Chelsea Goal: John Terry (20)
Liverpool Goal: Luis Suárez (73)
It doesn't matter how well you start, what matters is how you finish. Prior to the game it was thought that all the changes we'd made would help us and it came so close to going incredibly wrong. In the end what happened was something we've been on the receiving end many a time, with our opponents having done so much to win the game without putting the result beyond all doubt only to get caught cold and then very nearly lose the whole thing.
Because it was such a high profile encounter and we were away from home without the onus being on us to do all the attacking, it was nice to be able to start a game and just pass our way into it very calmly. Chelsea didn't kick the ball for the first couple of minutes and imprinting our own tempo on the game early was nice. Of all those who you'd expect to be involved high up the pitch it was Daniel Agger who was the most active, being barged over twice in quick succession, the second of which came after a darting run into the penalty area but it wasn't enough to make Howard Webb point to the spot. Chelsea were taking their time to get into the game and there was no real cohesion, all of which made our job very easier. None of that accounted for anything however when Joe Allen lost it and allowed Oscar the chance to very nearly open the scoring. I'm not sure whether our comfortable start caused a lack of concentration but the movement ahead of him was appalling and Allen is the kind of player who will keep the ball if the pass isn't on, which very nearly cost us dearly.
The back three - having been in operation on Thursday - was once again looking solid enough in the opening exchanges here. Chelsea tried to get down the sides and exploit the lack of width but Daniel Agger was sharp enough to cover on the occasion that Jose Enrique wasn't in position to get in the way himself. The pressure we were putting them under was severe, especially Torres who was receiving some very close attention from Jamie Carragher in particular. Raheem Sterling was also getting involved early, not disheartened by the physical mismatch between he and Ivanovic he was also winning the ball back in midfield too - Mikel and Ramires aren't exactly frail old ladies either. Our passing on the whole was good but the movement in attacking areas was lacking a little as we had good numbers in support but nobody really made any space and they were able to defend it very comfortably.
It had taken them some time but Chelsea's midfield was getting to grips with the game. Mikel and Ramires had the legs and strength to deal with Gerrard and Allen, who were torn between keeping Oscar, Mata and Hazard quiet and imposing themselves on Chelsea's deeper duo. Nuri Sahin seemed to have vanished into thin air and didn't appear to be having any impact on the game, until Howard Webb got in the way. Having intercepted Sahin's intended pass forward, it was from here that Chelsea went on the break and got themselves a corner. Though they had been extremely fortunate in getting it, from here it was our own mistake that led to the first goal. Agger and Johnson got so focused on being tied up with Ivanovic and Terry that the Chelsea captain was able to wriggle free. With his marker blocked off, Terry had a free header and put his team in the lead. From Agger's slack marking to Webb's interference on their behalf, once again it was all too preventable.
After the goal we really did seem to lose our heads. It began with something small like Wisdom losing the ball on the touchline and was only illustrated more by Joe Allen flying into a challenge when three Chelsea players were passing it around him. Suarez came deep to pick the ball up as we tried to gather our composure and we were able to string a few passes together, albeit without actually going anywhere. The Chelsea back four seemed very comfortable with whatever attack we did try to mount and even when Webb got in Ramires' way we were unable to capitalize. Daniel Agger summed it up a moment later by trying to connect with one of his usual powerful shots, only to have it fly miles over Petr Cech's goal.
Chelsea weren't pushed relatively high up the pitch but there was little space to exploit in behind their back four and it allowed their midfield to squeeze us whenever we had the ball. What with the lack of movement there was no real way though them, especially given that our midfield was still trying to come to grips with theirs. It didn't help matters that on the break Chelsea are a devastating side anyway and right now we appear very susceptible to them, so with Hazard going through and Torres forcing a save it was very edgy for us with or without the ball. Constantly we turned the ball over needlessly, whether it be Wisdom giving away a cheap free kick or Allen and Sahin running into traffic in the middle of the park as they try to move it forward, Brad Jones had to be on his toes and was there to come out for the ball when needed.
Having come into the game more - although none of it overly productive - Sahin did actually manage our first shot of the game. He and Allen were the two who they pressed constantly and as such it isolated Gerrard, the one who needed to be on the ball if we were to get back into it. Then came the injury to John Terry, that stopped the game completely - and arguably their momentum - right when we needed it to. It began with some mild pressure that set us away on the break. Suarez fell into Terry and the scream was very audible so instantly you knew it was serious. The stretcher - and subsequently Gary Cahill - came on for the Chelsea captain and that was the end of his afternoon.
With their talisman forced off and Suarez causing problems, for the first time in the game Chelsea looked a little shaken. There was no immediate danger but it took them a few minutes to readjust and in that time we sent over a few poor corners. Our set pieces have been dire in recent years whereas this year there has been a marked improvement. In a game like this they were always going to be key - as it would prove later on. It was a strange passage of play that closed the half as the sense was there that Chelsea were massively the better side they began to play like a team that was more in front than the scoreline stated. Some of their passing became sloppy and gave half chances to Gerrard and Suarez where they had looked so comfortable previously. The chance to kill the game off completely came at the end of the half. It was to be the turning point as this would have been the nail in our coffin.
A straightforward throw in caused chaos when Allen, Carragher and Agger all went for the same ball and no-one really cleared it. Hazard headed it to Mata who was through on goal. He took the ball through the legs of Andre Wisdom and everyone inside the ground - Chelsea or Liverpool affiliated - must have thought that this would be the second goal, only for him to blaze it over. A massive let off the hook at the end of a half we'd done okay in up to a point, but once Chelsea took the lead they dominated. Time for Brendan Rodgers to do some serious work.
