slot’s original game plan.
The Egyptian constantly entered long passes from goalkeeper
Caoimhin Kelleher and the Liverpool defence, presumably in an attempt to take
advantage of Malo Gusto’s movement into midfield.
Both ginger and Levi Colwill lost that battle constantly,
including in the figure- up to both Liverpool pretensions.
As we will come to, Liverpool’s politic plan for the match
was far from perfect, but it doesn’t need to be when Salah, in the form of his
life, is on the pitch.
He now has five pretensions and five assists in eight
matches, the most ever by a Liverpool player at this stage of a Premier League
season.
Had Salah been on the Chelsea platoon, they presumably would
have won.
Chelsea’s pass completion rate( 88.1 per cent) is the
loftiest on record( since 2003/04) by an down platoon in a Premier League match
at Anfield and the Blues had more touches in the final third, more touches in
the box and further possession than Liverpool.
“ We don’t like to lose, but if you have to choose a way,
this is the way you want to drop points, ” Maresca told Sky Sports, praising
his platoon’s performance.
The head trainer deserves credit for this. His 3-2-2-3
conformation sounded to surprise Liverpool, with ginger playing alongside Cole
Palmer to make a midfield box( see image below) that outnumbered the hosts'
two- man midfield in a 4-4-2.
That four on two was occasionally an issue for Liverpool,
while the high positioning of Slot’s frontal four created space for the Chelsea
wingers.
That politic shape worked fairly well for Chelsea in the
first hour, albeit with Liverpool defending intensively, which is why Maresca
went for a major dislocation with a flurry of negotiations beforehand in the
alternate half.
Four changes in the first eight twinkles of the half caused
a lot of chaos.
We saw wingers switching round, Renato Veiga dropping into a
deeper No 6 position and Enzo Fernandez joining Palmer as a No 8 and honestly a
host of odd movements as Chelsea threw the kitchen Gomorrah at the contest.
The complaint drew Liverpool out of their structure.
But the callers didn't relatively do enough. In fact, they
didn’t really produce any big chances to equalize, while Palmer had arguably
his quietest match in a Chelsea shirt.
This was most noteworthy when they took the lead in the
first half, after which Liverpool killed the game with glacial possession until
half- time.
As we’ve covered, they set up this harder to do in the
alternate half, but the speed with which they girdled Palmer in the final
third( he created just one chance, having created 10 across the two league
matches antedating it) is a testament to Liverpool’s protective resoluteness.
There was always a chance Chelsea would pull Liverpool into
a chaotic game, and although the hosts were indeed yanked into strange shapes,
they held their whim-whams, pushing on the breaks when they could – and getting
the job done.
As for Chelsea, they lost the match, but in their own way
they also passed the test, going toe- to- toe at Anfield to prove they will be
a real trouble this season.
Analysis: How Salah and Jones led the match from front against Chelsea
Liverpool have passed their first major test under Arne Slot and risen back to the top of the Premier League table- and yet Chelsea have just as important cause for sanguinity after a flourishing, gritty and unevenly- matched 90 twinkles at Anfield.
Pretensions from Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones – the outstanding players on the pitch – sealed what sympathizers will understandably see as a justified three points for Liverpool.
But Chelsea had their moments, fought right to the end and showed a politic dexterity to suggest Enzo Maresca’s side are the real deal.
Then’s a look at how Liverpool beat Chelsea and why it could so fluently have been a different story.
Salah and Jones play starring places in an hassle that
demanded a clear politic narrative, it was individual performances that
eventually made the difference.
Nothing played better than Jones, whose all- action part in
central midfield significantly helped Liverpool keep a lid on the midfield
battle.
Jones’s forward runs led to one penalty that was capsized by
VAR and, of course, the match- winning thing, but there was a lot further to
his game than that.
He recovered the ball six times and created two chances,
with no Liverpool managing to do either more frequently.
Salah was just as sharp, scoring the penalty and aiding
Jones’s winner in a generally searing performance from the right sect that
easily formed a big part of Slot’s original game plan.
The Egyptian constantly entered long passes from goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and the Liverpool defence, presumably in an attempt to take advantage of Malo Gusto’s movement into midfield.
Both ginger and Levi Colwill lost that battle constantly,
including in the figure- up to both Liverpool pretensions.
As we will come to, Liverpool’s politic plan for the match
was far from perfect, but it doesn’t need to be when Salah, in the form of his
life, is on the pitch.
He now has five pretensions and five assists in eight
matches, the most ever by a Liverpool player at this stage of a Premier League
season.
Had Salah been on the Chelsea platoon, they presumably would
have won.
Chelsea’s pass completion rate( 88.1 per cent) is the loftiest on record( since 2003/04) by an down platoon in a Premier League match at Anfield and the Blues had more touches in the final third, more touches in the box and further possession than Liverpool.
“ We don’t like to lose, but if you have to choose a way, this is the way you want to drop points, ” Maresca told Sky Sports, praising his platoon’s performance.
The head trainer deserves credit for this. His 3-2-2-3
conformation sounded to surprise Liverpool, with ginger playing alongside Cole
Palmer to make a midfield box( see image below) that outnumbered the hosts'
two- man midfield in a 4-4-2.
That four on two was occasionally an issue for Liverpool, while the high positioning of Slot’s frontal four created space for the Chelsea wingers.
That politic shape worked fairly well for Chelsea in the
first hour, albeit with Liverpool defending intensively, which is why Maresca
went for a major dislocation with a flurry of negotiations beforehand in the
alternate half.
Four changes in the first eight twinkles of the half caused a lot of chaos.
We saw wingers switching round, Renato Veiga dropping into a
deeper No 6 position and Enzo Fernandez joining Palmer as a No 8 and honestly a
host of odd movements as Chelsea threw the kitchen Gomorrah at the contest.
The complaint drew Liverpool out of their structure.
But the callers didn't relatively do enough. In fact, they didn’t really produce any big chances to equalize, while Palmer had arguably his quietest match in a Chelsea shirt.
This was most noteworthy when they took the lead in the
first half, after which Liverpool killed the game with glacial possession until
half- time.
As we’ve covered, they set up this harder to do in the alternate half, but the speed with which they girdled Palmer in the final third( he created just one chance, having created 10 across the two league matches antedating it) is a testament to Liverpool’s protective resoluteness.
There was always a chance Chelsea would pull Liverpool into a chaotic game, and although the hosts were indeed yanked into strange shapes, they held their whim-whams, pushing on the breaks when they could – and getting the job done.
As for Chelsea, they lost the match, but in their own way they also passed the test, going toe- to- toe at Anfield to prove they will be a real trouble this season.
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