Tuchel pleased with Chelsea’s resistance
LIVERPOOL 1 Salah (pen, 45) CHELSEA 1 Havertz (22)
Thomas Tuchel was delighted by 10-man Chelsea’s dogged defensive display after Reece James’ red card in their hard-fought draw at Liverpool.
A captivating end-to-end first half was followed by oneway traffic after the break at a vibrant Anfield.
Kai Havertz opened the scoring with a superb looping header, but Mohamed Salah levelled with a penalty during a dramatic end to the opening period.
Anthony Taylor sent off Chelsea full-back James for handling a Sadio Mane shot during a penalty-box melee after reviewing the footage on the advice of the video assistant referee.
The Blues were furious with the decision, but channelled it in a positive fashion as Tuchel’s men dug deep to secure a draw.
“I don’t like these early red cards of course – not at Liverpool when we play, but in general,” the Chelsea manager said.
“For me it’s a bit the spoiler of the game. Nobody I think wants to see that for 45 minutes, they want to see a high-level game and even me when I’m watching on TV, I don’t like it.
“I have no solution now for it and no better idea in the moment, but in general it is a spoiler.
“The situation itself, I can understand the decision and
I’m not saying it’s a wrong decision but I did not like the way the referee checked it because for me he checked only the image. I would have wished
for a longer consideration, a longer thought and a better view on the whole situation.
“Maybe he would have taken the same. I think it stays a grey situation and he could have maybe taken the same decision and we have to live with it.”
Liverpool counterpart Klopp confirmed forward Roberto Firmino sustained a hamstring issue in the first half of a hardfought encounter with Chelsea.
“We obviously had bigger chances in the first half already, which we didn’t score,” the Reds manager said. “The performance was really good against the strongest Chelsea side for a long, long time.
“It’s always difficult against Chelsea and it’s now difficult against Chelsea, so I was really happy with the first half.
“They knew the job they had to do was just to defend in and around the box more or less, and it was tricky.
“We could have done better for sure, but it’s early in the
season.”