- 2 days ago
The biggest game of the weekend saw a Chelsea team struggling for form, meet a Liverpool side on a run of two defeats. After 90+ minutes of chaos, it was Enzo Maresca's men who emerged with a 2-1 win, and Adam Clery explains how Estevao's late late winner was the very least they deserves.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel.
00:03Happy international break!
00:05Uh-huh, and I was fully emotionally prepared today
00:08to be doing a Manchester United managerial Saki Saki video,
00:12but that didn't happen.
00:14So instead, I thought we would have a little look at Chelsea
00:16because I was seemingly a lot more impressed with them
00:19than all the commentators, pundits and in-studio analysts were
00:23on Sky this weekend.
00:25Because, as we all know, Enzo Mareska didn't get the shiny new centre-back
00:29he wanted this summer, and then was without his first, second, third and fourth choices
00:35through injury and suspension, and then lost his fifth and sixth choices
00:40during the match itself, and still managed to beat the reigning champions of England.
00:46And, you know, sorry if this offends, but I think that is good.
00:55Alright, so they were already at the bare-bones Chelsea
00:57before they lost these two during the game.
01:00Mareska goes and answers the Gusto or Rhys James question
01:04by starting them both, but with Gusto in the pivot
01:08and Rhys James at right-back, which was a bit of a shock.
01:11This, in turn, allowed Enzo Fernandes to push up
01:13and replace Cole Palmer in the tent, and it looked weird on paper,
01:17and it did have its problems in the game,
01:19but ultimately, this decision is what wins Chelsea the match.
01:24Now, we have already done the what is going wrong with Liverpool this season video,
01:28and the main thing we highlighted was that the lack of intense pressure from the forwards
01:33means that finding key creative players between their lines was,
01:37well, not easy, but certainly easier than it was last season.
01:41Liverpool want to press you high, but do not have the intensity
01:45or the coordination to do it right now.
01:48So, it's a bit like wanting to have a really healthy diet and eat well,
01:53but instead, every time you go past the fridge,
01:55you just scoop the butter out with your hands, don't you?
01:59And you roll it all in your face and down your mouth.
02:02Now, either Arnest Slott went and watched that video
02:04or just, I don't know, watches his own team every single week,
02:08you decide, because Liverpool's game plan here
02:10was to go man-for-man completely in the midfield,
02:14which is not a shit idea.
02:16In particular, Gravenberch was given the job of being really, really aggressive on Fernandes,
02:21stopping him turning when he received the ball,
02:24and Sabozlai was doing the same with Caicedo.
02:27This is literally the first time Chelsea properly get the ball in this game,
02:30and you've got Caicedo tightly marked here.
02:32He can't receive it, so they instead go to Gusto,
02:36but McAllister gets right into the back of him,
02:39and just as it rolls through,
02:41you can see Gravenberch is taking his position entirely from where Fernandes is.
02:46And it was actually, to be totally fair,
02:49really effective, this.
02:50Like, if you look at the combined pass maps of both Caicedo and Enzo Fernandes,
02:56Chelsea's two best progressors, you would argue,
02:58in that first half, you will note,
03:01if you take a little second,
03:02that there is not a single central pass going forward.
03:07So what Arnes Lott had done was he correctly identified a weakness in his own team,
03:12made a tweak to address it,
03:13and in the process, completely cut off all of Chelsea's central progression.
03:18That's good management.
03:20The thing is, my friends, for every action,
03:22there is a re-action,
03:24and the cost of Liverpool doing this
03:26was that they opened up an entire other way
03:28that Chelsea could suddenly hurt them,
03:30and that involved
03:33Mo Salah.
03:34By giving Gravenberch the just-sit-on-Enzo Fernandes job
03:38and pulling Sobberzlai out of the front line of pressure
03:41to do the same with Caicedo,
03:43you then need another body in that front line
03:45to help Isak press the centre-backs.
03:47And because Liverpool like Gakpo to be a little deeper
03:50so they can sort of shuffle over a bit,
03:52that means it is Mo Salah's job.
03:55Now, it is pretty straightforward for Isak to press the centre-backs
03:58because he plays in this area anyway.
04:01He can go out to whichever one he wants,
04:02but it's harder for Mo Salah
04:04because he's taking his starting position
04:06from wide on the right.
04:08And the complication comes
04:10because before he can jump to this defender here,
04:13he first has to make sure
04:14he isn't leaving Mark Cugurea completely open.
04:17So he always has to angle his run in such a way
04:21that he cuts off the pass behind him.
04:23There's a little moment here really early on
04:26where Chelsea have it at the back.
04:27Caicedo's dropped too deep for Sobberzlai to go with him.
04:30So he's sitting on Fernandes instead
04:32and Salah realises he has to go to the man with the ball.
