Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened | Premier League
Key events
Andy Hunter was at Anfield. Here’s his match report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Slot: ‘It makes sense that people are disappointed’
Arne Slot speaks to TNT. “We started off really well … scored a goal … got a big chance from a set-piece where we were close to scoring the 2-0 … then in quite a large phase of the game we struggled to control their 6s … unfortunately, like last week, we conceded a set piece and that makes it really hard in a top game to win a game of football if you have a negative balance in set pieces … it was such a sloppy goal … second half … I saw a completely different intensity in terms of pressing … hit the post, hit the bar … but not enough to win.”
… then on his unpopular decision to take off Rio Ngumoha … “There were a lot that didn’t agree with the change which I completely understand … but it does make sense … we had problems with his muscles … when I asked him he said ‘hmm, no, not sure if I can continue’ … I knew this would be the reaction because he is such a popular figure … often in football, people don’t know everything … I’m the manager and I need to make decisions … sometimes people are happy with them and sometimes they (are not) … today clearly they weren’t … knowing why makes it more sense for everyone.”
… and finally the loud booing at the end. “That probably has to do with us not winning … from the last five games we won three, lost last week and today a draw … yeah that’s not what we want … we want more … we want to win all five … but last week we had a negative balance in our set piece … today again … and we were very close through Virgil to scoring one ourselves … so it completely makes sense that people are disappointed if we don’t win because we want to win … it should be like this if Liverpool doesn’t win, no-one can ever be happy about it.”
Gravenberch: ‘We don’t deserve (boos)’
Ryan Gravenberch speaks to TNT about the post-whistle booing. “We need (the fans) behind us … OK, we don’t win … but we don’t really deserve this … fans have to be behind us for 90 minutes … in the second half, when they were behind us we pressed, so we need it … hopefully the next few games they won’t do the same.”
McFarlane: ‘We deserved to win’
Calum McFarlane speaks to TNT Sports: “We wanted to give everything we could to this game … we’ve done that now … we’ll have a day off then prepare for another game against more top-flight opposition (the FA Cup final) … I felt we could have won the game … in my opinion we deserved to win the game … we’ve recovered from the Forest game … we’ve shown who we are as a group, who we are as people … we just need to do that on a more consistent basis … (the FA Cup final) is going to be a tough game … but this team have shown that when they’re at their best, they can match anyone in Europe.”
That point consolidates Liverpool’s ownership of fourth spot. But only a little bit. Aston Villa can swipe it from them with a win at Burnley tomorrow … then Unai Emery’s men host Liverpool next Friday, in what promises to be a tense showdown, even if Villa will have one eye on the Europa League final five days later. Chelsea remain in ninth, but Everton, Fulham and Sunderland will all have something to say about that later this weekend. Calum McFarlane’s men turn their attention to next Saturday’s FA Cup final.
There’s some steam coming out the top of our post-match postbag. “So, Chiesa finally on the field. Kudos to the Anfield crowd for their applause and good judgement, the latter unlike the head coach’s. Amid Liverpool’s manifold problems up front, Slot has not once started Chiesa. At best he’s brought on with minutes to go. Today yet again we have the season-long misfire Gakpo as the ‘striker’. Compatriot favouritism? Slot blind spot? Surely one of the many mandarins in the LFC corporate hierarchy should have had a word with the head coach by now. No shortage of those: head of football, sporting director, technical director, and holders of other inflationary titles these failed players-turned-grandees occupy at Anfield and other clubs across the land” – Darryl Accone
TNT ask Wesley Fofana whether or not he’s the scorer of Chelsea’s goal. “I think! … I don’t know if I touched the ball … it’s either me or Enzo … it was a good goal … important … yeah, I’m happy … to be honest, no (I didn’t feel the touch) … but everyone says on the video I touched the ball so I touched the ball! … we worked on that during the week.”
The player of the match Marc Cucurella adds: “The effort today was really good … it is not our best moment … but today we showed we fight together … a bit of confidence because next week we have a massive game (the FA Cup final).”
