No just deserts for super Salah
Klopp fury after Willian rescues Chelsea
IT became the duel of the one who got away and the one who chose to stay. Liverpool and Chelsea contested the points at Anfield but it was hard to turn the eye away from the two outstanding players — Mohamed Salah and Eden Hazard.
Hazard, the one who stayed, dominated the first half. Salah, sent on loan by Jose Mourinho when Chelsea signed him and then sold by the club in 2016, had his moment in the second half, adding to his burgeoning reputation.
He looked to have won Liverpool the game with his calm 65th-minute strike, which was the zenith of another superb display.
By then, Chelsea, fizzing with ideas early on, were showing the effects of their midweek trip to Azerbaijan and wilting. Only in the 85th minute did Willian, who had been on the pitch for just three minutes, rescue them. Cutting inside he lifted what looked to be a cross goalwards.
It looped high and closer to goal than he intended. In doing so, it caught out Simon Mignolet, the arc of the ball out of his reach as it dipped under the crossbar and into the net. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was furious with referee Michael Oliver, though, for not allowing him to make a substitution in the build-up to the goal.
‘I was angry because we wanted to change the system but the ref didn’t give us the opportunity,’ said Klopp. ‘He told me something about taking too long, I don’t understand it. How can we take too long? We didn’t want to time waste, we wanted to change the system and that’s why I was angry.’
There may have been an element of fortune about Willian’s goal but you could argue Chelsea earned their luck.
Excellent in the first half, they played a full part in an absorbing encounter. Both teams had delightful moments, both demonstrated the weaknesses which will probably leave them short of a league title this season.
But neither side should be discouraged by the point, even though Liverpool will feel a vital victory was wrested away.
Salah again took the plaudits with a crisp finish but Klopp said the performance was a team effort.
‘I love this player (Salah), but I can’t keep talking about him after every game. He is fantastic and did really well and that is why we left him on the pitch,’ he added.
‘It’s good for us but I thought it was a good team performance in what was a tough one, Chelsea defended with eight deep players.’
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said: ‘We deserved to score and we created many chances to draw and then to try and win.
‘It was a good performance.’