There were no obvious signs of changes in terms of the players on the pitch like at Goodison Park a few weeks back as we began the second half so any changes made would have to have been on the tactical side. Chelsea started it very aggressively and put Wisdom in particular under some severe pressure but we were able to see it through, only for Jose Enrique to make two errors in judgement in the space of a minute in giving it away and then being needlessly offside. The shape of the team certainly looked a little more solid, with Enrique and Johnson a little deeper than they had been in the first half, as well as Gerrard back with Allen and Sahin now given license to get further forward.
One thing that didn't improve was our care of the ball and Joe Allen brought a yellow card onto himself after he was robbed by Torres and then cynically bringing him down. Sahin for all his effort was clearly trying a lot harder but quite simply Mikel and Ramires were too strong for him and bypassed him easily. On the whole we defended Chelsea a lot better and Jones was relatively untested but also consistently wasted possession and would invite them onto us over and over. Torres it was who eventually could have won ended the game as a contest, with Brad Jones making a good save from a flicked header. In a half in which they didn't have anywhere near the same authority, this was one they really needed to make count.
The Torres header prompted a mad scramble inside the box, during which Steven Gerrard fell down injured by the touchline and subsequently played every Chelsea player onside. They initially refused to put it out for him - much like we had done for Terry earlier - and Howard Webb had to eventually stop the game to allow him some treatment. The lengthy stoppage gave Rodgers a chance to have a word as a few took a drink and it wasn't before long that further changes were made. Suso came on for Sahin and we changed the formation completely, with Wisdom and Johnson going wide, Jose Enrique playing left midfield and Suso just behind Suarez.
With only a third of the game left and it still very much in the balance, the tempo was rising. Suso and Jose Enrique were finding space in the midfield to drive into, while Agger and Glen Johnson both made decent attempts at trying to create something off the same - half cleared - corner. Chelsea did have one moment where it looked like they might be in, Ryan Bertrand played in behind Wisdom and cutting it back for Torres only for Jamie Carragher to get enough of a body in the way to prevent him from scoring. The game was becoming very stretched now and we had to be mindful of the counter. Gerrard was everywhere, playing it out from midfield then getting back to help out on the cover. He even earned himself his first booking of the season when Oscar went past him and Gerrard stuck out a leg. Mata's subsequent free kick was dangerously curled in but Jones was braver than Torres who was favourite to win the header, but didn't fully commit himself.
They may have found it easy to get through us in the first half but despite all their pressure, we were working hard to try and keep them away from Brad Jones' goal. There were two solid lines across the midfield and defence as they tried to go down the left hand side only to be seen off by Sterling and Wisdom before Enrique and Johnson did the same down their right. It was in this innocuous passage of play, that Chelsea cracked. Our ability to put pressure on them as they continued to become ever frustrated told as Jose Enrique gave away the ball, only for Andre Widsom to steal it back on the half way line. He and Suarez combined to win a corner from which we made all their profligacy pay. Suso took it near post and Jamie Carragher managed to flick it behind him while turning at a difficult angle. At the back post, Suarez's eyes must have lit up as it came toward him and he peeled away from Ramires to head it into an empty net and level the score. He just cannot stop scoring.
The surge in confidence that any goal brings was evident and with it came a desire to push on for more. What we had to be careful of was that Chelsea had looked devastating on the break this season and should have punished us already for failing to come to terms with it. Di Matteo's tactics - whether they were intentional or not - seemed to be as if they were inviting us onto them. Suso and Gerrard were popping up everywhere, finding space to receive the ball and then to track back if needed. It was about as stretched as it had been all game, with Ryan Bertrand again in behind Wisdom but his cross was poor and Agger dealt with it comfortably. When Chelsea had the ball and we were set up defensively, there was enough pressure applied by the home team but no real quality to really make our defence think.
Joe Allen was playing the role of spoiler down to perfection in midfield, looking as if he'd grown in strength tenfold all of a sudden while knocking Chelsea midfielders aside at will. From the stands to the pitch, their growing desperation only ever made it look likely that if any team was going to win, it would be us. Gerrard had slid in Sterling with a great pass along the floor down the right but his cross then found Suso's wrong foot and he was unable to connect properly. Suso and Enrique also combined in the midst and set Suarez away one on one with Petr Cech but the Uruguayan's first touch wasn't great and allowed the goalkeeper to get there.
For a lot of what remained, we couldn't quite get out. Our out ball to Suarez wasn't good enough and we didn't have an outlet so they kept on pushing and probing but we stood tall and saw out the danger. Suso, Allen, Gerrard and Enrique did their best to try and get involved in midfield but we couldn't quite break out and be comfortable. Their last big chance to score came the same way as both goals had arrived, in the form of a corner. It was taken quickly and Ivanovic wriggled free of his marker, only to head it well over. He's much better than that when it comes to scoring goals - especially against us - but fortunately there was no late heartbreak.
In injury time there was time for one last attempt at grabbing all three points from under their nose. Suarez picked it up on the left hand side and played it out to Sterling on the right. As they got sucked in on that side, it came back across and eventually found Enrique with space on the edge of the penalty area. He struck first time at the near post - I'll be generous and say the defender would have blocked any attempt to go far post - but Cech was able to make the save. The subsequent corner came to nothing and moments later the final whistle was blown and we'd earned a massive point. Now we need to move on, against what will be easier opposition and start doing what we haven't been able to at Anfield consistently for some time. Win.
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