Yes, Catenaccio at Anfield

By: Sam | April 22nd, 2008

Kuyt takes his chance, 1 - nil Liverpool 1 - 1 Chelsea

A fairly gruesome display was mitigated by wide open play in the 2nd half. Peter Chech made two brilliant saves rather late against both Gerrard (lovely dipping drive for the top corner) and Torres (shallow angle, point blank).

People who call this bad football or negative or highlight “bad passing” in the first half have no place in punditry; they are glass-is-empty misanthropes who have never played the beautiful game. Both Liverpool and Chelsea are very intelligent off the ball and the phlegmatic character they produce is due to close marking and energetic harrying in the central flats. Credit to either team for moving the ball at all.

Man of the Match: Jamie Carragher (English national treasure) for his exquisite & effective marking of Drogba, who still might have snuck something. Skrtel was excellent too. And Gerrard was marked right out by Makelele.

Malouda, invisible. Ballack, superb. Lamps, very good (though Kuyt’s goal came from a failed Lampard clearance). Mascherano, also very good. Reina — though not tested, he was excellent in distribution. Ballack’s substitution out for Anelka is puzzling (Malouda should go at such tactical times because he creates almost as little as A. Cole). Joe Cole rightfully showered early because he was terrible. This contest was too congested for dribbling and he should have been removed in the 5th minute.

I’m the one who says formation is meaningless; what matters is how positioning is used. Chelsea’s 4-1-4-1 (or call it 4-3-3 when they have the ball or 4-5-1 when they defend) gives them a man advantage against Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1. Chelsea’s strength is in the middle: it’s all about Claude Makelele and how they spring quickly from him to either Lampard or Ballack when they take over possession in the middle. (This is one area where Avram Grant has improved upon Mourinho.) With Mascherano and Alonso both back — basically two men doing what Claude does single-handedly for Chelsea (and making the Liverpool center-halves redundant) — Liverpool are not as dangerous in that same quick moment of re-possession.

Chelsea do not use the width at all; this will potentially give Man Utd a big advantage if they meet in the final.

The equalizer at the death was pure luck, made by the enterprise of Kalou, who produced a superb cross into the goal-mouth at 90:00 + 3:59. Riise will feel awful because it puts Chelsea in a superb position to kill any whiff of football at Stamford Bridge in the second leg next week.

My revised prediction for that match sees Chelsea through, 1 - nil (Chelsea 2 - 1 Liverpool, on aggregate).