Liverpool and Chelsea draw a tense Anfield draw, with Reece James receiving a dubious red card.
In a 1-1 draw at Anfield that saw both teams lose their perfect starts to the Premier League season.
Liverpool and Chelsea were forced to settle for a share of the points when Reece James was sent off in controversial manner.
After a magnificent Kai Havertz header from a James corner in the 22nd minute, European winners
Chelsea seemed to be in command at Anfield, and Thomas Tuchel may have thought his team might have
gone on to record an intimidating victory against the 2019-20 champs.
However, Liverpool’s red card on the stroke of halftime gave them not just a chance to equalise that
Mohamed Salah never seemed like missing.
but also a man advantage that enabled them to control possession in the second half.
Chelsea, on the other hand, never looked like surrendering in a superb defensive display that saw them
leave Merseyside the happier of the two teams.
A Premier League first-half classic.
What more could you ask for in the first half like that?
Mad tension, a magnificent atmosphere, tactical complexity and diversity, and right before the break, a
big old dose of rage and wrath.
Even the rivalry between Chelsea and Liverpool that surfaced brought back memories of Jose Mourinho
and Rafael Benitez’s golden days.
This was Premier League in its purest form, and it was all the better for it.
In the opening ten minutes, Liverpool seemed to be playing with recklessness across the board, with
central midfielders who would normally concentrate on shuttling and stodging up the middle of the pitch
rushing forward, with Harvey Elliott and Jordan Henderson having excellent shooting opportunities.
The game seemed to be going towards Jurgen Klopp’s side from the start. Trent Alexander-Arnold was
directing play from the outside of his own half, while a four-man frontline with Elliott or Henderson
pushed high up seemed to have stunned the visitors.
Chelsea’s sheer muscularity, on the other hand, paid off. Romelu Lukaku was the perfect out ball, winning
long balls while also propelling his team ahead.
This match was touted as a duel between Virgil van Dijk and the Belgian. Instead, Lukaku went for Joel
Matip.
Jorginho and N’Golo Kante were on every loose ball in midfield before Liverpool had even noticed it.
With the fantastic opening, Havertz epitomised Chelsea’s combination of elegance and power.
He was tall enough to force himself at the near post on Andrew Robertson, and he had the panache to
flick it high over Alisson and into the back post.
For a while, it seemed like this would be Chelsea’s signature victory, the day when Thomas Tuchel would
have to admit that his team could no longer compete in the title race.
However, in typical English form, a huge dispute about handball swayed the game in VAR’s favour.
The pressure of Matip forced Marcos Alonso into a nervy header with Edouard Mendy ready to clear the
ball after Sadio Mane flicked a corner across the goal from the near post.
The ball bounced off the crossbar and finally found its way to Diogo Jota, who had two volleys saved on
the line by James.
On the first time, the ball clipped up onto the defender’s arm after hitting his leg first. All that was needed
was a quick VAR intervention.
Although it may seem unfair, Anthony Taylor appears to have followed the rules of the game properly.
“Where a player denies the other side a goal or an apparent goal-scoring chance by committing a
handball violation, the player is sent off wherever the crime happens,” Law 12 plainly says.
If the referee felt it was a handball offence — and an earlier portion of that rule about what defines
handball as subject to interpretation — then a penalty and a red card were the proper outcomes.
Christina Unkel, a professional referee, agrees. She said, “Looking at the action,” “Reece enlarges his body
abnormally, preventing the ball from entering the goal.
The deflection off his body does not negate the handling penalty, and the effect is so significant that it
prevents a goal.
Though the new rule gives referees greater leeway to be subjective and the ability to assess a justified
placement of the arm owing to the player’s body movement, justifying it on the goal line is very tough.
For acts that prevent a clear goal-scoring chance if the ball is attempted to be played, double jeopardy
(red card and missing the following match) has been eliminated.
Denial of a goal-scoring chance has always been and will continue to be a red flag since no one can ever
play the ball fairly with their hand.”
More:
Nebraska football Huskers against. Illini, Week 1 Predictions
What more was there for James to do?
Chelsea would have been a goal up in the Anfield dressing room if Alonso hadn’t headed the ball out of
Edouard Mendy’s hands.
He did not seem to be attempting to touch the ball (the IFAB has eliminated any implication of purpose
from its rules), but he had denied Liverpool a goal that would have been scored if his hand had not been
there.
Chelsea maintains their position.
Tuchel’s troops, stranded behind enemy lines, did what most people would do in their situation.
They assessed their situation and decided, “Yeah, we’ll accept that point at Anfield for now.” Who knows,
maybe a late set piece will provide them with an opportunity for a little more.
As a result, we witnessed a resurgence of the Chelsea of Tuchel’s early rule, when they initially began their
practice of erecting a steel ring around their penalty area. Outside the box, do anything you want to them,
but don’t anticipate an easy entrance inside it.
Liverpool had just one ball inside the penalty box in the opening half-hour of the second half, and
although they had a lot of touches, they were mostly in wide areas where they couldn’t really challenge
Mendy.
Long-range thumpers from Robertson and Fabinho may elicit gasps from the crowd, and you never know
when a deflection will come your way, but Chelsea was building up this game such that players like those
two, rather than Salah, Mane, and Jota, would be the ones to defeat them.
That is not a terrible strategy in such cases.
Even the addition of Thiago was insufficient to break Chelsea down.
The passes fizzed off the boots that much faster, yet they were still waves crashing on the rocks.
Liverpool needed a lot more time than 45 minutes to wear down this formidable defence.
Source:
