KO BLOW STUNS KLOPP
Barkley kills off Liverpool Treble dream
JUrGen KLoPP was forced to defend his team selection last night as Liverpool’s dreams of an historic treble were dashed by chelsea.
adrian’s horrible error gifted Willian the opener before ross Barkley’s solo effort booked Frank Lampard’s side a place in the Fa cup quarter-finals.
‘We made seven changes because we knew it would be intense,’ said Klopp, whose team lost their unbeaten Premier League record on saturday, 3-0 at Watford. ‘We made the changes because there would be a lot of sprints, because of how chelsea play in midfield.
‘it was clear we needed acceleration. it’s a learning process for the young
Ross Barkley’s critics reckon he hangs on to the ball too long. a moment like that came along in the 64th minute last night. Barkley striding through, Pedro in a prime scoring position, various observers willing him to pass, just pass mate, for God’s sake pass.
yet, as feared, Barkley held on to it. Just long enough to score one of the goals of the season. Just long enough to score the goal that confirmed there would be no domestic Double for liverpool this year.
on the last two occasions Chelsea have knocked them out of the Fa Cup, 1997 and 2012, they have gone on to win it. keep playing like this and they will take some stopping this year, too. Chelsea were the better side, pretty much start to finish, and had the game’s star turn in 18- year- old Billy Gilmour. For all the clamour over liverpool’s young players in this competition, it was Gilmour who stole the show from Curtis Jones and Neco Williams.
Deployed in Jorginho’s deep pivot position, the scotland Under 21 midfielder played just like him except with greater discipline, speed and vigour. The role does not have to be as ponderous as sometimes Chelsea make it, as Gilmour proved.
Unafraid to put a foot in, unafraid to collect the ball from the back, unafraid to pick a pass and to do all of that with vim, he set Chelsea’s tempo in a way Jorginho often does, but to their detriment. It was a huge leap of faith for Frank lampard to use him in such a vital role, but Gilmour did not let him down. Fabinho, in the same position for liverpool, came up short by comparison.
yet the night was crowned by Barkley. He was outstanding in midfield, too — his best performance for some time — and his goal was a marvel, an echo of one eden Hazard scored here against arsenal in 2017. Hazard’s dribble was perhaps better that day, but Barkley’s charge started deeper, south of the centre circle in his own half. olivier Giroud set him away by winning a counter-attacking header against Jones — but Barkley’s run summed up Chelsea’s energy and ambition.
He simply powered through, with Joe Gomez backing off to significant cost. Pedro presented a handy passing option at the end but Barkley ignored him and went optimistically for goal instead.
It beat adrian to his right, giving Chelsea the cushion they desired and deserved, and smoothing a path into the quarter-finals. It was a goal that merited the defeat of liverpool, whose invincibility is now very much in past tense.
By the end, Jurgen klopp had introduced Mohamed salah and roberto Firmino from the bench, but they never looked like finding a way through. kepa arrizabalaga, restored to Chelsea’s first team like a cup understudy, which must have felt a mixed blessing, had been outstanding in the first half but was called upon less and less.
The match belonged very much to Chelsea, who hit the bar twice in the second half through a Mason Mount free-kick and a good shot from Giroud, battling through on the edge of the area.
yet make no mistake, liverpool were not happy to surrender this. It was not a case of klopp giving up on the Fa Cup, certainly not on the back of a 3- 0 reverse at Watford and a 1-0 defeat at atletico Madrid. Three of the first-choice back four were present, plus Fabinho in midfield and sadio Mane up front. Given the points gap between these teams, klopp would have hoped to have had enough. No manager sets out to lose — certainly not to a significant rival such as Chelsea.
Normal service should be resumed on saturday at home to Bournemouth and everyone knows where liverpool’s priorities lie this season. yet winning is a habit and it is one liverpool have lost of late. This was their third defeat in four games, their worst run across all competitions since the end of the 2017- 18 season, although that did include the Champions league final, and a semi-final against roma which began with liverpool holding a 5-2 first-leg lead.
so a deserved Chelsea win, but an excellent game, made all the better for the smattering of youth in the ranks, and the odd senior player with a point to prove, like arrizabalaga, who stopped as many shots in a matter of first-half seconds as he had in the games before he was dropped.
His opposite number, adrian, did not fare as well and was culpable for the first goal after 13 minutes, along with Fabinho. Gomez played a pass to Fabinho. It wasn’t the best, but it was better than the Brazilian made it appear.
Fabinho always looked troubled bringing it under control and he moved the ball on with panicked haste, straight to the feet of Willian. He shot from outside the area, his speciality, and while the strike kept low and moved in the air, stand- in adrian made a terrible hash of it. The ball cannoned off his forearm and into the corner of the net.
The pity was that less than a minute earlier he had a made a quite brilliant save to keep liverpool level. on this occasion it was
Pedro whose shot was deflected across goal, to the feet of Willian. He hit one with such venom it seemed capable of leaving a smoking hole in anything that blocked its path. Instead, adrian matched it with a stunning stop.
Will anyone remember that, though? Probably not — they’ll think about the error instead, his third mistake to cost a goal this season, more than any other liverpool player. That’s the goalkeeper’s lot in life.
and sometimes the blame game is simply a matter of luck. antonio rudiger made a complete howler after only three minutes but, fortunately for him, nothing came of it. attempting a long ball out of defence, he struck it squarely at a red shirt, the rebound favouring Mane, whose shot was saved by arrizabalaga at the second attempt.
That was nothing compared to his heroics in the 20th minute, mind, when a goalmouth scramble erupted that was so chaotic it almost became a throwback to those 1970s Fa Cup ties, played on bogs of pitches between teams whose shirt numbers had been obscured by mud with no fresh laundry available.
Divock origi, Mane and adam lallana all had a crack, arrizabalaga made block after block after block. He celebrated as though the Cup had been won, and maybe lampard allowed himself a satisfied inner smile, too.
That was the goalkeeper Chelsea hoped to have signed for world record money, the one who had appeared so desperately out of sorts before being dropped and replaced by Willy Caballero.
If lampard has a win over liverpool, a place in the Fa Cup quarter-final, Billy Gilmour, and the old arrizabalaga back after this, it really was a special night for Chelsea.