A Tactical Analysis of How Liverpool Defeated Chelsea and Ruined Torres’ Debut

7 FEBRUARY 2011 BY DANNYHOLLIDAY

Torres had 29 touches of the ball in 66 minutes, showing how he was deprived of the ball against his old employers. Photo: Guardian

An astute piece of tactical prowess from Kenny Dalglish ensured that new £50m signing Fernando Torres endured a debut to forget for Chelsea. Given all the hype of the fourth most expensive player purchase of all time, it wasLiverpool who went to Stamford Bridge and spoiled the party with a 1-0 victory. I intend to focus on exactly how Kenny Dalglish won the war of tactics against his counterpart Carlo Ancellotti.

At Liverpool, Torres liked working across the line to get possession. On his Chelsea debut he was simply too narrow.

Kenny Dalglish travelled to Stamford Bridge with victory in mind, as well as limiting Chelsea’s ability to get the ball wide and stretch the pitch. He did this with almost a 5-4-1 formation, that allowed Martin Kelly and Glen Johnson to push higher up the field and still eliminate any threat from the likes of Jose Bosingwa down the Chelsea flanks. That left Dirk Kuyt leading the line on his own, with Raul Meireles slotting in just behind.

Chelsea went for a 4-4-2 system consisting of a diamond midfield. This set up meant that John Obi Mikel could sit deeper and play his usual role and allow Nicolas Anelka to sit in the pocket behind Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba. On paper this formation seemed to distinctly lack any form of width. Carlo Ancellotti’s decision to play Drogba, Anelka and Torres in the same team meant that Florent Malouda had to be satisfied with a place on the Chelsea bench.

So how did Dalglish’s set up ensure Chelsea has little joy in terms of creating chances? Well, quite simply he took away any threat in the wide positions. The tireless Martin Kelly did an excellent job of containing Ashley Cole, as did Glen Johnson in stopping Jose Bosingwa. If either Liverpool full-back was beaten their was always Agger, Skrtel and Carragher ensuring nothing came of it.

As for Fernando Torres, he simply could not play in the same way he did for Liverpool. Whilst I agree this may not necessarily be a bad thing, yesterday it certainly was. Torres was essentially one of three Strikers for Chelsea, which in my opinion did not work. In the first half in particular, Drogba and Torres took it in turns to go wide and get the ball; however this never really came to anything and meant the pair stayed narrow to try and get more success. Torres was all-too-easy to mark out of the game. Liverpool always had a spare man even when they were on the back foot. Lucas dropped back and often stayed goal side of Anelka; which meant that even when Chelsea pressed forward, Liverpool had a spare man to ensure they were not outnumbered.

Chances came about from getting the ball into wide positions; something that Liverpool continued to do throughout the game. The almost infamous Maxi Rodriguez miss came about from Glen Johson venturing down the wide positions and getting the ball to Gerrard. Likewise, the winning goal from Meireles came about because Liverpool continued to stretch the play and try and go around Chelsea, rather than through the middle.

Yes, Liverpool did only manage to muster up seven attempts at goal (four of which were off target), but essentially their stubborn set up ensured they were never really going to be broken down by Chelsea. Chelsea on the other hand were limited to ONE (yes ONE) attempt on target in 90 minutes (which was an angled shot from Malouda that Reina had covered easily); a woeful statistic when playing in front of your home crowd.

In essence, Chelsea boss Carlo Ancellotti was outdone by Dalglish in terms of his tactical set up. Liverpool are starting to work very hard and are reaping the rewards. They want to play for the manager, they want to win games and their confidence is increasing week by week. With four wins in their last four games, as well as four clean sheets it is clear to see that Dalglish is doing something right. I do not think Anelka, Drogba and Torres can play in the same starting line up. Given the fact that Chelsea played a different system earlier in the week and scored four goals against Sunderland you almost have to ask why Ancellotti changed it at all. I would fully expect to see Florent Malouda starting Chelsea’s next match against Fulham at Craven Cottage. If Chelsea are to even salvage any title hopes whatsoever they will have to score goals; and any team that faces their narrow set up in coming weeks will find them easy to contain and easy to breach at the back.

So that’s my take on Sunday’s events. Suffice to say that Fernando Torres showed little of what he has to offer as a Chelsea player. I do however attribute this to the formation in which he was playing. To drop Anelka/Drogba and go back to 4-4-2 (with a flat midfield) I think would see Chelsea get back to winning ways. Until that time, we may well see another dejected Fernando Torres by the end of Monday night’s fixture.