It’s hardly any secret that December was terrible for Chelsea. More and more players got injured, there was a Covid outbreak, and the results just weren’t there when they really needed to be. And then, a Romelu Lukaku interview from weeks before broke on the eve of the match against Liverpool. For the second January in a row, the Blues entered a new year with the media being all over the club for all the wrong reasons.
The match started, frankly, terribly. Before the 30 minute mark, the Blues had conceded two of the most Liverpool goals to concede. Trevoh Chalobah’s mistake led to the first. The second was a result of Antonio Rudiger pressing far out of position, forcing Marcos Alonso to cover for him and go one on one with Mohamed Salah in the box. That was only ever going to go one way.
Tied to those two goals was a suicidal highline to be playing against a Liverpool team that begs for space in behind. Defenders pressing in their own final third only worsened the issue. For a moment, the match looked set to be a slaughter and arguably Thomas Tuchel’s biggest tactical blunder since becoming manager.
And then, that all flipped on its head before the half time whistle could be blown. From the edge of the box, Mateo Kovacic rolled the dice and broke physics to give the Blues a life line. Suddenly, Chelsea wasn’t the only team getting killed in behind because of their highline. Christian Pulisic, who was unable to get a tap in shot off earlier, soared into the box to send the Blues in level at the half.
If the tale of the first half was two teams knowing they needed to win, the tale of the second was two teams knowing they couldn’t afford to lose. Chelsea dropped their defensive line deeper which added just enough security to control runs in behind without sacrificing things on the other end. Both keepers still had to stand on their heads, but the game settled into a much more controlled rhythm in the second half.
Chelsea again suffered an injury as Trevoh Chalobah limped off. The Blues went into a 3-5-2 for the remainder of the match which effectively killed Liverpool’s offense momentum at the expense of Chelsea’s own. Ultimately, the match ended honors even. Effectively, that means both teams have handed Manchester City yet another Premier League title. But, it is not all doom and gloom. Chelsea may not have beaten Liverpool, but the game proved to be a port in the current storm the Blues have found themselves in.
That was a team performance and one the Blues desperately needed after December and the events that ended it. It would have been all too easy and, frankly, typically Chelsea in the past to go 2-0 down in these circumstances and let things get worse. But the team didn’t. They rallied. It may not have been enough for a win, but it was enough to bode well for the future.
Hindsight will be 20/20 on decisions made on this day. But in the middle of a storm, the Blues briefly found a port. Much will need to happen in the coming days, not all of it good, but for now Chelsea finds itself in a more positive place than they were in this morning.