By dixon9
January 25 2007

A dour, disappointing and perhaps, at times, even spineless display from us at Anfield. This was Liverpool´s best chance of beating us and they took full advantage. Having just one senior centre-half wasn’t ideal but then Carvalho was ruled out after having a temperature on the eve of the match.

The centre-half pairing had to be Essien and Ferreira.

 

The first 20 minutes was enough to kill the game, with Liverpool easily causing confusion and uneasiness in the patched up Chelsea defence.  I despaired – at times we looked like the keystone cops at the back.  The first, well taken goal from Kuyt, was a result of a Sunday league misunderstanding between our make-shift pairing from which the Dutchman took full advantage.

 

Nothing could be done, however, – whatever team we would have had on the field – about the 2^nd Liverpool goal.  Pennant picked up a feeble Essien clearance, and from 30 diagonal yards, hit a crisp half-volley which clipped the underside of the bar.

 

To make matters even worse for Chelsea, Robben fell and twisted his leg under himself and had to go off after an ariel challenge.  At this point, I pretty much knew there was no coming back.  Robben had been in superb form in previous matches and was THE player who could have inspired us to turn things around - but he has this frustrating habit of getting crocked when we need him most.

 

Somewhat surprisingly, in the 2^nd half, Chelsea seemed almost to be camped in the Liverpool half although we played without belief.  Liverpool weren’t exactly shining or looking convincing themselves – but with us playing like we were it didn’t really matter.  Further confirmation of our lack of cohesion and understanding was witnessed with an embarrassing free-kick which Drogba tapped to the unaware Ballack, who was instantly robbed of the ball.

 

Essien was being wasted at the centre of defence although he became more and more involved as he tried his best to push forward before racing back to cover.  I felt disappointed that Mourinho didn’t bring on one of the youngsters (Mancienie or Morrais) and utilize Essien much more effectively in midfield.  I will also say the same with regard to Shevchenko – if he had only trained for one day after coming back from injury, why not use Sahar? I would have liked to have seen Mourinho take a much bolder posture.

 

Mikel played confidently and showed some great touches.  Drogba received virtually no service and an unfit Shevchenko couldn’t make any difference.  Ballack was average, and I have to say, its times like this when you hope and expect figures such as him lead the way.  Lampard also looked uninspiring – even resigned.  We showed no fight – I expected more to be honest – at least in terms of effort.  The main positive in my view, was to see Cech back between the sticks again – WELCOME BACK PETER!

 

In the post-match interview, Mourinho made his disappointment quite clear with regard to still not having signed defensive cover (and another player to cover for long-term injury, Joe Cole).  We’ll have to see what happens during the final period of the transfer window.

 

Still, Cech is back and Terry probably isn’t that far off and hopefully Robben´s injury isn’t serious.  I’ve no doubt that it won’t get worse for us than this –this is our blackest period to date and it can only be upwards with the return of key players….and our chums (cough!) from north London (well, ok, Greenwich actually!), did us a favour today by beating the Mancs and maintaining the gap at 6 points!