The ball dipped viciously into the top right-hand corner, just out of Thibaut Courtois’ reach, from all of 30 yards. ‘Boom,’ shouted Jurgen Klopp, vaulting up and out of Liverpool’s dug-out. ‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’With each exclamation, he pumped the air with his fists. Since he took over, Liverpool have scored 15 goals from outside the penalty box, five more than any other Premier League club. The one scored by Jordan Henderson at Chelsea, however, was without doubt the most explosive of Klopp’s reign.Even the man Henderson succeeded as Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard, would have been proud of it. Yes, that good. Boom, indeed.
This being Liverpool, of course, boom can often be followed by bust, and for a period it looked as if it would be that way again at Stamford Bridge. Trailing by two at half-time, Chelsea came out a different team and pulled a goal back on the hour. At that point the game looked to be turning on its head.As anonymous as Diego Costa had been in the first half, so he was dangerous in the second. As superb as Joel Matip had been containing him early on, so Liverpool’s centre-half drew the ire of Klopp by going to ground too easily when Chelsea scored.Yet Liverpool held. They defended well. Chelsea’s storm blew out. Antonio Conte made a triple substitution with roughly 10 minutes remaining but it had little effect. Eden Hazard was brought down on the edge of the area in injury time by Lucas, and David Luiz hovered over the ball menacingly.
He was overruled by Cesc Fabregas, though, who buried his shot, as tame as tame could be, in the midriffs of the Liverpool wall. If he was trying to find a way back into Conte’s affections having been frozen out of the starting line-up, it was no way to go about it.Chelsea’s goal was a rare beacon of light on a troubling night for the Londoners and a significant upgrade on anything that had gone before. A long passing move was brought to the boil by Hazard putting Nemanja Matic in, his run taking him past Matip and finally Adam Lallana, cutting the ball back for Costa to prod into the net, avoiding a desperate James Milner on the line.Soon after, Costa pounced on a header from Oscar, but struck his shot at goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. It was Chelsea’s last significant chance of the night, meaning Liverpool draw level with them on points, despite the incongruous defeat at Burnley. That result is now overshadowed by impressive away wins at Arsenal and now here.
This match was one of role reversal. Liverpool appear to be a gathering force, while Chelsea have lost early momentum, and now a first game under Conte. This was his first defeat at home since losing by the same margin to Sampdoria, when manager of Juventus in January 2013. What will worry Chelsea’s new coach more is that he can have no complaints. Sure, Henderson won’t score boomers from 30 yards every week — but, have no doubt, the best team won. For their total domination of the first half alone, Liverpool deserved three points.Those 45 minutes revealed the complete folly of Chelsea’s plan for John Terry at the end of last season. Conte saved him, the new manager insisting Terry still had a big part to play in defence, even if he is not the same force as 10 years ago. Still, here was the Chelsea that the executive management seemed to favour; Chelsea without Terry at the heart of the back four. And it was Chelsea, reduced.Terry was injured, not dropped, or rested, and in his place came the newest recruit — Luiz, returning to the club for £32million, having been sold for £50m by Jose Mourinho two years ago. Luiz received a hero’s welcome and even shed blood for the cause. He was certainly not the reason Chelsea lost, but is no Terry in terms of organisation. Neither is his partner Gary Cahill, who rarely looks the same force when Terry is not around — and Liverpool took full advantage of this uncertainty, even without Klopp’s first-choice striker, Roberto Firmino.
In his place, Daniel Sturridge, recently seen looked hatchet-faced at White Hart Lane, but happier last night and in the thick of the action against his old club after just two minutes, almost embarrassing Courtois. Philippe Coutinho played the ball to Sadio Mane and he fed Sturridge who curled in a shot that squirmed out of Courtois’ hands, and was only gathered at the second attempt as it trickled towards the goal-line.In Terry’s absence, Branislav Ivanovic captained the side, and there lies another problem. Terry has been rash on occasions in his career, yet Ivanovic’s antics in the eighth minute were simply bizarre. He fouled Lallana, conceding a free-kick, and then stood on his foot, a sneaky act that could have had serious consequences had the Liverpool man made a big deal of it, or referee Martin Atkinson been more attentive. Why would a captain do that? What was to be gained? Where was the balance of risk and reward? It was foolish in the extreme, and another needless foul in the 17th minute proved fatal.Ivanovic upended Georginio Wijnaldum on the flank and conceded a free-kick. Coutinho and Milner decided to work on angles, taking it short and exchanging passes before the Brazilian whipped in a cross to the far post.
And what have we here? Liverpool players queueing up. Metaphorically, yes. But literally, too. One behind the other, like big red buses in rush hour, unable to pull away until the first one goes. The ball could have fallen to any of them, really, but it reached Dejan Lovren, who met it on the volley, leaving Courtois no chance. Where was Chelsea’s defence? Who allowed such a numeric overload? Who was in charge, who was giving orders? The man who would typically issue them was sat in the stand. His colleagues might as well have been.The chaos continued. Luiz jumped with the much shorter Mane but succeeded only in heading the back of his opponent’s skull and disappeared briefly while the blood was stemmed. Then a Chelsea counter-attack ended in a Liverpool throw, quickly taken, affording a break down the left by Sturridge. A bamboozling flurry of stepovers and feints and he rammed a low pass across the face of goal. One touch, from any player, was probably all it needed.By now, though, Chelsea’s defenders were helping Liverpool create chances, too. Cahill set up Henderson’s boom moment, clearing weakly after Milner had overrun the ball. Henderson had already tried one from range after 13 minutes that sailed tamely over the bar. This could not have been more different.He struck it early, watching as the ball dipped perfectly under the join between bar and goalpost. It could not have been guided more perfectly had NASA been at the controls. A real Basil Brush of a goal. You remember Basil Brush, don’t you? Boom boom!
source : dailymail.co.uk
