Here we go again.
That was surely the overriding emotion when Ryan Gravenberch shifted the ball onto his right foot and absolutely hammered a shot beyond backup goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen to give Liverpool the lead barely five minutes into the lunchtime proceedings at Anfield. Chelsea have made a habit of conceding early — only bottom side Burnley have let in more in the opening ten minutes of Premier League games this season — and we would usually follow that up by folding and collapsing like a house
of very expensive yet very frail cards.
The hosts were surely expecting that to happen as well, judging by their inability to cope with the exact opposite reaction from the Blues. Chelsea threatened almost immediately after going behind (João Pedro getting squeezed out by Liverpool’s two big lumps at the back on Malo Gusto’s ball across), and we would keep that impetus going until finding the equalizer through a perfectly placed free kick from Enzo Fernández. Always aim towards the far post and the corridor of uncertainty!
At times it felt almost unreal that level of control and, dare I say domination from Chelsea we were seeing — the locals certainly weren’t happy judging by their frequent boos — and I suppose the only unfortunate part of it all was that we were not able to kick on and finish the job. We did have a second for a brief moment early in the second half before VAR ruined our party, but at least we managed to hold on to the point and arrest the losing streak at six. The historic seven-match losing streak from the 1950s is now safe for at least another year, and hopefully for ever.
Of course, it’s hard to be too happy about any decent result given the overall vibes and the state of the club at the moment, but considering all the narratives and all the injury issues with our wingers, we do have something solid to lean on as we head into Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City. We might even have a chance?
Calum McFarlane may have his online detractors, but he’s been consistent in his messaging that aligns with modern Chelsea values. This draw certainly isn’t great, and it just about rules us out of finishing sixth, but it is better than much of what we’ve been subjected to over the past couple months.
“I thought the game could have went either way really at certain moments [but] I think we could have won [and] come away with three points. […] This club needs to win games of football, and we haven’t done that today. We’re not happy with the form and some of the recent performances. So, yeah, it’s nice to have a good, complete performance. It would have been better with a win, but when you come to these places, it’s really difficult. So, yeah, it’s positive.”
It’s a thankless task for the interim management team to have to see out the remaining last few games of the season, but McFarlane has shown that even without certain official qualifications, he’s got a solid grasp on tactics and man-management, and his gameplans have proven reasonable and useful (when executed accordingly). He was able to manufacture some width from the team in this one without any recognized wingers available, and expose the weaknesses in Liverpool’s backline that have prevented the defending champions from having any say in this year’s title race.
“I thought it was a really good performance [and] I think we were effective down both sides. [Palmer] and Malo caused them real problems with their rotation on the right [as did] Cucurella running off the ball and finding space with great movement. [He] is not a winger. He has played there before, he told me, but even when he plays left-back or when he rolls into midfield, his movement off the ball is of a real high quality, the timing, the understanding of when to do it. So, it’s something that we knew with him in that position we could maybe expose. I thought he’s unlucky not to get an assist and create a lot of problems for them.”
-Calum McFarlane; source: Football.London
Small victories in a non-victory, to be sure. But some signs of life (and hope?) for the one game left this season that still matters and still would give us European football along with a nice shiny trophy.
