Liverpool 2-2 Chelsea: Suarez comes back to ‘bite’ Chelsea

Branislav Ivanovic talks with Luis Suarez as they walk in for half time during the match between Liverpool and Chelsea at Anfield on April 21, 2013. (Getty Images)

With Tottenham having won their tie against Manchester City, Chelsea knew they had to win to tighten their grip on a top 4 spot. With all the talk about two of Liverpool’s former elites coming back to town, this match surely had all the ingredients to bring out a mouth-watering clash.

It ultimately boiled down to a midfield clash with Brendan Rodgers’ possession play directly challenged by the superior midfield of Chelsea. And as usual a certain Uruguayan just had to make the headlines, turning into a hero and villain at the same time.

Liverpool starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Pepe Reina; Jose Enrique, Daniel Agger, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson; Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva; Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing; Luis Suarez

Chelsea starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Ryan Bertrand, David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta; John Obi Mikel, Ramires; Oscar, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard; Fernando Torres

Liverpool’s midfield strategy fails

Brendan Rodgers decided to pull a Fergie by fielding the unexpected Henderson in a false No 9 role. This was a tactically sound move as his presence would only add weight to Liverpool’s midfield, which had the difficult task of taming a Chelsea midfield that has already run rings round the run-away leaders Manchester United.

The match began with almost an immediate chance for a Glen Johnson goal but his toe-poke went wide off the post. After that Chelsea began to slowly grow into the game as they took possession, quite a lot of it being inside Liverpool’s half.

Liverpool on the other hand could only keep the ball inside their half and looked for Coutinho and Suarez to create chances on the counter. Coutinho, however never got a proper foot into the game as he was easily outmuscled on the ball all the time. He was not completely to blame however as Henderson never really caught up to Coutinho’s intelligent moves.

Coutinho – Pass stats (Credits – Squaka)

In the end, it was the individual quality of the Chelsea midfield, which had the likes of Hazard and Mata that determined the domination in midfield. They were able to overcome Liverpool’s tactics. While it’s true that Chelsea scored in the first half, sadly for them the credit does not go to them as much as it goes to Liverpool’s dismal set-piece marking that allowed Oscar of all people, to score. There were many moments where the Chelsea midfield combined well to create a chance but they never were able to penetrate or even get a proper shot on target as Torres lacked the incisiveness that was needed.

The Sturridge change

Rodgers had obviously realised that a change in the status quo was needed to shake things up a bit and what better way for that than to introduce the ex-Chelsea player Daniel Sturridge, a man accused of playing very selfishly in his Chelsea days. He replaced the ineffective Coutinho and almost immediately created a chance out of nothing when he struck the post with a wicked shot off his left foot, a good few yards outside the box.

It was no surprise then, to see the source of Liverpool’s equaliser. Suarez was the creator, as he floated in a perfect cross, and Sturridge took just seven minutes to register his goal, side-footing in past Cech and levelling the scores. Suarez however, would soon undo Liverpool’s hard work – the Uruguayan very stupidly handballed from a Chelsea corner straight afterwards and a penalty was duly awarded. Pepe Reina attempted his best mind games on Eden Hazard, but the Belgian remained unaffected, scoring from the penalty spot to restore Chelsea’s advantage.

Suarez steals the headlines

After his handball that allowed Chelsea to take the lead, Suarez seemed shaken and off pace. Then something bizarre happened. During a tussle with Ivanovic, Suarez bit the defender on the arm. This isn’t the first time however as he previously had a taste of Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax; for which he was suspended for seven games. The referee never saw this incident however.

Rafa’s strange changes

Rafa Benitez has been previously criticized for his substitutions late in the game, and this time was no different either. As Hazard was subbed off for Benayoun when Chelsea were starting to go sit-back and defend, in a bid to protect their one-goal lead. Even that would not have created much doubt had it not been for the next substitution that came where Victor Moses was brought on. Why not simply sub Hazard for Moses from the start?

Chelsea denied three crucial points

An inexplicably long 6 minutes of injury time witnessed the most dramatic of endings when Suarez found the net in the very last minute from Daniel Sturridge’s cross, getting away from Branislav Ivanovic to head past Cech.

Both players were lucky to be on the field as the referee missed both Strurridge’s late tackle on Ryan Bertrand and Surarez’s bite. But in all, a silly result for Chelsea. They have to carry on from here as the battle for a place in Europe now become tighter than ever. Liverpool now have to worry about the kind of action the FA would take against Suarez.