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Enzo Maresca reacts to Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Anfield ….

Enzo Maresca reacts to Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Anfield …..

Every defeat is disappointing but as Enzo Maresca rightly said after the loss to Liverpool at the weekend, if there was a way to get beaten then you would probably choose what happened at Anfield.

Chelsea, away at the current Premier League leaders who have won seven out of their opening eight top-flight matches under Arne Slot, can consider themselves very unfortunate not to have got anything from the game. Under Slot, the Reds have shown themselves to be extremely patient in possession – one of the big differences between his setup and Jurgen Klopp’s. On Sunday, however, Liverpool never got the chance to show that.

The Blues dominated possession – ending the match with 57.3% of the ball at Anfield. It caused frustration amongst the home supporters, whose side kept gifting the ball back to the visitors, who were very clever with what they did out of possession. Maresca tried to pack the midfield to nulify the threat of the Reds and while that did not work for the entirety of the game, there were some instances on Sunday that saw Chelsea get the better of Liverpool in that regard.

Malo Gusto, used at left-back with the surprise return of Reece James on the right-hand side, would drift closer to the middle of the pitch as we have seen on numerous occasions this season. Gusto’s presence in a more central area essentially gave Chelsea a four-man midfield when their defenders had the ball.

 

The Frenchman was used almost in that left-sided attacking midfielder role, rather than as another No.6 in possession. Whenever Chelsea had the ball at the back with James, Tosin Adarabioyo or Levi Colwill – in the first-half – we would see Romeo Lavia in the middle of a midfield trio of Cole Palmer (on the right) and Moises Caicedo (left). Gusto would be slightly ahead of them to offer support on the left-hand side to Jadon Sancho on the wing.

 

Maresca knew Liverpool would be instructed to press with a front four of Dominik Szoboszlai, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah. Slot has done that already numerous times since becoming Reds head coach and it can leave the double pivot of Curtis Jones – usually Alexis Mac Allister – and Ryan Gravenberch quite vulnerable at times.

That is why Chelsea dominated the ball – something Maresca loves his team to do. But the reason the Blues often looked vulnerable in defence was because they were transitioned on too often. Silly turnovers of possession allowed Liverpool to counter-attack at pace; something the Reds are one of the best in European football at doing.

Slot, speaking to the press after the game finished, was full of compliments for Chelsea, who gave Liverpool their toughest test of the season so far. He said: “If I would be a Chelsea manager, I would say if we can play like this at Anfield, we can compete for a top four position.”

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