Whilst we “look forward” to our respective national TV broadcasters reliving Liverpool’s history-making title win, we can at least take comfort from the one record they haven’t broken: Chelsea’s impregnable 2004/05 season.
We may as well face facts. This season is going to difficult for us all. Liverpool are going to win the Premier League and we’ll never hear the end of it. Whilst Chelsea have been busy creating history, Liverpool have been fondly reminiscing (except for the odd Champions League trophy) about theirs. The last time they enjoyed being the top team in England, barely any of the current squad were born.
For the mass media, Jurgen Klopp’s side winning their first-ever Premier League is the stuff of dreams. The season is barely halfway through and already Liverpool’s “record-breaking” team are being lauded on every newspaper back page and click-bait site going.
But with just 23 Premier League games gone Liverpool’s goals conceded record already equals the 15 goals Chelsea’s impressive back-line let in during the whole of the 2004/05 season. games in that season and Chelsea had conceded just eight goals.
It was Jose Mourinho’s first in charge and that success was built on a solid spine through the team. Chelsea’s transfer team had been busy during the summer bringing in Petr Cech, Ricardo Carvalho and Didier Drogba. They joined Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard and John Terry already at the club.
Drogba’s offensive impact in that first season was much less than it would eventually become. However, he still put in the yards defensively. He was able to attack the ball as effectively in front of his own goal as he was the opposition’s. Add those five other players up the middle of the pitch into the mix and the rest were free to create the 72 goals that would see Mourinho’s side triumph in England’s top league for the first time in 50 years.
Out of the 38 games Chelsea played in the Premier League in 2004/05 they kept clean-sheets in 26 of them.
By today’s standards that was an incredible achievement and one unlikely to be repeated by any team in the uber-competitive Premier League that we now have. Week-in, week-out, Chelsea’s back-line locked out attack after attack.
To the rest of the league’s jealous fans, it was “boring Chelsea.” To Blues fans it was manna from heaven.
Eleven games ended in 1-0 wins for Jose’s team. There was a satisfaction borne out of confidence in knowing that, once ahead, victory would almost certainly follow. With few goals the difference in any game, from the beginning of the season through mid-October, the Blues only defeat occurred when Manchester City won 1-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium. Following that, there was a run of nine games up to Christmas that saw Chelsea score 29 goals and concede just six.
Chelsea may have been “boring” when they needed to be, but they were far from being the “park-the-bus” type of team the haters would have us believe they were.
John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Claude Makelele and Petr Cech formed that impenetrable diamond that was so pivotal in keeping clean sheets. Also featuring in the full-back positions during the season, and taking a large amount of credit, were Paulo Ferreira, Glen Johnson, Wayne Bridge, Robert Huth and William Gallas.
The season before, Chelsea came second to Arsenal in what is regarded as one of the Premier League’s finest achievements. Arsene Wenger’s side went unbeaten in the league through all 38 games. Even the “Invincibles” as they’ve come to be known, conceded 26 goals during the course of the season.
Chelsea were just one goal away from matching Arsenal’s invincibility. It was a player who later joined Chelsea, Nicolas Anelka, who scored the goal that thwarted them.
Had the game taken place today, the VAR may have kept Chelsea on course for true greatness. Anelka’s goal was a penalty, awarded by Howard Webb after Paulo Ferreira clumsily bundled the Frenchman over. The initial foul began outside the penalty area, and once in the box Ferreira could have been dismissed for being the last man.
Liverpool could equal Arsenal and become “Invincibles.” However, given that they’ll have the league won by Easter, it seems unlikely. Competitive levels will drop and they could still be vying for Champions League glory.
In fact, Chelsea could beat them in the penultimate matchday of the season, but with the league won it won’t really matter. They’ll have their excuse of not having to win the game to get the title in the bag.
It’s not that bold a statement to say no one will ever beat Chelsea’s record of letting in just 15 goals throughout the course of a season.
To date, the nearest was Jose Mourinho’s side the following season, conceding 22 goals. Manchester United equalled that a couple of years later. Chelsea’s back-line in that season was as good as invincible is ever likely to be in the Premier League.
The likes of John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Co. will forever remain the true invincibles, but of course, no one will bother with that once Liverpool are Champions.