04:36As he does, he has a little check
04:37to see where Cugurea is first,
04:39curves his run to block the pass
04:41and then pushes onto the centre-back.
04:44And that is, again, to be fair, very good.
04:46That's exactly what you want him to do.
04:48But Chelsea use that to their advantage
04:50and do the oldest trick in the book,
04:53the little Roberto Di Zerbi Brighton bounce pass.
04:56To not get into Cugurea,
04:58they just have to go via Fernandes
05:01and one, two, bang,
05:03you've played around Salah with relative ease.
05:06Now, Mo Salah is many wonderful things,
05:09but a high-energy defensive winger
05:11is not one of them.
05:12So there's never been any expectation
05:14from any manager he's had at Liverpool
05:15to be making lung-busting 30-yard recovery runs
05:19in these situations.
05:20You want him, especially at 33 now,
05:23to be conserving his energy
05:25for potentially winning you the game.
05:27So as a result, when Liverpool play a 4-2-3-1,
05:30if the full-back does escape Salah's attention,
05:32it's always been the job then
05:34of Ryan Gravenberch to cover a cross
05:36and it's never really been a problem, right?
05:39But Chelsea, in this game, make it one.
05:42Nothing comes of this moment,
05:43but after he knocks the ball around the corner,
05:46Fernandes takes full advantage of the fact
05:48they've now moved Gravenberch out of the way to cover
05:51and gets into this space here.
05:54That should have been a warning.
05:57So just really quick recap here, right?
05:59Chelsea are aware that if they want to play through
06:02the very centre of the pitch,
06:03they have to manoeuvre Ryan Gravenberch
06:06out of that picture,
06:07which they are more than capable of doing.
06:09But also, if for some reason
06:11he doesn't go out of the picture,
06:13if he stays central to stop those passes,
06:16then Chelsea can end up
06:18with a 2-v-1 down that side.
06:22Just a couple of minutes after that other warning,
06:24Salah again tries to press
06:26while cutting off the pass to Kukurea,
06:28but Badia Shile just dinks it over the top of him.
06:31Now this time, Gravenberch cannot get out there
06:34because he's got his hands down the back
06:35of Enzo Fernandes' shorts,
06:38which just completely leaves
06:40Conor Bradley in trouble.
06:41He's up against the left-back
06:42and Alejandro Garnaccio.
06:44So, with both of these things in mind,
06:47would you like to see
06:48where both of Chelsea's goals come from?
06:51Yes, you would.
06:53First off,
06:53Caicedo giving us both a goal-of-the-month contender
06:56and this soon-to-be-immortal
06:57Van Dijk twerking meme,
06:59but wind it back
07:00and you will see all of this in action.
07:04Salah wants to close down here,
07:06but is looking at Kukurea
07:07and thinks better of it.
07:09Gravenberch is centrally positioned
07:11to stop those central passes
07:12and will not let Fernandes go,
07:14so,
07:14unable to drag Salah out of the equation,
07:17Fernandes shows for a pass
07:19he knows he is not going to get.
07:22Soberslay is now the one
07:23who has to go to the ball,
07:24but does really well
07:26to keep a pass into Caicedo
07:28blocked off by his run.
07:29So,
07:30what does Chelsea do?
07:32Why, it's our old friend
07:33from 10 minutes ago.
07:35The bounce pass.
07:36It goes in Augusto
07:37and now,
07:38look,
07:39right,
07:39one,
07:40Liverpool need McAllister
07:41to somehow defend
07:43this entire area on his own.
07:45He is completely overloaded
07:47and Kukurea has slipped behind Salah
07:50to give them another
07:512v1 down the left.
07:53Now, obviously,
07:54Caicedo fucking thunders it in,
07:56so it's kind of a moot point,
07:57but if he had instead
07:59elected to pass this,
08:00look at the wide angle.
08:01If he had just rolled it
08:02out to this side,
08:03I would argue
08:04Liverpool would have been
08:05in just as much trouble
08:06as they were
08:08with the shot.
08:09That was superbly,
08:11superbly
08:12well orchestrated.
08:13Now,
08:14I know what you're thinking,
08:15right,
08:15this was not a drubbing
08:16by any stretch of the imagination.
08:18Liverpool equalised
08:19and the game swung
08:20so wildly back and forth
08:22they could just as easily
08:23have won it.
08:24So how much credit
08:26can we actually give
08:27this game plan
08:28for the winning goal?
08:30Well,
08:31for me,
08:31Jeff,
08:32still quite a lot
08:33and I'll show you why.
08:34Cheers,
08:35Jeff.
08:35First of all,
08:36I just want to heap
08:36even more praise
08:38on Moises Caicedo
08:39for a second year
08:40because in the 95th minute,
08:42receiving this pass
08:43under heavy pressure,
08:44I think 999,999
08:48out of a million footballers
08:51would just whomp this
08:53into the channel
08:54down the line.
