Five things we learned from the Liverpool draw – can we reach the next round in a replay…
Liverpool exited the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night after a 1-0 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The result sees the Reds lose the two-legged semi-final 2-1 on aggregate, with Branislav Ivanovic’s goal four minutes into stoppage time the difference between the teams.
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Here are five things we learned from last night’s game:
5) Goals, Goals, Goals – we just don’t have enough of them
Yet again tonight we were crying out for a striker of Daniel Sturridge’s quality. If you look back at the tie with Chelsea as a whole, including the first leg at Anfield, we had many more chances than our opponents and yet only managed to find the net once. Raheem Sterling is doing a decent job playing through the middle, but is clearly out of position, while the threat he carries with his pace was somewhat neutralised tonight by the inclusion of Kurt Zouma in the Blues’ back four.
4) How many chances will Mario Balotelli get? He’s on thin ice now…
Mario Balotelli played for 50 minutes last night. In that time he managed a loose pass that would lead to us giving away the decisive, match-winning free-kick. He would spectacularly fail to mark Branislav Ivanovic at the resulting set piece – although quite why he was marking him in the first place is anyone’s guess. He squared up to Chelsea captain John Terry and he was characteristically wasteful in possession – a selfish attempt at goal from an impossible angle with teammates lining up in the penalty area summing up his night. Time up?
3) Simon Mignolet can make the number one spot his own
Perhaps Balotelli could ask his goalkeeper for some tips, if he has any hope of reviving his Liverpool career. The Belgian had arguably his best night in a Liverpool shirt, with a series of excellent saves. His two most memorable moments came within five minutes each of other. First, he reacted brilliantly to stick out a foot and stop Diego Costa’s goal-bound effort, after a deflection off the heel of Martin Skrtel, then he was out quickly to smother at the feet of the Spaniard and kick the ball clear off the attacker’s toes.
2) Our defence is holding steady, but they can’t let frustration get to them
For the first time in several weeks, our defence looked a little shaky. Mamadou Sakho was particularly poor, with his horror-pass leading to Chelsea almost scoring, as well as an injury to himself. Meanwhile, Martin Skrtel and Emre Can looked preoccupied with their personal battle against Diego Costa, although perhaps they can be forgiven after the striker managed to stamp on both of them over the course of the evening. Not necessarily a complaint, just a warning that cooler heads are needed in the future.
1) Still plenty of positives to take in defeat
We’re out and while that’s a fact that will understandably bring disappointment across the board, there were plenty of positives to take from the semi-final. Liverpool matched Chelsea, the Premier League leaders and title favourites, blow for blow over two games and effectively earned two draws inside regulation time. We shaded the game at Anfield and ultimately regretted the chances we missed. While the Blues were perhaps the better team last night, we could have easily stung them on the counter attack if we’d only been a touch more clinical. We’re conceding less goals, the new signings continue to impress and the outlook is far more positive than it was a couple of months ago.
