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Each team’s starting eleven showed why they were willing to drop over £100 million on Moisés Caicedo, with a defensive midfielder nowhere to be seen.
Jürgen Klopp set up Liverpool in their usual 4-3-3 formation, with new signings Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai alongside attacker Cody Gakpo in midfield.
Mauricio Pochettino is the latest coach tasked with balancing out Todd Boehly’s shopping spree. Chelsea lined up in a 3-4-3, with box-to-box midfielders Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher partnered together in midfield.
Chelsea initially had problems playing out from the back. Although Fernandez is the more comfortable of the two in possession, they would push the Argentinian forward and leave Gallagher alone at the base of the midfield.
Liverpool would set up in a narrow 4-3-3 defensively, helping to block up the centre, with Diogo Jota usually sticking close to Gallagher. As a result the Chelsea midfielder would often give the ball away.
To help play out, Fernandez soon began to drop deeper, doubling up on Jota so that he would either get on the ball himself, or open up space for Gallagher.
Gakpo began to push forward to pick up Fernandez, but this would leave space behind him for Raheem Sterling to pick up the ball. Gakpo works hard but clearly isn’t a natural midfielder, failing to spot runs in behind him.
Liverpool weren’t strong defensively, but they were at least solid. Their narrow shape blocked up the centre, and when Chelsea played wide they would shift across as a unit. This would leave space open on the other flank, yet Chelsea rarely switched play quick enough to punish them.
Chelsea did utilise another tactic to try and play through the wide areas. Whereas the other centre-backs would remain narrow, Levi Colwill would pull out to the left touchline, while Ben Chilwell would push forward into attack in front of him. Trent Alexander-Arnold would push forward to be in a position to press Colwill, so Chelsea repeatedly went long to Chilwell, trying to attack the space behind Alexander-Arnold, however Ibrahima Konaté did a very good job of covering behind his full-back, winning these aerial balls.
Chelsea would use this same lop-sided shape defensively, having Chilwell push up to mark either Alexander-Arnold or Szoboszlai in midfield. This would leave Colwill isolated against Mohamed Salah though.
This is how Liverpool took the lead. Chilwell was pulled forward to pick up Alexander-Arnold, but Liverpool played around the Chelsea frontline’s pressure, with Mac Allister turning out and finding Salah from deep. The Egyptian ran at Colwill and slipped a through ball in behind for Luis Diaz to finish, the Colombian having attacked the box faster than the Chelsea defence dropped off.
Chelsea soon equalised following a corner though. Liverpool cleared the initial cross, but failed to get out in time to stop the second. Most of the attackers and midfielders had stepped out following the initial clearance, and bunched up on the side nearest the ball, whereas Chelsea kept plenty of men in the box. Liverpool again repelled the cross, however they weren’t in position to compete for the second ball, so Chilwell nodded it back into the area, where Axel Disasi scrambled it past Alisson Becker.
Liverpool generally sat back in a mid-block in the second half, only really pushing one man forward to press rather than doing so as a unit. This allowed Chelsea to simply hold onto possession, passing around Liverpool. As a result, Chelsea controlled the second half, although for all their possession, they struggled to actually break down Liverpool and create real chances.
Liverpool tried to get at Chelsea on the counter, however Chelsea’s back three ensured they had good cover, with Thiago Silva as excellent as ever.
Liverpool had a resurgence towards the end of the ninety minutes, when their young substitutes injected some energy into the game, allowing them to press Chelsea and win the ball back.
Neither side was anywhere near as bad as they were for the majority of last season, however it’s clear both teams are still very much works in progress.
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