In the parallel universe which Jurgen Klopp imagined post-match, Ragnor Klavan was in exactly the right place to block Willian’s unconventional equalising goal, and from there one can only presume that Liverpool won the game, chalking up a statement victory over the champions.
Back in the real world, the cross that the Brazilian substitute hit to the far post looped over Simon Mignolet, vindicating Antonio Conte’s three second-half changes, and as ever Chelsea found a way to salvage something from a match they might have lost. Strictly speaking this was ground conceded in the Premier League title race to Manchester United, and probably Manchester City too, but you would not have known it from the way Antonio Conte celebrated at the end.
They scored their equaliser with five minutes of regulation time remaining, just when Liverpool were beginning to believe that the Premier League’s top goalscorer Mohamed Salah had given them a major victory. The Egyptian has ten goals in the league and is in bewitching form, the closest thing that Liverpool have to Chelsea’s star player Eden Hazard who was outstanding in the first half but never got the goal he threatened to score.
Klopp was left to bemoan what he said was referee Michael Oliver’s decision to block Liverpool’s late substitutions and attendant tactical changes because he thought they were an attempt to waste time. Klopp said it was that which prevented him from switching to a five-man defence for the closing stages. From the footage, with Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane warming up, it seemed that perhaps they were not as ready as Klopp thought they were.
“We wanted to bring a player on and you have to give advice [to the player] and he [Oliver] says ‘No’, and after the game I was not happy about it,” Klopp said. “I wanted to change. We did afterwards and went to five at the back. In my mind Ragnor Klavan would have been exactly in the position where Willian crossed the ball for the goal and we could have blocked the cross.
“It doesn’t feel too good when you can’t change the system because the ref thought it was time-play [time-wasting]. I have no idea why. The assistant next to me was prepared, I was prepared, the player was prepared. The ref said, ‘The goal was four minutes after you wanted to change’. Right!”
At full time, Klopp, by then on the pitch, found himself obliged to calm down the diminutive Mane, towering over his Senegalese striker like a patient parent guiding his dissenting child out the toy department. Klopp said that Mane was angry because he had been admonished for failing to carry out a tactical change that his manager had demanded of him. Mane had said it had not happened because Salah had been determined to hold his position.
“Mo [Salah] already had 90 minutes in his legs so it would have made more sense that Sadio is closer to right wing,” Klopp said. “It’s not a big thing. He could have done it in the dressing room, it would have been the same thing and everything is sorted.”
The mood was very much that this could have been so much better for Liverpool, and Klopp seemed regretful despite his reference to much worse things happening in this “crazy world”, a reference no doubt to the terrorist attack on the mosque in Sinai in Salah’s home nation. The player seemed to moderate his goal celebration for that reason. One presumes it was not out of deference to Chelsea, where he had a largely unhappy spell.
Klopp was asked whether Salah was in the right frame of mind to play and his answer was frank. “It’s not the place to talk about this,” he said. “Our life in football as professionals is [that] nobody cares how we feel. We have to deliver. Obviously he was able to do that.”
Klopp made the big decision to rest Mane and only introduce him late on, presumably on the basis that he is still coming back to fitness. Conte had done much the same after the mid-week Champions League trip to Azerbaijan, keeping Cesc Fabregas, Willian and Pedro on the bench and then unleashing them late. He started with Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakayoko in midfield, pointing out that it was important for these players to be trusted in big games.
“I am very happy to see a great reaction from my players,” Conte said.
“They had a great desire to fight and not accept a bad result against Liverpool. We drew level and tried to win the game. We must be pleased despite the draw.”
As for Willian’s cross that ended up in the back of Mignolet’s net, Conte said that it mattered little what the Brazilian intended, only what the consequences were. They have not lost in the league since that shock defeat to Crystal Palace on Oct 14 and you can that whatever their problems, this side have the grit that has distinguished Chelsea teams of the last 14 years.
Klopp selected Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Daniel Sturridge ahead of Mane and Roberto Firmino, and Oxlade-Chamberlain did have a major role in the Salah goal. In the first half, Salah turned Gary Cahill before Andreas Christensen got across to block the shot. In the last five minutes before the break Salah curled a left-foot shot just outside of Thibaut Courtois’s right-hand post. Although Philippe Coutinho was key in creating the goal for Salah, it was noticeable just how much the Egyptian is currently eclipsing his Brazilian team-mate.
Out of possession, Conte’s formation switched to a five-man defence and Chelsea were hard to break down. At the start of the second half, Hazard went over on the edge of the Liverpool area, his ankle connecting with James Milner’s foot. The momentum of his fall suggested that he had waited for the contact and acted accordingly and Oliver shook his head and waved the play on.
The goal came for Liverpool when at last Coutinho forced the issue. The Brazilian drove into the box and the ball broke away from him, fatally pushed into the path of Oxlade-Chamberlain by Bakayoko’s wayward touch. The Englishman who rejected Chelsea prodded the ball forward, and the Egyptian rejected by Chelsea did the rest, beating Courtois from close range.
In the moments after the goal Klopp substituted Sturridge, moved Salah to a central position and brought Georginio Wijnaldum into midfield but it was Willian, chipping the ball back across goal and over Mignolet, who had the decisive final touch.
Klopp points finger at referee
“I was angry because we wanted to change the system and the referee didn’t give us the opportunity. He said it took too long, I don’t understand it. I wanted to go to five at the back and where Willian scored from I felt it could have helped.
“Hazard is difficult to defend, with two men nearly impossible, with three you have a chance. We had moments, we scored a good goal, it was never a game you would win three, four or five nil. You need a bit of luck in life and football and I don’t think we had it today. Chelsea fought hard and deserved a point.”
