Tactical set up:
1st to 29th minute (3-4-1-2)
------------Sterling---Suarez---------
-----------------Gerrard--------------
Enrique---Sahin----Allen---Johnson
-------Agger---Carra---Wisdom-----
30th to 60th minute (3-5-2):
------------Sterling---Suarez----------
------------Sahin---Gerrard-------------
Enrique--------Allen-----------Johnson
--------Agger---Carra---Wisdom-----
60th until the end (4-2-3-1):
---------------Suarez----------
Enrique------Suso-------Sterling
-----------Allen---Gerrard--------
Johnson---Agger---Carra---Wisdom
Player ratings:
Jones 7.5 - maybe his best performance for us yet. Saved us on several occasions, good decision-making in terms of when to come out and when to stay in goal and his distribution was not horrible. He is growing in confidence.
Carra - 7. Used his experience and ability to read the game very well and mostly kept Torres in check. Mata and Hazard gave him trouble and he did commit a couple of mistakes they thankfully didn't capitalize on. Extra 0.5 for the assist.
Agger - 6. At first I thought he was entirely responsible for the goal. But after watching several replays I now think it was really a case of miscommunication with Gerrard - we play zonal defense and Terry made a run into Gerrard's territory. Not sure if Agger was still supposed to have followed him or it was Gerrard's mistake for not picking him up. But in any case it was a bad mistake by our defense, it's simply unacceptable to leave Terry of all people completely unmarked in the box. It might also be Rodgers' fault for not defining the areas of responsibility more clearly.
Wisdom - 5.5. Chelsea were smartly forcing us to play the ball to Wisdom time and time again and his safety-first attitude and lack of confidence in possession made out build-up slower and more cumbersome which really hurt our attacking play. Nothing against the kid, he tries his best as always, but with every game it seems more obvious to me that he is not going to make it as a full-back in a possession-oriented side and really should be converted back to CB.
Enrique - 6.5. I think we have an enigma here. Enrique is very mediocre at some things and very good at other things and I guess that's how it's going to be. In the first half, when we had 65% possession and the game was more cautious and tactical-oriented he just seemed ill suited for this game, too simple-minded and technically inferior to his opponents. In the second half players on both sides got tired, the tactical discipline was lost and there were many more one on one duels, where Enrique really thrived, winning most of his individual fights and not letting anybody get the better of him. Go figure.
Johnson - 6.5. We couldn't give him the ball enough, which was unfortunate because he clearly looked like one of our classiest players and was playing against a rookie.
Allen - 5.5. And that's being generous. Unfortunately, I am starting to doubt if Allen is actually all that good. He is getting found out and is low on confidence. I can understand getting shrugged off the ball easily and being easily beaten by a fast and skillful opponent - he is not a specialist DM and is playing there only out of necessity (although for a game such as away at Chelsea I would consider Henderson in this position if I was Rodgers). But I really can't imagine Xavi giving away the ball so often, even a 22-year old Xavi (to be fair, I don’t remember how Xavi looked at 22. But I remember Iniesta.) And if he is making so many bad passes in his own half, when there is much more space and the opponents are outnumbered, that doesn’t give me much confidence in his ability to orchestrate the passing game in the attacking third, where space and time will be at a premium and our players will be outnumbered by defenders.
Sahin - 6.5. Many people thought he was disappointing. I disagree. I thought Sahin was our best player in the first half and looked more comfortable playing in the middle 2 with Allen (finally!). He showed good reading of the game and intelligence with a few interceptions and defensive plays and he probably made more successful forward passes than any of our midfielders. That’s where he needs to be, orchestrating the play from deep rather than running box-to-box. Started to fade a bit in the second half which shows his physical condition is still not where it needs to be.
Gerrard - 6. Was a bit anonymous for an attacking midfielder in the first half and didn’t offer much support to Suarez. Might have been somewhat at fault for the goal (see Agger). In the second half moved deeper and made a lot of usful contributions, mostly in defense, but also that great through ball to Sterling. His experience is invaluable in such a young side. But I am starting to think he might never be the attacking force he once was.
