After an extremely tight beginning to the match, Raul Meireles has scored to give Liverpool FC a 1-0 lead over Chelsea FC. And, more importantly for the neutrals, his goal has opened up the game considerably. Chelsea are now looking much more ambitious going forward for obvious reasons and a fairly dull encounter has turned into an absolute thriller.
Chelsea FC Vs. Liverpool FC: Following The Reactions, 80th Minute, Raul Meireles’ Goal And Kenny Dalglish’s Brilliance
A lot of people on twitter are heaping the blame on Petr Cech for his poor goalkeeping on Meireles’ goal, and Matt Dickinson from The Times is no exception:
Cech hesitant as Meireles scores at far post. All playing out beautifully for #LFC at moment
Matt Dickinson
DickinsonTimes
It’s been a long time since one of Liverpool’s players has scored at Stamford Bridge, as our friends at Opta Sports point out. Jose Bosingwa scored an own goal within the time frame they give, but this is still a startling statistic:
666 - Liverpool have ended a run of 666 PL minutes without one of their players scoring at Stamford Bridge. Devilish
Opta Sports
OptaJoe
Gotta love that number. Maybe it’s an indication that the Reds have made a deal with the Devil? Too easy. A lot of people are pointing out the difference that Kenny Dalglish has made since joining Liverpool, both with tactics and simply changing the attitude of the players. This point is mostly being made by former footballers, one of them being former FC Dallas captain and current FC Dallas play by play announcer, Bobby Rhine:
Does this now mean Chelsea will make an attempt to buy again? Next purchase- Dalglish. #outcoached
Bobby Rhine
BobbyRhine
Former New England Revolution hitman, ESPN’s Taylor Twellman has a similar view:
The ManOftheMatch so far has to be @kennethdalglish....completely out-coached Ancelotti today
Taylor Twellman
TaylorTwellman
Based on the scoreboard, the statistics, and the halftime observations of Michael Cox and Jonathan Wilson, it’s very difficult to argue with Rhine and Twellman. Obviously, Kenny Dalglish deserves a ton of praise for what he’s done with Liverpool. Especially since he’s playing very interesting, creative, and unorthodox tactics when a main criticism of him was that he was too “old-school.”
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