Below are just my own thoughts on the match, not saying they're
definitive but just my own thoughts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel Liverpool were the better team overall. They were more
daring and willing to venture.
Kuyt was unfortunate to hit the cross bar and be ruled offside, but
the ref made the right call on the offside. The offside call really
tight and marginal, but ref got it correct.
Both keepers did well and Cech should hardly be faulted for letting
Kuyt find the back of the net from the 1-on-1. Luckily, it was
rightfully ruled offside.
Crouch wasn't as threatening as I thought he would be, maybe I had
high expectations. I guess John Terry's stockier physical presence
was able to put Crouch off a little bit. Credit to Terry, Essien
and Drogba who took turns to at least reduce the influence of
Crouch.
It was quite obvious from the start Liverpool were going for wing
play, crossing and long ball. Pennant on right midfield and Risse
at left back instead of his usual left midfield this season. Not
surprising considering Liverpool used wing play well against
Chelsea in the 2-0 EPL match defeat at Anfield.
Pity Pennant got injured as his crossing would have helped up to
late stages of the game. A lot of good chances came from him, and
Ashley Cole did what he could to stop Pennat from breaking open on
the wing and getting a cross in. Cole did get a yellow card for a
block on Pennant but I think it was necessary. Pennant is so
under-rated and under utilised.
Liverpool were constantly threatening but Chelsea did well to
defend. Essien continued to impress at centre back making a few
crucial blocks. He would make a decent centre-back but I think a
club like Chelsea deserves better. Makelele had a good game too,
getting the ball back and keeping vital possession for Chelsea on a
number of occassions.
Drogba can't be faulted for lack of effort or lack of trying, but I
feel he would have helped the team better if he didn't try to do
his little tricks. Like a dive in the first half where he stayed on
the ground but would have been of better help getting up and
supporting the attack. I was watching the match with a Chelsea fan
who agreed it was a dive and was actually saying,"Drogba get up and
attack." I think it was poor Kalou who was taking on the Liverpool
defence alone.
At first based on line-up I thought Chelsea was going for 4-4-2
with Kalou starting. However, when the match started, Chelsea were
actually playing 4-5-1 with Cole and Kalou on the wings. In my
opinion, Chelsea should have started with SWP instead on the right
instead of Kalou. At least, that's what I think. Maybe Mourinho
wanted the option of swicthing to 4-4-2 without having to make
substitutions.
Robben should have been introduced earlier to try and get the away
goal that could have killed off the game. Bellamy too was intoduced
to late to have his pace have real effect on the game. Both are
good players in their own right but were introduced too late to
have real effect on the game.
Both Lampard and Gerrard didn't have a fantastic game with most of
their long shots not even testing the keeper. Gerrard was usual
self running all over and being in the thick of action many a
times. But I think that was more down to tactics and some of
Gerrard's tackles were a little risky at times. In my opinion, the
debate of who is the better midfielder is still open.
It was a pity the game had to be settled on penalties, but like 2
seasons ago, it was always going to be a tight affair. But there
had to be a winner.
-I'll have a seperate post about the penalties alone-
