KLOPP’S STURR CRAZY!
Hazard threatened to down Liverpool again, but striker’s late goal means...
IT WAS such an extraordinary moment for a player who seemed to have been lost by the wayside years ago that you wondered how on earth Daniel Sturridge managed to keep it together and not scream into the night.
The game seemed lost to Liverpool, who had squandered their chances and waved off Mo Salah early, when the 29-year-old arrived in an act of blind desperation. It presaged the goal that will live long in the mind’s eye: an arcing shot from 30 yards despatched from the left instep which soared above Kepa Arrizabalaga and into the net.
It was only his 50th Premier League goal for the club— underlining how long and desperate the struggle for such a moment has been for him.
Five years ago, he left Chelsea for Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool, telling anyone who would listen that he was about deliver on his reputation. He was so sure of himself that he was insisting on a central forward’s role being written into his contract. His goal revealed the value of having an old-fashioned goalscorer in the ranks.
It is in the trade of players that Liverpool have had by far the best of it between the clubs. Fernando Torres was the sixth best striker in Premier League history on the day he walked out on Liverpool for Chelsea. The rest of that particular story is history.
Salah was the one Jose Mourinho lacked the vision to keep, setting a chain of events which saw him appear on the red half of the match scarves on sale yesterday.
But if the visiting fans hoped that Salah would rub west London’s nose in it — pay-back for the songs about Steven Gerrard on his backside which took a minute and six seconds to strike up last night — it was not to be.
Salah was busy enough, receiving and running through the right channel which was Liverpool’s first half line of attack. But he was a pale shadow of the i ndividual surpassed by Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo in last week’s FIFA’s awards for the world’s best player.
Twice chances came for him and twice they went. Salah had time to stand and stare and pick his spot after Sadio Mane’s shot span into his path just four minutes into the contest. He finished weakly, with the air of an individual who has put down his belief somewhere but just cannot recall where.
The Egyptian had spun around Marcos Alonso and David Luiz when he sized up the next chance five minutes later and screwed a shot high and wide. Jurgen Klopp t ried t o mask his agony with applause though he was suffering. By the half hour mark he gave up pretence and gestured his displeasure to Salah about a pass misplaced.
Nerves are what occur when two sides are each seeking to press the life out of each other. Simply to possess the ball in front of a penalty box was an act of peril. But the Liverpool forwards most likely to do danger — Mane and Roberto Firmino — were becalmed, with those behind them struggling to get them racing on to the ball.
Chelsea did not have the same difficulty where Eden Hazard was concerned. A flick of the left inside heel from the Belgian began the move which saw him break the deadlock. The ball was in the centre circle at the time and, six passes later, Hazard had raced into a position to take it back.
Joe Gomez did not have the pace to match his searing run into the left hand side of the box, where Hazard cut back and struck the ball beyond Alisson, whose left glove took a touch as the ball went beyond him. The goalkeeper might have done better. It was not a powerful strike.
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri later hailed the impact of Hazard and believes he could score 40 goals this season. ‘I really think this,’ said Sarri. ‘He is a great player and a great man, he has time to do it.’
That first half did not bring the best from Liverpool’s defence. Virgil van Dijk was the usual immovable object but Andy Robertson was back on his heels and caught out when a long ball from Luiz sought Willian. Alisson was out quickly to close down the danger.
This is a Chelsea side with mistakes in it. Willian played a 10-yard pass back into danger in his own area as the hour- mark approached, allowing Mane to cut around Mateo Kovacic and strike a low shot which Kepa palmed away.
But Liverpool were the more vulnerable. A quick free-kick from N’Golo Kante deep in Chelsea’s own half sent Hazard sprinting on goal, bringing Alisson racing out to block his advance.
Salah’s game was over in the 65th minute and the look on his face as
he departed — no eye contact with his manager — told its own story. His replacement, Xherdan Shaqiri, quickly conspired to miss an even easier chance. One of the fizzing, quick- release crosses that have become a Robertson trademark was his for the taking but, after allowing the ball to run across his body, he sent a right-foot shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
There was more despair to come — Luiz clearing off the goalline after a James Milner cross was headed down firmly by Firmino. And then Milner made way for Sturridge, whose goal against Paris Saint-Germain last month offered promise but who looked an ill fit with Klopp’s method in these clubs’ Carabao Club clash on Wednesday.
There was only a few feet of space to play with as Kante made to challenge him but the strike was sweet — just like the sense of vindication.
Indeed, Klopp said: ‘Daniel has always been in my thoughts but he was never able to prove it [before West Brom loan]. We thought West Brom was a good idea for him to get minutes under his belt again and, when he came back, he was an option. It has paid off for him, it’s nice and absolutely deserved.’