Tuesday night’s Premier League match between Chelsea and Liverpool ended in yet another 0-0 draw, which is becoming a recurring theme for the past four meetings between the two English heavyweights. The Blues faced Jurgen Klopp’s reds in the capital after Graham Potter was dismissed from his role on Sunday. The sacking however showed early signs of deja vu, due to how the match pend out, including blues interim coach, Bruno Saltor’s post-match interview.
"Bruno Saltor on Liverpool draw: “After what happened on Sunday, yesterday we had a recovery session. I tried to spend time with the players and talk to them. I thought they gave everything.”"
Despite the difficult run the west London team has been on, they managed to start this game in a positive way despite Potter’s dismissal only 48 hours prior to kickoff. With majority of the chances coming from Bruno Saltor’s side, the blues continued to miss opportunities on top of opportunities.
After a promising start, both teams had their fair share of chances, but at the halfway point of the first half, Reece James’ fierce half-volley was disallowed due to an earlier offside. Kai Havertz thought he snuck one in for his side in minute 50, but was soon correctly chopped off due to the usage of the hand.
The final whistle eventually blew with the score remaining unchanged, making the previous four meetings between these two teams all end in 0-0 draws. The Blues will be hoping to improve against Wolves on Saturday and earn a victory before their matchup with Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals a week from now.
Here are the three lessons learned from Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
N’golo Kanté still got it
He’s just amazing isn’t he? The midfielder has been gone for what feels like a millennia, and he comes back into the fold, with several new players around him, and not setting a foot wrong all night. On top of that he is also practicing Ramadan, meaning he was still fasting for the entire day and later broke it mid-way through the second half along with other Muslim blues such as Wesley Fofana, and Kalidou Koulibaly.
The man is a machine. The two-time Premier League champion, and evening’s CFC captain, starts for Chelsea for the first time since August under former Chelsea, and current Bayern Munich head coach, Thomas Tuchel. The Frenchmen was all over the Merseysiders from minute one, to minute 69 when he got taken off for Conor Gallagher. With his direct, driving runs, he never stops trying to regain possession while also providing some much needed energy.
The match watchers also experiences an interesting side from the 32 year old midfielder because not only was Kanté was the engine, he had his magical boots, and wizard hat on him because he created two big chances, via SofaScore. Fun fact-Kanté created more ‘big chance created’ than Joao Felix in one match, since joining the arrival of the Portuguese from sunny Madrid. Once again, stat courtesy of SofaScore. 70% of the earth is covered by water, the rest by N’golo Kanté.
New coach – Same results
I’m really starting to get worried about the finishing issue at the club. Many would believe we’d get to see SOMETHING new, however it fells like nothings changed and we still have the same lingering problems.
There’s no hiding that CFC has had a No.9 crisis for quite some time now, but for several season, it’s been painted over the cracks. However, my issue is this: You don’t need to be an out and out, clinical gunman to bury several of the chances that the blues got served on a silver platter. Chances from Kai Havertz, Joao Felix, and especially that absolute HOWLER from Mateo Kovacic in the second half was comical. You cannot be missing those chances, and with the UCL tie against Real Madrid in a week time, miss any chances like that would be suicidal.
In dire need of a Permanent Manager
With news that Julian Naglelsmann is open to join immediately, it is pivotal in Chelsea’s disastrous campaign if they want to salvage something in the Champions League. All due respect to the former Brighton player, Saltor is not the man to manage the blues in the biggest competition in all of club football.
Even the Spaniard himself said that he ‘is in collaboration with Graham Potter.’ According to the caretaker manager, the match against Liverpool on Tuesday evening was his first time selecting a lineup. Once again, all due respect to him because It takes courage to take that role in under stress, I believe he should be replaced as soon as possible. We’ve seen how quickly Tuchel replaced Naglesmann, hopefully, we see a breakthrough in the coming hours or days.
Will CFC have a new manager before the Real Madrid clash?