Roma highs catch up with ragged Reds
THIS is not a result that should surprise anybody. On a stifling early summer’s day, victory went to the team who had not been to Rome and back for a madcap Champions League semi-final in midweek.
While Liverpool thrilled us in the Stadio Olimpico, Chelsea were at home preparing for a game they had to win to prolong their season in the Premier League. Frankly, it showed.
Liverpool ran diligently at Stamford Bridge and enjoyed more possession. But football is a game that is also played with the mind as well as the feet and it was here that Liverpool were found wanting.
For once Jurgen Klopp’s players lacked imagination and craft and, when the final whistle blew, Liverpool had played for the final hour and created only one chance, an injury-time header over the bar by substitute Dominic Solanke.
So what this will mean remains to be seen.
This result — and Tottenham’s defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday — keeps Chelsea in the hunt for a top-four place.
Actually, it puts them back into it. For so long, Antonio Conte and his players seemed out of the picture.
For Liverpool, it will bring a certain discomfort. The Champions League finalists should have been assured of a place in next season’s edition some time ago.
But a run of only two league wins in eight league games means they may head to next Sunday’s home game with Brighton needing a win to be sure.
To a degree, it is Liverpool’s own fault. They threw away a two-goal lead at West Brom not long ago and then failed to beat Stoke City at home. Mitigating circumstances revolve around their involvement in the Champions League.
Ties against Manchester City and then Roma were uplifting but they have taken a great deal from Klopp’s players at a time when Liverpool have started to suffer a little with injuries.
All teams hit peaks and troughs during a season. In the league, Liverpool’s standards have fallen and Klopp must hope he can find one final performance in his team next weekend but also that a two-week break will then rejuvenate them ahead of their Kiev appointment with Real Madrid.
Liverpool were not terrible here. They were just not as good as they needed to be.
Conte asked his Chelsea players to defend deeply and trouble Liverpool on the break.
It was a sensible plan and it worked. Despite the fact that Liverpool spent many minutes with the ball, Chelsea created as many — if not more — real chances.
The winning goal came just after half an hour, moments after Saido Mane had twice threatened at the other end for Liverpool. At that stage, the visitors were looking the more likely but goals can change much in a football game and, once they were ahead, Chelsea sat on their lead diligently and capably.
Two weeks earlier, Conte gave Olivier Giroud his chance in the FA Cup semi-final and was repaid with a key goal. The same thing happened here.
The Frenchman is not to everybody’s liking and doesn’t always look of the required standard for a really top club.
But here he reacted better than Dejan Lovren to Victor Moses’s deflected cross from the right and climbed above the Liverpool defender to glance the ball across goal and into the top corner from about seven yards. Lovren is not always the best in the air. For a big, powerful athlete he can be bullied. On this occasion, he seemed slow to get off the ground but it could be that the deflection on the cross wrong-footed him decisively. Whatever the case, it proved the pivotal duel of the whole game and it was Lovren who lost it.
Liverpool still had an hour in which to save the game. They only needed one goal to take what they needed and they usually always score.
But almost immediately this felt different, it felt harder and a little more laboured than usual.
Soon after the goal Mo Salah competed for possession on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area but dived. He was booked over the incident and it was the right call.
This was not a good day for the Egyptian on his return to Chelsea. He ran his legs off, as did centre forward Roberto Firmino.
But only Mane of Liverpool’s attacking players really carried a persistent threat and it was a surprise that Klopp only gave Solanke 15 minutes off the bench towards the end. On the break, Chelsea were dangerous and Eden Hazard was the game’s best player.
Twice either side of half-time he reached the byline but could not find a cross to pick out a team-mate.
There was also a stunning farpost volley from Marcos Alonso
that we would have talked about for years had it flashed two or three inches closer to goal. It really was the purest strike you could ever wish to see.
Late on, Liverpool pushed hard but could not prevail. Currently, Klopp’s side are not the same team at home as they are in Europe and they now have seven days to change that. CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Courtois 6.5; Azpilicueta 7, Cahill 7, Rudiger 7; Moses 7 (Zappacosta 89min), Kante 7.5, Bakayoko 6.5, Alonso 6.5; Fabregas 7 (Pedro 90), HAZARD 8.5 (Willian 85); Giroud 7.5. Subs not used: Caballero, Barkley, Christensen, Emerson. Scorer: Giroud 32. Booked: Moses, Alonso. Manager: Antonio Conte 7. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Karius 6; Clyne 5.5 (Henderson 59, 6), Van Dijk 6, Lovren 5.5, Robertson 5.5 (Solanke 74, 5.5); Milner 6 (Moreno 89), Wijnaldum 6, Alexander-Arnold 6; Salah 5.5, Firmino 6, Mane 6.5. Subs not used: Mignolet, Klavan, Ings, Woodburn. Booked: Salah, Clyne. Manager: Jurgen Klopp 6. Referee: Anthony Taylor 6. Attendance: 41,314.