08:55I certainly would
08:56but obviously that doesn't
08:58really do anything for you.
08:59You just lose the ball
09:00and Caicedo
09:01is better than that
09:03so he hits a perfect
09:03blind reverse pass
09:05through two players
09:07because he knows
09:09just like before
09:10if Chelsea can move
09:11the ball quickly
09:12out to that left-hand side
09:14they can get in
09:16behind Salah.
09:17Lavia as well
09:18does not take a moment
09:19to address the situation.
09:20He keeps it moving
09:21and from here
09:22to here
09:23within seconds
09:24Chelsea are
09:26in that space
09:27down their left-hand side
09:28and it's a 3v1.
09:31Like I hold my hands up here.
09:32I did not appreciate that
09:34when I was watching it
09:35at the time
09:35but when I went back
09:36I could not believe
09:38how good,
09:39how ballsy,
09:40how important
09:41that pass
09:43from Caicedo was.
09:44He's
09:44he's the best midfielder
09:46in the league right now
09:47for me.
09:48Like it immediately
09:49forces Endo
09:50to push up
09:51Gravenbirch
09:51can't cover a cross
09:52because he's now
09:53at centre-back
09:54and Chelsea have
09:54three players
09:56attacking this area
09:57that only Dominic Sobberslay
09:59not an actual defender
10:01remember
10:01can conceivably cover.
10:03Now yes,
10:04obviously Liverpool
10:04do get back in
10:05they do manage
10:06to reset a bit
10:07but it's this idea
10:08of playing early
10:10into the space
10:11behind Salah
10:11that was evident
10:12from the very first minute
10:14that even allows
10:15the chance
10:15to be created
10:16in the first place.
10:17The through ball
10:18is absolutely perfect
10:19the cross just
10:20kills the goalkeeper
10:22and the defenders
10:22and it gets Chelsea
10:24a three point
10:25I genuinely think
10:26they really deserved.
10:27And just to really quickly
10:29throw a Liverpool slant
10:30on this goal
10:31for any
10:32Reds who for some reason
10:33sat through
10:34this whole thing
10:35there are three moments
10:36in that winning goal
10:37that would boil your piss
10:40if you were a manager.
10:41First, Sobberslay
10:42and Jones
10:42both get back
10:43into position here
10:44but neither of them
10:45attempt to challenge
10:46Fernandes.
10:47Second, Gravenberge
10:48does initially
10:49pick up Kukurea
10:50when he gets
10:51into the box
10:51but then passes him
10:52off to Endo
10:53like you can see him
10:54pointing
10:55but neither of them
10:56react quick enough
10:57to the pass
10:58and finally
10:59this.
11:00I said it on Twitter
11:01at the time
11:01right I do think
11:02maybe Andy Robertson
11:03was carrying a knock
11:04by this point
11:05but even
11:06if you had
11:07one leg
11:08hanging off
11:09this cannot
11:10be your body shape
11:12while you are
11:13defending
11:13like at any point
11:14in the game
11:15let alone
11:15in the last few minutes.
11:17He has got
11:17all the physical
11:19readiness there
11:19of someone who's
11:20just brought
11:21the big shop in
11:22from the car
11:23and that is what
11:24gives Estevão
11:24the gap he needs
11:26to score.
11:26So yeah overall
11:27like an absolutely
11:28insane
11:29mad game of football
11:30but one I genuinely
11:31think when you look
11:32at the game plan
11:33and how it was
11:33executed across the match
11:34that Chelsea really
11:36did deserve to win
11:38I think anyway.
11:39As ever though
11:40we're far more
11:40interested to know
11:41in what you think
11:42so please do get it
11:43down in the comments
11:44below and another
11:44reminder for you
11:45we now have channel
11:46memberships here at
11:47ACFC
11:48we've been doing
11:48little live streams
11:50and we'll go through
11:50some other little
11:51things and you can
11:52contribute and ask us
11:52some questions
11:53and you join in
11:54and it's all a nice
11:55big happy thing
11:56so you can sign up
11:56for those with the
11:57link in the description
11:58and just showing them
11:59off again.
12:00The ACFC kits
12:01we had our first
12:03games as a team
12:05on Friday
12:05everybody in the office
12:07and we got to the
12:07semi-finals of a
12:09tournament
12:09thank you very much
12:10for asking
12:10which does make us
12:12losers
12:12but good ones.
12:14You can get me
12:14across all the
12:15social medias
12:15at Adam Cleary
12:16C-L-E-R-Y
12:17obviously subscribe to
12:18the channel if you
12:18haven't already
12:19it's really good
12:20I think
12:21and I'll see you
12:22later.
12:24That's it.
12:25Bye.
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