Liverpool v Chelsea – Zonal Marking

Here, we’ll rate the performance of the defence, goalkeeper, midfield and attack, in our Zonal Making feature.

Goalkeeper and Defence

Alisson started in goal for Liverpool with Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate as the two central defenders alongside Andrew Robertson at left back and James Milner, who stepped in for Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back.

Not only was it an instrumental contest for Jürgen Klopp in terms of personal landmark, but also for the defence and Alisson alone. The Brazilian shot-stopper managed to keep a clean-sheet in the Premier League for the first time since 10 games. In fact, the Chelsea forwards weren’t bombarding his goal as they struggled for a large portion of the contest.

Alisson had been tested just twice. On top of that, his decision-making was shaky in the closing stage of the first half. The pressing of Chelsea’s forward forced Alisson into mispasses, which resulted in him placing the ball on the sidelines.

Milner’s defending was impeccable in the first half, he had a few one-v-ones and in most clashes ended on the winning end. However, Mykhailo Mudryk’s second half substitution exposed his limitations. He couldn’t keep up with his pace down the wing and had to resort to fouls. He conceded a yellow card and was replaced by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Score: 4

Midfield

Klopp fielded a bold midfield that included Thiago Alcantara, Stefan Bajcetic and Naby Keita. In all fairness, it wasn’t as compact midfield as we saw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday evening. The lack of tightness in this area may have stemmed from the collective performance of the team. The high intensity wasn’t there thus Chelsea players were given more leeway as opposed to Wolves.

The sight of Keita running on the turf is a rarity. It was his first league start of the season and did pretty well. Sometimes, he was sloppy with passes that were intercepted by Chelsea’s midfielders. On a positive note, he contributed to some goal-scoring opportunities for Liverpool, his outside-of-the-boot pass set-up a good chance for Salah for example.

In the face of the crisis in the middle of the park, Bajcetic got the benefit of the doubt again and kept his place in Klopp’s line-up. When Liverpool lost possession, he was chasing down the opposition players to stop their attacks.

Thiago’s risky balls in a key area of the pitch created unnecessarily dangerous situations for the likes of Lewis Hall, Conor Gallagher or Hakim Ziyech that used them as a driving force for their counterattack. In such moments, Bajcetic was quick to take up a good position, won a few tackles, but also was booked in the first half when he brought the young Hall down.

Other than that, Thiago was instrumental to the midfield. He was the main pacemaker and leader, the Reds were the most dangerous and unpredictable while playing one-touch football.

Score: 3

Attack

Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott formed an attacking trio that was toothless and unable to break the deadlock. Badiashile and Silva successfully held off the Reds’ attacks. Perhaps, the Merseysiders could cause far more chaos within Chelsea’s ranks if they had played faster football.

Salah had little impact on the game, was nondominant and far-off vintage in the first half. His attempts on the goal lacked the end-product. He was presented with two brilliant opportunities to give Liverpool lead but failed to find the back of the net.

Gakpo is yet to find his feet in the team, but we’ve already seen the glimpses of what he can bring when things are up and running. There were moments during the clash in which he had to go to deeper areas or move to the left flank. His physical presence let him win aerial duels and he was definitely a threat going forward, but needs to work on his finishing.

Meanwhile, Elliot was a bit better when he switched to a central role later in the game. His neat link-up play with Robertson and Gakpo caused confusion in Chelsea’s penalty box, but Liverpool weren’t able to prey on it.

Score: 2