Of course, Chelsea and Liverpool didn’t really have anything to celebrate on Sunday evening. Only a draw in the top game at Stamford Bridge – and yet the mood in both camps was extremely good. With a partly spectacular 2: 2 (2: 2), which was reminiscent of a colorful New Year’s Eve fireworks, both clubs literally shot each other into the new calendar year; the pithy argument resembled a letter of recovery to Liverpool’s coach Jürgen Klopp, who was infected with corona and who had slight symptoms of illness for the first time in his five-year tenure on the island had to watch a game from home.
Klopp likes spirited football like no other, and he should have enjoyed the rousing performance of both teams, as well as the lively emotional outbursts of those involved on and off the pitch. Some seemed to imitate Klopp exuberantly, the closest to the original was Klopp’s similarly impulsive assistant Pepijn Lijnders, whose analysis sounded suspiciously like the typical words of his boss. “It’s never boring with us, eh?” Joked Lijnders. Even Chelsea’s last disgruntled German coach Thomas Tuchel suddenly rejoiced, despite the fourth draw in the fifth league game, that everyone who was “not in the stadium today” had missed something.
Talented Klopp impersonator: Liverpool’s assistant coach Pepijn Lijnders.
(Photo: Toby Melville / Reuters)
The amusement for Tuchel and Lijnders was probably less from the result itself and the faulty game presentations of their teams than from the obviously stimulating feeling of not being under any further pressure: both clubs can hardly become champions this season, given a double-digit figure Points deficit on the league leaders Manchester City (53 points) no longer need to think about winning the title for Chelsea (43 points) and Liverpool (42 points plus catch-up game).
When asked whether there was any chance left, Liverpool’s defense chief Virgil van Dijk confirmed that Manchester would have to “lose” the title for this. City coach Pep Guardiola didn’t want to know anything about that on Saturday, despite the eleventh league success in a row (2-1 at Arsenal FC). Only when he was sure of the trophy, Guardiola said, would he fly “to the Maldives to take a vacation”. Due to the division of points between the rivals, this is already the case, so to speak, with which Tuchel and Klopp – figuratively speaking – booked the trip to the island paradise of the Indian Ocean for their colleague Guardiola.
After the game, Tuchel sounds somewhat forgiving about the argument with Lukaku
They’d probably be fine anyway not to hear from Guardiola for a while after pushing their clubs’ nerves to the limit in December to somehow stay within striking distance of City. In January it is all the more important to devote yourself to the working atmosphere and the personnel situation in detail before the upcoming cup games. For the first time in his time at Chelsea, Tuchel in particular is faced with the challenge of not overdoing it in his pursuit of success.
In contrast to most of his previous work, in which his feeling for the needs of the players had given him a high reputation, Tuchel mainly relied on the same starting staff in the previous weeks. Despite his numerous complaints about player failures, renowned professionals such as Hakim Ziyech, Ross Barkley, Saúl Níguez and Malang Sarr were rarely used. In the duel with Liverpool, Tuchel did not even exhaust his transfer contingent, although he recently cited the fatigue of his team and called for an increase in the permitted substitutions from three to five. The obvious distrust of the quality of some substitutes could make it difficult for him to follow some professionals.
The situation around the low working hours of Romelu Lukaku, 28, who was injured in the ankle in autumn and later developed corona, has already escalated. The Belgian goalscorer, who was committed to the club record transfer of 115 million euros in the summer, criticized Tuchel relatively openly in an unauthorized interview with Sky Italia by reprimanding its handling and tactics as well as a return to Inter Milan in the room. The passages of conversation sparked an enormous vortex on the island, so that Tuchel unceremoniously suspended him from the squad. However, Chelsea will not be able to afford the punishment for too long, because apart from Lukaku, no attacker is likely to reliably transport the ball into the net. Otherwise, due to their control of the game, the Blues would have had to score more goals against Liverpool in the second half than just the goals of Christian Pulisic (42nd) and Mateo Kovacic (45th + 1), who shot in the style of a Tipp-Kick figure Placed in the corner from a standing position.
After the game, Tuchel sounded somewhat forgiving when he announced that he would like to talk to Lukaku on Monday. He felt “not personally attacked” by the striker, but left a direct return to the squad open. “We first have to understand what he said and why. Then we will decide whether he is operational,” said Tuchel.
Liverpool and Chelsea have one concern for the time being: the championship
The situation in Liverpool is similarly tense. Similar to the injury misery in the previous year, the club suddenly broke away several key players at once again in winter. In addition to the corona cases involving goalkeeper Alisson Becker, central defender Joel Matip and attacker Roberto Firmino, Liverpool will have to do without Naby Keita (Guinea), Sadio Mané (Senegal) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt), who are participating in the Africa Cup, until the end of the month. In the duel with Chelsea, the world-class storm duo Mané (9th) and Salah (26th) struck again and have now scored almost half of the league goals for Liverpool this season.
To make matters worse for Klopp is that his team often lacks the necessary dominance in midfield, also because with Thiago, who recently suffered from corona and is now suffering from hip problems, the team’s clock is constantly not available. Like Manchester City, Liverpool have already been ahead in 17 league games this season, but in contrast to the immaculate City, the Reds gave up five times a lead.
In view of the deficits that urgently need to be addressed, Chelsea and Liverpool have at least one concern going on this weekend: the championship.