TUCHEL STOPS A RED WAVE
Chelsea boss masterminds an heroic rearguard action as 10-man Blues clinch point
UNDERNEATH his black baseball cap, you could see the fire and pride in Thomas Tuchel’s eyes. An absorbing evening had ended with Chelsea and Liverpool sharing a point but the satisfaction was all for Tuchel.
His players would soon scuttle down to the Anfield Road end, where their supporters were greeted with thunderous applause, but the man-of-the-moment was 60 yards away, shaking hands with the officials. This draw was down to Tuchel’s tweaking, saving a potentially ruinous situation.
When Mo Salah (right) cancelled out Kai Havertz’s opening goal, thrashing in a penalty after Reece James had been sent-off for handball, the stage seemed set for Liverpool to make an early statement in what is shaping up to be a fascinating title race.
They tried everything to do just that: Jurgen Klopp did everything in his power to lift Liverpool over the line but, during the second 45 minutes, they continually came up short because Chelsea had decamped and would not budge.
Tuchel’s decision to withdraw Havertz and, surprisingly, N’golo Kante and replace them with the outstanding Thiago Silva and Mateo Kovacic, while tweaking his formation, was the reason Chelsea ground out a draw that might yet turn out to be huge.
Spare a thought, too, for Romelu Lukaku, who had little opportunity to show his finishing prowess but his work in holding up the ball and giving Chelsea the potential to get out of their own half was crucial.
They were exultant at the end and with good reason, after withstanding Liverpool’s storm. What a show of faith it was from Klopp to keep Harry Elliott in his team, for a game of this magnitude, seven days after handing him his first Premier League start. The 18-year-old does not lack confidence and you could see it seeping out of him in those opening exchanges. It was he who had the first attempt at goal, a left-foot drive that fizzed beyond Edouard Mendy’s upright after Salah nudged him into position. He was having the time of his life and followed it up scurrying over to block Marcos Alonso as the Chelsea wing-back tried to get forward.
With the life and the colour and the noise inside the stadium, this was another reminder of everything we have missed. Yes, there will come a point in the future when this all seems normal again but, for now, the novelty is wonderful and it is certainly contributing to the quality of football.
This was a proper match contested by two outstanding teams. Liverpool might be fourth favourites for the title but those doubting the quality of Klopp’s group only needed to look at the way they hounded Chelsea at every possible opportunity, hemming them back on their 18-yard line.
Really, they should have taken a ninth minute lead, when Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered one of those passes that move like a guided missile straight into the path of Jordan Henderson but, horribly for the Liverpool captain, he got his angles all wrong after galloping unchecked into the area.
You wondered, even at such an early stage, whether it would be a miss they would regret. Certainly, 12 minutes later, it was made to look even worse after Chelsea took the lead from a set-piece that came straight off the training ground.
Havertz positioned himself just by the penalty spot, with Fabinho seemingly keeping an eye on him but, in a flash, he darted to his left and rose perfectly to meet James’s inswinging corner; his header was deft enough so it looped up over Alisson Becker but dropped just under the crossbar.
Chelsea’s defending since Tuchel arrived in January has been magnificent, the bedrock for the success they have achieved.
Had Mason Mount made it 2-0 in the 35th minute, after Lukaku had spun away from Joel Matip to set him free, the game would have been done and dusted.
But, just before half-time, Mount found himself feeling just like Henderson as Liverpool were handed — quite literally — a lifeline. During a scramble in the six-yard area, Sadio Mane headed goalwards the ball bounced off James’s knee and he instinctively moved his arm to clear.
Anthony Taylor was advised from Stockley Park that he should look at his pitchside monitor and Liverpool were so confident a penalty would be awarded, Andy Robertson tossed the ball to Salah, the designated taker, before the official had arrived at his decision. What made the situation all the more contentious, though, was the red card that followed. James — perhaps harshly — was banished. As he trudged back to the dressing room, disconsolately, he would have heard the eruption that greeted Salah sending Mendy the wrong way.
Chelsea were so deep in holding on, Tuchel, in his technical area, resembled a man trying to bail water out of a rowing boat with a bucket, as he manically waved his arms.
And it worked. Liverpool, for all their tweaks and changes, eventually ran out of ideas. A point a piece, then, but some draws are more equal than others.
That’s why Tuchel was smiling.