Three things we learned as Liverpool & Chelsea struggled to 1-1 draw

It was a close-fought battle of a match at Anfield as Liverpool hosted league-leading Chelsea, and in the end there was little difference between the two sides, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw. Chelsea fans will be disappointed to have failed to take advantage of an opportunity to open a huge and perhaps unassailable Premier League lead, while Liverpool fans will celebrate what looks like the start of a turnaround after a long spell of poor form.

A high-speed, high-intensity start to Liverpool saw them put tons of pressure on Chelsea early, but they couldn’t take advantage of their early momentum and eventually their energy started to fizzle out. That momentum was brought to a screeching halt 25 minutes into the match thanks to the left foot of David Luiz, who came screaming up onto the ball while Liverpool were late to organize their defense for a free kick. Luiz’s run up caught Simon Mignolet at the far post and with his attention elsewhere, and his shot from distance banged off the near post and into the back of the net.

Liverpool actually reacted well to going down a goal at home, but the amount of energy they expended early meant that they struggled to make the kind of runs and overlaps they needed to really open up the Chelsea defense, especially since they lacked the physical presence up top to capitalize on the few weaknesses Chelsea have at the back.

The second half, though, saw Liverpool reform a bit and provide a more aggressive and consistent threat, and without overworking themselves as they had earlier in the game. That ultimately led to a sequence where Jordan Henderson crashed the ball into the box, where a short cross from James Milner was fed across the face of goal to find the head of Georginio Wijnaldum and get knocked into the back of the net. It was a surprising but excellent sequence from the hosts, and it got them a well-earned equalizer to make good on an excellent run of play.

From there, it was a dead race to the final whistle, with both teams making substitutions aimed at finding a winning goal. Chelsea actually had a penalty thanks to a foul called on Joel Matip against Diego Costa in the penalty area — though on replay it looked like there was little if any contact, with Matip toeing the ball away from the Spaniard cleanly — but an excellent save from Mignolet kept the score level.

In the end, the 1-1 result was a fair one that reflected the general flow of the match. Neither team nor fan base will be completely happy with it, as both teams had definite opportunities to win, but at least Liverpool will prefer the draw to a possible loss that would have put them almost completely out of the EPL title picture. They still have a lot of work to do to get back into it, to be sure, but this is the kind of result that Liverpool can use to kick-start their season back into the right direction again.

Liverpool: Simon Mignolet; Nathaniel Clyne, Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren, James Milner; Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can; Adam Lallana (Divock Origi 90’), Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho (Sadio Mane 75’)

Goal: Wijnaldum (57’)

Chelsea: Thibaut Courtois; Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Gary Cahill; Victor Moses, N’Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic, Marcos Alonso; Willian (Cesc Fabregas 83’), Diego Costa (Michy Batshuayi 90’+4), Eden Hazard (Pedro 71’)

Goal: Luiz (25’)

Liverpool have major organizational issues

This was most obvious on Chelsea’s opening goal, but it popped up all throughout the match: Liverpool have big problems getting and staying organized. It showed up in a bad way on that goal, with Mignolet failing to notice the restart whistle for the free kick and continuing to organize his wall — badly — and no one paying enough attention to the ball to see David Luiz make his run up, or offering much of a reaction to it when he was finally seen.

But even beyond that, Liverpool showed organizational problems all over the pitch. Defenders not moving in sync, midfielders not seeming to know where their partners should be, late or no supporting runs in the final third. Some of the things Chelsea were doing on and off the ball were making life difficult for Liverpool to be sure, but the way they reacted to Chelsea’s strategies only made things even harder on themselves.

Eden Hazard got shut down by Joel Matip

Chelsea’s Belgian star had his way fairly easily with Nathaniel Clyne when he was working on the outside of Liverpool’s defense, but Hazard likes to cut inside more often. While he’s tortured Liverpool in the past, in this match that worked out just fine, because Joel Matip was more than up to the task.

It seemed like every time Hazard cut inside, Matip was right there, sliding over to get in his face, slow him down, and keep him from having the time and clearance he wanted to do his thing. It was the perfect strategy to keep Hazard in check, and it regularly shut down otherwise dangerous attacking opportunities for Chelsea, keeping Liverpool in the game and giving them the chance to equalize in the second half.

Liverpool has really missed Sadio Mane

Liverpool’s attack has numerous different threats who offer a lot of different skills and tricks and abilities, but none of them offer the kind of pace that Sadio Mane brings in the final third. With that pace missing for the past few weeks, Liverpool’s attack has been a bit hampered as a result, with no one around capable of stretching a defense or giving a genuine threat of getting in behind the back line on a regular basis.

Once he came in off the bench in the second half, it became clear just how much Liverpool had been missing him, because he very quickly brought an element of dynamism and danger to Liverpool’s attack that we haven’t seen since the last time he was on the pitch at Anfield. Perhaps now with him back, we’ll start seeing a bit more consistency from Liverpool in the final third, something that has plagued them terribly during their recent lull in form.