To be fair to Liverpool, they were the better side in the second half. They hit the woodwork twice, and had a goal disallowed. But Chelsea had a goal wiped off themselves, and their own period of dominance, during the second portion of the first half, was the most cohesive spell by either side. Although if you were to boil it all down, neither team particularly impressed. Liverpool were the home side, though, and are still, for what it’s worth, the reigning champions. Their decline has been precipitous … and so the booing, first of the withdrawal of the exciting Rio Ngumoha, then of the result and concomitant stodgy performance, was loud and unambiguous. Is this approaching untenable for Arne Slot? Days like this aren’t helping, put it that way.
FULL TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
Chelsea’s six-game losing streak comes to an end. They certainly deserved something from the game; they could easily have won it. Liverpool meanwhile are one point closer to Champions League qualification, but they didn’t cover themselves in glory today, and are met with loud booing on the final whistle.
90 min +6: Mamardashvili has the opportunity to bowl Chiesa into acres of space on the left … but overthrows. Groans. That just about sums up Liverpool’s performance.
90 min +5: On TNT Sports, Ally McCoist names Marc Cucurella as his player of the match. There should be no argument. The Chelsea wing-back has been superb.
90 min +4: Isak takes matters into his own hands with a power dribble down the right. He cuts back but Caicedo is on point to clear. Then Mac Allister is booked for a whack on Pedro’s heel.
90 min +3: Frimpong makes ground down the right and passes infield to … nobody. Liverpool’s attack is so disjointed.
90 min +2: Cucurella advances down the left and rolls across for Palmer. If the pass is played perfectly, Palmer is in. But it’s not. Liverpool lucky that the ball goes behind Palmer, who is forced to check his run. The danger over.
90 min: It looks like Pedro hooks his leg around Frimpong, instigating the contact. So that’s not going to be given. And it’s not. Caicedo is booked for speaking his mind. There will be seven additional minutes.
89 min: Pedro dribbles into the Liverpool box down the left and goes over in a tangle with Frimpong. VAR is going to take a look at this.
88 min: Gomez is booked for delaying the restart.
87 min: Chelsea, who will be happy with a point that would snap their six-match losing run, play some patient passing moves and bring down the temperature.
85 min: Szoboszlai loops the corner long from the left. Isak hooks it back into the centre from the right. Jorgensen claims.
84 min: Szoboszlai hoicks the free kick long. The ball rears up and hits Gusto on the arm, but Liverpool aren’t getting a penalty for that. They do get a corner soon after, though, thanks to Chiesa’s industry.
83 min: Cucurella is booked for a cynical drag on Frimpong. A free kick out on the right touchline.
82 min: Chiesa shapes to shoot but stubs his toe in the turf. Liverpool’s season in microcosm.
80 min: … but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest in awarding one.
79 min: … and Van Dijk crashes a header off the top of the crossbar and out! He wants a penalty, with Caicedo hugging him tightly …
78 min: Isak steals the ball and drives down the right wing, but can’t jink his way past Cucurella. He does, with the help of Frimpong, win a corner. Szoboszlai to take.
77 min: Liverpool make a double change, replacing Konate and Gakpo with Gomez and Chiesa. Both incoming players warmly greeted, another message to the manager perhaps.
76 min: Pedro swans past Mac Allister down the inside-left channel and into the box. He aims a curler towards the top right. Just wide, just over. Mac Allister and the equally culpable Konate breathe again.
74 min: Szoboszlai flings the resulting free kick into the box from the right. Colwill is forced to head over under pressure … but then he deals with the resulting corner by heading it clear.
73 min: … and now Fernandez follows his guvnor into the book for hanging a leg across Jones.
72 min: Chelsea’s interim boss Calum McFarlane is shown a yellow card for making too much of a fuss over a free kick awarded against Cucurella.
71 min: Szoboszlai cuts in from the left and cracks a glorious low drive off the base of the left-hand post. Jorgensen beaten all ends up. What an effort!
70 min: Ringo is an Arsenal fan, mind. The influence of his Londoner stepfather.
68 min: Hato is booked for a cynical tug on Frimpong’s arm. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick.
