Late night Mid-week fixtures at Anfield are always a huge task to come up against due to the otherworldly energetic atmosphere the crowd at Anfield creates.
Facing a Liverpool side feeding off the emotions of the decision of head coach Jürgen Klopp deciding to leave at the end of the season, the Merseyside outfit proved way too much to handle for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
In this piece, we take a look at some of the problems and architects of such problems as Chelsea got overwhelmed at Anfield.
A football team is the mirror-reflection of its coach and it was quite terrible to witness how poorly coached Chelsea’s off-ball system was tonight.
Defending with 4 against Liverpool’s attacking 5 saw the Blues get outnumbered whenever Liverpool had settled possession.
With the attacking firepower Klopp’s men possess, it was no surprise to see the men in red accumulate a total of 28 shots on visiting Chelsea’s goal.
A humongous 13 shots on target from 28 total shots, Chelsea should be grateful the score line wasn’t more embarrassing due to the heroics of Petrovic in Chelsea’s goal.
A poor 4-1 build-up system utilised by Poch meant the Blues were badly exposed in transitions, one key area that Klopp’s teams thrive on.
Call it naivety on the path of Pochettino or whatnot, but the decision to leave Caicedo isolated for most parts of the time he spent on the pitch meant Liverpool garnered a total of 2.93 xG (expected goals).
The poor team structure wasn’t helped by some disgraceful showings from players like Chilwell and Badiashile who in recent weeks has looked a shadow of himself.
Both players were huge culprits tonight as they were at fault for the 4 goals (Chilwell 1st and 2nd goal, Badia-1st and 4th goal).
However, it is important to mention that some players came to the party and remained solid despite the shambles on show.
“Good players remain good players even in sub-optimal structures”
The aforesaid statement was proven right again as Moíses Caicedo took full responsibility of the midfield all by himself and was only let down by those before and behind him.
Enzo also did his bits on the ball but it is beginning to seem like the Argentine needs a solid structure in place in order to give his optimal best considering he struggles off the ball.
With Wolves coming up in just a few days, Mauricio Pochettino must try to work out how to fix the glaring issues that he has created himself.
However, when one likely does not see his own faults, and instead blames the player’s character, there may be no cause for optimism.
