Liverpool kicked off the season with a draw, but Jurgen Klopp knows his side “opened the door for Chelsea,” and the statistics do not lie in that regard. But the manager “saw a good basis.”
After a 77-day wait to turn the page and start afresh in the Premier League, the Reds were tasked with a trip to Chelsea and walked away with a point.
Liverpool could have left with more, but it could have gone the other way too.
Momentum swung continually and with the help of FotMob, we can see how Chelsea were buoyed by Mo Salah‘s offside goal and then predominantly took control in the second half.
“We tried to close the gaps by dropping instead of stepping in,” Klopp assessed of the change in approach from his players, which only aided Chelsea‘s cause.
We saw glimpses of what this team is capable of, the passage of play leading up to the goal case in point, but also the areas that need strengthening on the pitch and with the help of the transfer window.
Find the target…
At one point it looked as though Liverpool could break open the match, predominantly in the first half, and yet they finished with only one shot on target. That was the goal.
The Reds took a total of 13 shots – six in the first and seven in the second half – compared to the hosts’ 10, but they were forced to take five from outside the area.
With a team packed with attack-minded players, they did not test Robert Sanchez nearly enough. The threat vanished all too quickly.
No time on the ball
As abovementioned, Klopp noted how his team stepped back instead of continuing their front-foot approach and it, in part, allowed Chelsea to dominate the ball.
The Reds finished with just 35 percent possession, one of the lowest in the Klopp era – the most recent was the 34 percent in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham in 2018 – their counter press made redundant when the ball was continually given back to the opposition.
With the players currently in the side, they are naturally direct and a cohort of creators and that leaves few who control the tempo – this will help them blow other teams away, but not on this occasion.
A defensive midfielder will not be an immediate fix but will aid Liverpool in finding a controlled balance.
Alisson to the fore…again
Liverpool are fortunate to have the Brazilian between the sticks, and he proved it again on Sunday.
As per FotMob, Alisson faced a xGOT of 1.44 – which tells us what a Chelsea managed to do with their xG of 1.35 – the post-shot model showcases just how significant the No. 1 proved to be, again.
The Brazilian makes his interventions look effortless and thus simple, but they are more than meets the eye and he was key to taking home a point!
Anyone for an aerial duel?
The aerial battle can be easily overlooked but that cannot be the case for Liverpool, who, as a team, won just 33 percent of their duels.
When it comes to second balls, set-pieces, the Reds being pushed aside is a big concern and means they have to be defensive-minded and in recovery mode instead of proactive and agressive.
We are only in week one and there are bound to be issues to iron out, especially considering only Alisson played a full 90 minutes in pre-season, but there are obvious areas that need addressing.
Klopp aptly said post-match: “I saw a lot of things I liked and, of course, some things I didn’t like particularly.”
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