LIVERPOOL 1-1 CHELSEA: POST GAME MUSINGS

Liverpool were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw against the European champions tonight. Chelsea were down to ten men in the dying embers of the first half after Reece James was sent off for handling Mané’s shot on the goalline. Mohamed Salah scored from the spot to cancel out Havertz’s headed opener. After the break, tried as they might, Liverpool just couldn’t break Chelsea down.

Read of for some random musings or thoughts post game.

• If we had a better forward than Minamino on the bench, he’d have been brought on and we’d have gone 4-2-3-1. All this talk of a need to sign a midfielder and it’s glaring we don’t have enough quality alternatives to the front three.

• Jota is only one man. He isn’t enough cover for all three. Going into another season with Minamino/Origi as backup and hoping they’ll somehow come good is risky to say the least. So when Mane and Salah have off days, we have no one else to come on in attack.

• Frustrating result but we move on. We’ll have to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge later in the season though. I feel the way the title race will be is, you have to win your home games against fellow title challengers and avoid defeat away. But with us dropping 2 today, we’ll need to take all 3 at the Bridge.

• Everything is not all of a sudden bleak just because we didn’t win tonight. It’s a frustrating result but it can happen. Elliott was promising. Matip was fantastic and Van Dijk looks back to his Rolls Royce best.

• Thank God we won’t have to face Tuchel’s triple decker bus every week. On to Leeds after the break. Some players will be barred from travelling, which is good. We’ll continue this race in earnest after the break.

• 7 points from the opening 3 games. Should be 9, but to be fair, nobody has 9 so far (Spurs could do so with a win over Watford tomorrow). We’re up there and we have to keep plugging away. Oh and Trent was great again. Created the most chances again. Shame we couldn’t finish.

• Tuchel’s Chelsea are like Simeone’s Atleti in a way. Very stubborn defensive setup and not easy to break through. With a man advantage we should have done better but alas, they escape with a point.

• The race is just beginning. We’re unbeaten in our last 13 Premier League games, winning 10. It’s not the end of the world. God forbid we had lost. We pick our chin up and go again.