Sterling - 7.5. Didn’t see much of the ball in the first half, but boy, was he good after the game opened up! Love his swagger and attitude, his ability to shield the ball and to win the 50/50 challenges against much bigger and older opponents. He is going to be amazing at 23, maybe even world-class.
Suarez - 7. I don’t like how he tries to do everything by himself, that’s not a good sign for the team. He badly needs a partner to play one-twos with. I thought Gerrard could be that partner, but for some reason it didn’t really happen tonight. His scoring rate now is amazing now, but many of these goals would have been scored even if he was playing on the wing - like the set piece today. It’s still not clear where his best position is.
Suso - 6. A little generous considering several terrible giveaways he committed and that he probably didn’t win a single 50/50 duel against a Chelsea player. But he made a couple of nice attacking plays and brought some new energy. Overall, I think Suso is much more raw than Sterling at this point, he is already good at some things, but there are many obvious holes in his game.
Rodgers - it’s worrying that with each game we get progressively further away from his ideal style. Under pressure against Everton we played almost Stoke city football; lots of long punts, hopeful crosses and center-backs running into the box for every single free kick. Against Chelsea he chose to start with his most cautious formation to date and we looked like a mid-table team that plays like it knows it’s a mid-table team. Which is an opposite of Swansea under Rodgers, which was a mid-table team that thinks it’s Barcelona. I don’t know what it is, either Rodgers is realizing that he cannot achieve the style that he want with the current crop of players, or he is simply losing control over the direction of the team. It can’t be a coincidence that Joe Allen is having his worst performances in Liverpool just as the team’s style is becoming more pragmatic, but I don’t know if it’s the cause or the consequence. Rodgers might get praise from some pundits for changing the formation 3 times during the game and rescuing the point, but switching between plans A, B, and C is something Mourihno would do, whereas Guardiola even under pressure would keep tweaking and improving the plan A until the opponents can’t cope. Rodgers needs to decide if he is going to be an idealist or a pragmatic. He is kind of in-between right now and that’s not a happy place.
1st to 29th minute (3-4-1-2)
------------Sterling---Suarez---------
-----------------Gerrard--------------
Enrique---Sahin----Allen---Johnson
-------Agger---Carra---Wisdom-----
30th to 60th minute (3-5-2):
------------Sterling---Suarez----------
------------Sahin---Gerrard-------------
Enrique--------Allen-----------Johnson
--------Agger---Carra---Wisdom-----
60th until the end (4-2-3-1):
---------------Suarez----------
Enrique------Suso-------Sterling
-----------Allen---Gerrard--------
Johnson---Agger---Carra---Wisdom
Player ratings:
Jones 7.5 - maybe his best performance for us yet. Saved us on several occasions, good decision-making in terms of when to come out and when to stay in goal and his distribution was not horrible. He is growing in confidence.
Carra - 7. Used his experience and ability to read the game very well and mostly kept Torres in check. Mata and Hazard gave him trouble and he did commit a couple of mistakes they thankfully didn't capitalize on. Extra 0.5 for the assist.
Agger - 6. At first I thought he was entirely responsible for the goal. But after watching several replays I now think it was really a case of miscommunication with Gerrard - we play zonal defense and Terry made a run into Gerrard's territory. Not sure if Agger was still supposed to have followed him or it was Gerrard's mistake for not picking him up. But in any case it was a bad mistake by our defense, it's simply unacceptable to leave Terry of all people completely unmarked in the box. It might also be Rodgers' fault for not defining the areas of responsibility more clearly.
Wisdom - 5.5. Chelsea were smartly forcing us to play the ball to Wisdom time and time again and his safety-first attitude and lack of confidence in possession made out build-up slower and more cumbersome which really hurt our attacking play. Nothing against the kid, he tries his best as always, but with every game it seems more obvious to me that he is not going to make it as a full-back in a possession-oriented side and really should be converted back to CB.
