Jose Mourinho: Draw Against Liverpool Was A Fair Result
Chelsea FC were held to a draw against Liverpool in the first leg of the Capital One Cup Semifinals. Well it was more like Liverpool were held to the draw as they battered Chelsea FC but could not manage to win the match. Jose Mourinho believed that the result was fair for both sides but was frustrated by his side’s inability to string passes together.
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Liverpool dominated possession and had 13 shots on target compared to just one for the Blues. That single shot on target came on the Eden Hazard penalty which gave the Blues the initial lead against the run of play. It was a nearly complete performance for the Reds but they could not make it truly count thanks to their own wayward shooting and a fantastic performance from Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian shot stopper was called upon far more than Chelsea fans expected but he was more than up to the task.
Mourinho spoke about the match, as quoted by ESPN FC, and said, “Obviously Liverpool doesn’t deserve to lose but I go frustrated because we had lots of situations where we recovered the ball in a low block and we were facing three defenders, with lots of space to counter attack and Eden [Hazard], Willian and Diego [Costa] in great positions but we lose so many passes”. He rued that Chelsea could not maintain possession and said “recover the ball, lose the ball, recover the ball, lose the ball — exactly the opposite that happened against Swansea”.
Always one to try and see the bright side in a situation, Jose Mourinho was quick to point out that his side played well defensively. “Today, we did fantastic defensive work but we were not efficient in the transition. To score only one goal frustrates me,” said Mourinho. Calling that defensive performance fantastic is a bit of a stretch as the Blues were constantly under pressure and looked shaky for most of the match. Most of the defending being done was of the last ditch variety as one well placed foot or leg in the way of a shot or pass was the only difference between a draw and a comprehensive defeat.
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The defense was especially suspect on Raheem Sterling’s goal and it was Gary Cahill’s penchant for backing off defenders that left Thibaut Courtois exposed. Even before Sterling got to Cahill, he easily beat our defensive midfielders John Obi Mikel and Nemanja Matic. The near goal when Steven Gerrard hit the post was also due to some atrocious defending as the Liverpool captain was inexplicably left unmarked in the box. Luckily he could not convert and the Blues maintained the draw.
Mourinho may believe that Liverpool did not deserve to lose but they certainly deserved to win. They did everything right today and gave Chelsea their best shot but could not make it truly count. If they can replicate this performance next week then they have a chance to move on to Wembley but Mourinho and his players will have a thing or two to say about that.