Liverpool outclass Chelsea to show differences in standards

LIVERPOOL, England – Mauricio Pochettino could have been forgiven for flashing a rueful smile when Darwin Núñez hit the woodwork for the fourth time in Liverpool's 4-1 win over Chelsea at Anfield. After all, this kind of frustrating inadequacy is usually a trait of Chelsea's underperforming players.

Pochettino still had plenty of excuses to shake his head at his team, whether it was the defensive errors of Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell or Benoit Badiashile, the wayward finishing of Mykhailo Mudryk or Christopher Nkunku's inability to remain in the game. Chelsea even had good reason to question the competence of referee Paul Tierney and his VAR officials following the failure to award penalties after fouls by Virgil van Dijk on Conor Gallagher and Nkunku .

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But even though Núñez became the first player since records began to hit the post or crossbar four times in a Premier League match – the Uruguayan striker hit the post with a first-half penalty – Chelsea were still blown away by a frenetic Liverpool side. who maintained a five-point lead over champions Manchester City at the top of the table.

It's often the difference between teams at the top and those miles off the pace. The best teams overcome setbacks and find a way to win, as Liverpool have persistently done, but teams like Chelsea, who are 20 points behind Liverpool in 10th, collapse as soon as things start to go wrong. be unfavorable. These two sides are set to meet again on February 25 in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, but Chelsea have provided little evidence that they will deny Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp the first trophy of a possible quadruple on next month before he leaves his post at the end of the season.

Chelsea's problem, and therefore Pochettino's, is that they have too many young, inexperienced and naive players in their team to have any real hope of success in the short and medium term. Liverpool have one in Núñez, the 24-year-old's club record £85m signing from Benfica, but Klopp has the advantage of being able to surround him with players who have been there and done that . If Núñez misfires, there are plenty of others in the team who can step in and minimize the downside of the striker missing so many chances.

Robbie Fowler, Liverpool's all-time Premier League top scorer with 163 goals, summed up Núñez's conundrum during the match in his role as a TNT Sports pundit.

“There comes a point where you can no longer be considered a raw player,” Fowler said. “I think Núñez will score goals and be a difficult player, but I think at some point he will have to be more clinical.”

While Klopp can rely on Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz to score goals in the absence of the injured Mohamed Salah – both scored in this match – Liverpool can withstand Núñez's shortcomings.

But Pochettino does not have this luxury. At 39, Silva has plenty of experience, but the former Paris Saint-Germain defender no longer has the legs to do the job he needs to do in the Chelsea defense. As for Raheem Sterling, the 29-year-old has a stellar past, but he lacks the leadership skills expected of a player with such experience.

However, beyond those two, Pochettino simply has players still trying to fulfill their potential, including 26-year-old Nkunku. The club have invested almost £1 billion in new players since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital takeover in May 2022, but Pochettino – Chelsea's fourth permanent manager in that period – only sees players with need wise old heads around them. When Klopp added Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister to his squad over the last 12 months, they were immediately surrounded by trophy-winning knowledge and experience and all have thrived at Anfield.

At Chelsea, many promising young players saw their careers stagnate because they did not benefit from the experience around them. There's clearly an exciting player in Mudryk, but will we ever see him at Chelsea? The same question applies to Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo. Unfortunately, with all three players costing over £300million between them, their struggles are intensified by their inflated transfer fees. Pochettino did not hide his frustration after the match.

“It’s so clear that they were much better than us,” he said. “We lost every duel. Every time we got the ball back after one or two touches, we lost it.

“We weren't good enough. We have to learn in this kind of match, against a team that is at the top and always fighting for trophies. We know we have to surpass ourselves. We have to have more confidence in ourselves .”

While Chelsea continue to drift, Liverpool are moving forward and a win at Arsenal on Sunday will reduce the title race to a two-way battle with City.

“The story of the match is the story of the match, but it could have been different if we hadn't started the way we did,” Klopp said after his 200th Premier League win as coach of Liverpool. “I’m super happy with the performance.

“But the next game is in four days, which I didn't think was possible, but the next one is huge. Arsenal.

“Let's collect and go again.”