1. Costa cuts down Liverpool
Another home defeat to Chelsea did not bear the psychological pain of April for Liverpool, but their current campaign is undoubtedly troubled. Five losses from 11 Premier League matches is the telling statistic, while so is the victors' unblemished record.
Liverpool played with vigour in front of a supportive crowd, but lost to a Chelsea team who know how to win games like this. As Liverpool pushed for an equaliser, the Blues ground it out, having taken their lead through Jose Mourinho's usual weapon of choice: Diego Costa.
Liverpool
Chelsea
Now in detente with the Spanish national team over Costa, Mourinho fielded a jewel whom Brendan Rodgers failed to tempt to Liverpool in the summer of 2013. The striker and Martin Skrtel fought running battles, while Dejan Lovren felt the brunt, too. Costa is more than prepared to dish it out.
His 67th-minute winner was struck with deadly precision after Cesar Azpilicueta's narrow-angled shot had been palmed clear by Reds goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, to the last player Liverpool would have liked to be on the receiving end.
The Belgian was unlucky for a second time, but a reputation for such fortune now precedes him. He must bear blame for Chelsea's equaliser that cancelled out Emre Can's opener. Mignolet, having kept out John Terry's header, carried the ball over the line in trying to keep Gary Cahill's rebound attempt out; a bitter blow to Liverpool's sense of belief but a victory for goal-line technology.
Had such a thing existed, Liverpool might not have been victors in the 2005 Champions League semifinal that Mourinho has never been allowed to forget -- when Luis Garcia's "ghost goal" decided the tie. Liverpool's goal had been followed by an immediate retreat. A base-level accusation against the Rodgers regime is a lack of composure. His team can only kill matches by scoring plenty, and no longer do that much these days. Hanging onto a single-goal lead has never been his thing.
The advantage from Can's ninth-minute goal lasted just five minutes. Though they often pumped long balls to Costa, Chelsea did not employ the crab-like tactics with which they trolled Liverpool last season. Mourinho was the same constant touchline presence, but far lower-profile, and this time trusted Oscar and Eden Hazard to create opportunities for Costa.
When one came, Costa took it, to leave Liverpool languishing.
2. Rodgers' gamble fails
"Throughout my career, as both a coach and a manager, I have made big decisions and followed my convictions, even if it leads to condemnation," wrote Rodgers in his programme notes. Having made seven changes from a "B" team's performance at Real Madrid he termed "absolutely magnificent" and only one from those who lost 1-0 at Newcastle and left him "bitterly disappointed," it was perhaps difficult to divine just what those convictions might be. Can for Joe Allen in midfield was the sole change from last week.
For Liverpool's biggest test, this could only be what Rodgers thought was most capable of getting a result. It can only be viewed as such a statement of intent.
Whatever, Rodgers took probably the greatest gamble yet of his time at Anfield. Less than a decent result, or failing that, a positive performance, would be costly both in terms of reputation and the goal of securing Champions League football for next season.
Should Liverpool have had a penalty for handball vs. Chelsea?
"I will shoulder the responsibility and face head-on any criticism that might come our way," he also wrote, never less than aware of his political position. "That is my role of leader of this group."
Kolo Toure, heroic in Madrid as an organiser, lost his place to Lovren, while Glen Johnson's replacement of Javier Manquillo looked a trifle unjust. It was the channel inside Johnson that Chelsea kept trying to set Hazard into scoring positions. Three times Hazard was played into that inside-right position, and all three were cleared desperately. Each ball inside came from Ramires cutting in from Alberto Moreno's flank, and there being little central protection.
Rodgers was not done with making unpopular throws of the dice. Philippe Coutinho had thrilled in the first half, but along with Can was withdrawn on 70 minutes to boos from the Kop. Making unpopular decisions is part of a manager's job, but in abandoning his populist approach, Rodgers took risks that could not achieve the result his Madrid machinations demanded.
3. Gerrard not slipping but waning
Chelsea fans were only too happy to sing their Demba Ba song in Steven Gerrard's direction. Gentlemen of the turf were offered an enticing bet when racehorse Gerrard's Slip ran in the 12:40 at Doncaster at a price of 14/1. It finished third-last, to remind that gambling is often a mug's game.
The man himself wore an expression of hard-bitten determination, but it was Can whose aggression in midfield took the eye. His strike, deflected off Cahill, had already had a first-minute sighter. It was such driving energy that the German was signed for, though he is not yet able to be as influential as Nemanja Matic. The Serbian is precisely the type of player Liverpool's midfield lacks.
There were no major slips from Gerrard, but it becomes increasingly obvious that his influence is waning, perhaps even facile to repeat. Can, Allen and Lucas Leiva looked a solid enough unit in Madrid but against Chelsea, Liverpool's midfield allowed huge gaps in which the likes of Hazard and Oscar could find space and a dangerous and eventually fatal level of possession.
It was not just Gerrard. He and Jordan Henderson, now a senior player, were often at cross purposes, and do not win nearly enough tackles or make enough interceptions. Can, at 20, began by showing them how it was done, both in defence and attack before his unpopular withdrawal. It was true that his influence by now had waned too but, for all his other risk-taking values, and in the light of the Madrid selection's aftermath, we still wait for the time when Rodgers withdraws Gerrard.
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