Chelsea taught Liverpool a harsh, but valuable lesson on April 27, 2014.
Chelsea stopped Liverpool’s Premier League title charge in its tracks with a 2-0 win characterized by negative tactics, time-wasting and Steven Gerrard’s epic slip. The loss showed a rampant Liverpool that it would need to learn how to conquer what some describe as “anti-football” if it was to rise to the top.
The teams will meet Saturday at Anfield for the first time since that fateful day. Times have changed, as have the circumstances. Liverpool isn’t the awesome attacking force it was six months ago. Chelsea now is the strongest team in the Premier League. The teams still want to earn three points — Chelsea because it will continue its march to glory, while Liverpool needs them in order to keep pace with the league leader.
Despite the teams’ changed statures, Brendan Rodgers and his new-look Liverpool must apply those same lessons to their new task Saturday. Liverpool is struggling, but Chelsea still won’t come to Anfield and play an open and attacking game. It’s simply not what Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho does against quality Premier League opposition. Chelsea likely will be well organized, compact and defend deep in its own half. It will look to score on counter-attacks and set-pieces, rather than dominating possession and creating scoring chances from waves of attacking moves.
None of this will come as news to Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, the Reds or their fans.
“We’ll have learned from that (April 27 game),” Rodgers said Thursday at his pregame press conference, according to LiverpoolFC.com. “This is a new challenge and obviously it will be a very difficult game for us.
“They are unbeaten and the strongest team at the moment in the league — that’s why they’re top. But for us playing at Anfield, regardless of the opponent, we have every confidence that we can go and get a good result.”
Rodgers rested several regulars in Tuesday’s Champions League loss against Real Madrid. Whether Rodgers restores the likes of Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho, Gerrard and Glen Johnson to the starting 11 on Saturday remains to be seen.
The quartet, along with Joe Allen, Martin Skrtel and Lucas Leiva, were on the losing end against Chelsea in April. They will be most keen to give Chelsea some payback, regain Rodgers’ full trust and reverse Liverpool’s recent form.
Liverpool must apply the fundamental lesson from that April defeat: the best way to conquer negativity is with a patient, focused and positive approach. There’s no room for defensive errors, indiscipline or mental frailty.
Rodgers and the aforementioned seven know this all too well. Should they lead Liverpool down this path to victory, the newcomers and skeptics surely will follow them into a brighter future.
Liverpool must learn to conquer anti-football >>
Rodgers defends lineup choices vs. Real Madrid >>
Photo by LiverpoolFC.com
