Liverpool v Chelsea – A Not So Quick Liverpool Perspective

Liverpool v Chelsea A Liverpool Perspective

It is pretty much the same thing over and over, except it is gradually getting worse as the weeks go by. Watching Liverpool play this season has been a chore and it is getting worse. Trying to find anything positive to say is most definitely a chore! There is just so little good about the team and the style of play, which is little short of horrifically bad. On the ball, the play is ridiculously slow and laboured, mainly consisting of slowly rolled balls around the defence. There is no desire to get the ball forward quickly, always allowing the opposition to get set into position to deal with the attack.

The lack of movement is incredible, nobody is looking to make runs in behind, instead mainly waiting for a ball in to feet. They move the ball so slowly it is painful to watch and fails to create spaces to work in or move the opposition around at all. As a result, creativity is virtually none and good chances are hard to come by. It is incredibly boring, tedious even to watch as the team usually dominates possession but does almost nothing with it.

Without the ball is just as bad. Sometimes there is an attempt to press, but it will only be with the attacking quartet, while the rest back off and leave a huge hole for the opposition to stroll through at will. It is not helped by the press being so half-hearted, no one actually closing anyone down properly. They stand off the player with the ball, giving him time and the space to pick a pass. All of that is while the midfield duo and defence drop back so deep as to leave plenty of space for passes, even poor passes, to easily find an opposition player under no pressure.

It does not even matter who is the goalkeeper behind them, Virgil is now so scared of having to actually break into a run, rather than strolling around aura farming, that he backs away constantly, just like he does when a player runs at him. And no one even bothers to track runners at all most of the time, so players are still able to get in behind easily, it is little wonder Liverpool have won the least tackles of any Premier League side this season.

Add that to Konate usually running around somewhere mindlessly just in front, covering no one and not even sure where anyone is 99% of the time, and two full-backs who look utterly confused by it all and you have a recipe for disaster. Especially as, other than Szoboszlai, no one really wants to put in any significant effort through the…