Enrique - 6.5. I think we have an enigma here. Enrique is very mediocre at some things and very good at other things and I guess that's how it's going to be. In the first half, when we had 65% possession and the game was more cautious and tactical-oriented he just seemed ill suited for this game, too simple-minded and technically inferior to his opponents. In the second half players on both sides got tired, the tactical discipline was lost and there were many more one on one duels, where Enrique really thrived, winning most of his individual fights and not letting anybody get the better of him. Go figure.
Johnson - 6.5. We couldn't give him the ball enough, which was unfortunate because he clearly looked like one of our classiest players and was playing against a rookie.
Allen - 5.5. And that's being generous. Unfortunately, I am starting to doubt if Allen is actually all that good. He is getting found out and is low on confidence. I can understand getting shrugged off the ball easily and being easily beaten by a fast and skillful opponent - he is not a specialist DM and is playing there only out of necessity (although for a game such as away at Chelsea I would consider Henderson in this position if I was Rodgers). But I really can't imagine Xavi giving away the ball so often, even a 22-year old Xavi (to be fair, I don’t remember how Xavi looked at 22. But I remember Iniesta.) And if he is making so many bad passes in his own half, when there is much more space and the opponents are outnumbered, that doesn’t give me much confidence in his ability to orchestrate the passing game in the attacking third, where space and time will be at a premium and our players will be outnumbered by defenders.
Sahin - 6.5. Many people thought he was disappointing. I disagree. I thought Sahin was our best player in the first half and looked more comfortable playing in the middle 2 with Allen (finally!). He showed good reading of the game and intelligence with a few interceptions and defensive plays and he probably made more successful forward passes than any of our midfielders. That’s where he needs to be, orchestrating the play from deep rather than running box-to-box. Started to fade a bit in the second half which shows his physical condition is still not where it needs to be.
Gerrard - 6. Was a bit anonymous for an attacking midfielder in the first half and didn’t offer much support to Suarez. Might have been somewhat at fault for the goal (see Agger). In the second half moved deeper and made a lot of usful contributions, mostly in defense, but also that great through ball to Sterling. His experience is invaluable in such a young side. But I am starting to think he might never be the attacking force he once was.
Sterling - 7.5. Didn’t see much of the ball in the first half, but boy, was he good after the game opened up! Love his swagger and attitude, his ability to shield the ball and to win the 50/50 challenges against much bigger and older opponents. He is going to be amazing at 23, maybe even world-class.
Suarez - 7. I don’t like how he tries to do everything by himself, that’s not a good sign for the team. He badly needs a partner to play one-twos with. I thought Gerrard could be that partner, but for some reason it didn’t really happen tonight. His scoring rate now is amazing now, but many of these goals would have been scored even if he was playing on the wing - like the set piece today. It’s still not clear where his best position is.
Suso - 6. A little generous considering several terrible giveaways he committed and that he probably didn’t win a single 50/50 duel against a Chelsea player. But he made a couple of nice attacking plays and brought some new energy. Overall, I think Suso is much more raw than Sterling at this point, he is already good at some things, but there are many obvious holes in his game.
Rodgers - it’s worrying that with each game we get progressively further away from his ideal style. Under pressure against Everton we played almost Stoke city football; lots of long punts, hopeful crosses and center-backs running into the box for every single free kick. Against Chelsea he chose to start with his most cautious formation to date and we looked like a mid-table team that plays like it knows it’s a mid-table team. Which is an opposite of Swansea under Rodgers, which was a mid-table team that thinks it’s Barcelona. I don’t know what it is, either Rodgers is realizing that he cannot achieve the style that he want with the current crop of players, or he is simply losing control over the direction of the team. It can’t be a coincidence that Joe Allen is having his worst performances in Liverpool just as the team’s style is becoming more pragmatic, but I don’t know if it’s the cause or the consequence. Rodgers might get praise from some pundits for changing the formation 3 times during the game and rescuing the point, but switching between plans A, B, and C is something Mourihno would do, whereas Guardiola even under pressure would keep tweaking and improving the plan A until the opponents can’t cope. Rodgers needs to decide if he is going to be an idealist or a pragmatic. He is kind of in-between right now and that’s not a happy place.
