Chelsea Vs. Liverpool, 2011 Premier League: Liverpool Come Away With 2-1 Victory

When, oh when, will Chelsea’s defensive woes end? At what point will Andre Villas-Boas decide to make changes to his backline? Or, worse, when will Roman Abramovich lose patience, and sack the Premier League’s sexiest manager? AVB certainly doesn’t deserve to be forced out, not this early, but with defensive lapses leading to both Liverpool goals, he’d do well to have a plan in place to remedy the situation.

The first Liverpool goal, after 35 minutes of play, came courtesy of an error by John Obi Mikel. The Chelsea midfielder took too much time on the ball, and the Liverpool pressure easily took it off his hands (feet?). Then came a fantastic exchange of passes between Luis Suarez and Craig Bellamy, with Bellamy passing on to an unmarked Maxi Rodriguez on the left side. An quick finish, and Liverpool had a 1-0 lead.

At halftime, Villas-Boas changed things up a bit, bringing on Daniel Sturridge to replace the woeful Mikel. The Chelsea formation shifted to a 4-2-3-1, which served its intended purpose just ten minutes after the restart. Florent Malouda sent a great ball to the far post, causing the Red defense to fall to pieces. Both Sturridge and Juan Mata were left completely unmarked, but it was the former who tapped in the goal.

Alas, the Chelsea attack, despite looking much better in their revised formation, just couldn’t find another goal. Malouda missed an absolute sitter in front of the net, somehow contriving to send the ball around the far post and out of play. Fernando Torres, on in place of Didier Drogba, was being his usual Torres self. Argue all you want about Nando’s skills, but today the Blues needed a goal, and the striker wasn’t there to provide.

Liverpool made their former player, and the rest of the Chelsea side, pay in the end. Dirk Kuyt sent a great long pass to the right side, where Glen Johnson was rushing forward. He easily rounded Ashley Cole, putting the ball in the back of the net in the 87th minute. With no answer from the home side, Liverpool took all three points, 2-1.