England Premier Soccer League
Round 29.
Liverpool (England)
At home in Anfield to face
Chelsea
, a duel between two German tacticians, Klopp and Tuchel. Both sides had 7-11 shots on goal, 1-5 shots on target, and an xG ratio of 0.25-1.73, even though
Liverpool (England)
Owned a higher possession percentage of 54.2%, but
Chelsea
It was the side that had the better of the offense. In the end, Mount cut inside and shrugged off a staring Fabinho for the only goal of the game to help the
Chelsea
Take the win and move up into the top four in the rankings;
Liverpool (England)
Instead, they left an embarrassing record of five straight losses and seven straight winless games at home, and Anfield's magic is gone without the support of their fans.
Starting lineups for both teams (Credit: whoscored.com)
Looking at the starting lineup, the most notable player was Werner, who made a rare start in the single-arrow role for the first time since Tuchel took over, if memory serves. Judging from the scheduling, it's probably safe to assume that Tuchel is trying to utilize Werner's speed to break through the lineup.
Liverpool (England)
The defense, allowed Werner to move his previous style of play of creating a threat with counterattacks from his Red Bull Leipzig days to this game.
Average position of both teams (Credit: whoscored.com)
Liverpool (England)
When in possession of the ball.
Chelsea
Roughly a 5-3-2 stance with Werner-Ziyech up front not pressing much
Liverpool (England)
The linebackers make moves so they don't pull away from the rest of the defense and limit the
Liverpool (England)
Efficiency in the midfield. Unlike the way they have played in the last few games, the game
Chelsea
In the first half, Werner was offside, Mount scored, and both attacks were made by long passes.
Liverpool (England)
The defense creates problems.
Jorginho made all six long passes in the game, Kante made all five, and they are averaging just 3.4 and 2.5 long passes per game respectively this season, while Rudiger made a whopping 13 long passes (3.8 average), but only three were successful. This style of play is also
Chelsea
The offense's primary means of attacking the game was from the left side of the field 43% of the time.
Mount's constant attacks on the left side also indirectly affected the
Liverpool (England)
In the middle of the game, TAA was forced to pull back and form a three-guard defense with the center back, leaving Salah with no way to play his familiar inside forward, and had to press on the right side of the field, and he only managed to cross the ball twice in the whole game, and they were all in non-threatening positions outside of the penalty area. In comparison, Mane had 5 successful crosses, 3 of which were in the box or on the edge of the box, not much different from his previous style of play, and Salah's mediocre performance led to him being replaced by Jota in the middle of the second half.
Successful carry-over position, outside the blue circle all 5 times is Mane's record (Credit: whoscored.com)
By the second half.
Chelsea
The tempo also started to slow down, only specifically bringing the ball behind TAA when he pressed to get involved in the attack for Werner to attempt a counter attack.
Liverpool (England)
The part of the trident that was
Chelsea
The three defenders offset that, and the substitution of Jota didn't provide much of a spark, as they still used their usual gegenpress tactics, but didn't give the
Chelsea
's backfield passes any difficulty, and it could even be argued that it's because of such tactics, with their defense pressing too high, that they keep getting countered effectively by Werner, Mount. The defense was
Chelsea
In the attacking side, the attacking style of play was broken and still no other answer could be found, only the only shot on goal in the match occurred in the rush before the end of the game. Although the score was 0-1, I think that this game, Klopp led the
Liverpool (England)
The offense and defense were both inferior, arguably to Tuchel-led
Chelsea
Liverpool (England)
After five consecutive losses at home, not to mention retaining the title, now even the
European crown
With all of his qualifications on the line and Klopp's obsession with a familiar tactical system getting bad results, it will be interesting to see if he makes changes at the end of the season to try and salvage this season's campaign.
Liverpool (England)
The focus of the viewing.
Chelsea
With a 10-game unbeaten streak under Tuchel, this game is a change of pace, and Tuchel's bets are hitting perfectly.
Liverpool (England)
The sore spot. Faced with such skepticism about the honeymoon period of a midseason head coaching change, Tuchel has also been
European crown
Holding off Atletico Madrid and defeating on the road
Liverpool (England)
The best response came in two crucial victories.
Chelsea
Although currently in 4th place, behind them Everton and West Ham United have all played a game less and could overtake them at any time. Can Tuchel keep the Blues in the top four and if their recent form can be sustained, I believe they will be the
European crown
the more favorable side of the battle.
