Graeme Souness was far from impressed with the Reds on Wednesday night, it would be fair to say.
Jurgen Klopp’s men did not perform that well on the night in Istanbul, but won a second European trophy of 2019 on penalties, with goalkeeper Adrian the unlikely hero.
The former midfielder, who is now a pundit for a variety of outlets, was speaking to Virgin Media Sport Ireland, via the Metro, and he did not hold back in the slightest.
He said: “This guy [Fabinho], twice he had Kante dance past him as if he had Jacques Cousteau boots, lead boots on.
“They were not Liverpool, I’m not seeing a Liverpool that resembles the Liverpool we saw last season. I’m amazed Liverpool were more tired than Chelsea – they’ve had two extra days to rest.
“I was disappointed with Liverpool. I expected them to be lively, energetic and win comfortably, even by two or three goals. In reality, I thought they were second best for the largest part.
“I thought Chelsea played better football [and had] more energy. Given Chelsea played Sunday and Liverpool played Friday that should not have been the case.”
Souness rarely holds back a strong opinion, but it seems harsh to us. It wasn’t the greatest performance in the world first half, but Chelsea can be an excellent side and that can happen.
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N’Golo Kante is perhaps the best midfielder in the Premier League, so singling out Fabinho for criticism because he dribbled past him a couple of times is very odd. We thought the Brazilian did OK for the most part.
The Reds will hope to bounce back from the poor performance with a strong showing at St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon, though it is worth remebering that a fourth Super Cup title in the club’s history was brought home!
Souness might be right to a point, but the Reds did end up on the winning side in the end, and that mustn’t be forgotten.