0 voters
Unused subs: Adrian, Milner, Jones, Minamino, Tsimikas, Origi.
GOAL: Sadio MANE [50’]
GOAL: Sadio MANE [54’]
Sub: Thiago on, Henderson off 45’
Sub: Milner on, Keita off 64’
Sub: Minamino on, Fabinho off 86’
Note: Forgot to add Taki to the poll, but he was only on for two minutes.
Klopp teaching Lampard a lesson here. Champions are built through hard work and proper coaching and takes time, it is not bought.
Played brilliant in the second half. Chelsea were poor in my opinion. Thiago looked good as did everyone else. Was happy to see Ali save the pen and have a good save later on. Shoutout to Fabinho was excellent and now I feel we don’t need a new centre half.
Sadio has the mentality of a winner. Loved his second, got angry because of his poor pass and you could see the anger that drove him to chase the ball for his tap in.
Chelsea, shit, Franks a Fraud
6/6 here we gooooo
Never in doubt.
Much more like it from the champions; after last week’s wobble against a plucky but ultimately limited Leeds, there were concerns that Chelsea’s expensively assembled team would provide us with a real test. This was the proverbial chance to lay down a marker for the rest of the division.
The announcement that Fabinho would be partnering Virgil in central defence today, due to the absence of both Gomez and Matip, caused a few moments of panic in the pre-match thread; fortunately, there were far fewer from the man himself and he had an immaculate game. Although there are continued rumours linking us with Kabak and other centre halves, I for one would have no concerns if Fab had to fill in at the back.
Alisson has not been at his best lately- to be fair, he is not alone in that respect- and he was a virtual spectator throughout. However, the sign of a top class goalkeeper is that he maintains his concentration and Ali passed his one major test with flying colours, waiting and waiting and actually keeping both heels on the line to thwart Jorginho’s penalty attempt in the 75th minute. He also made a crisp save from Abraham in the dying minutes.
The rest of the defence hasn’t started well either but, again, they were barely tested by Fat Frank’s merry mercenaries.
After all the predictions of another action-packed encounter to match the 5-3 thriller at Anfield a couple of months ago, I suppose that it was inevitable that the first half would turn out to be a snooze fest. Bobby might have done better when his close-range shot was blocked by Christensen in the opening fifteen minutes, while Gini had a couple of tame/poor early efforts. At the other end, Werner had a shot which had Alisson scrambling (well, sort of) just after the half hour mark, while Robbo missed a decent chance shortly afterwards. Mo put a lovely ball across the six-yard box but nobody gambled on it; Christensen should have been sent off for a rugby tackle which denied Sadio a clear goalscoring opportunity- thank fuck Michael Oliver in the VAR box asked Paul Tierney to reconsider and the Dane rightfully received his marching orders on the stroke of half time.
The introduction of Thiago at half time was just what the doctor ordered; his guile and experience in breaking down packed defences soon showed as he started dictating play almost immediately. His ability to switch play from side to side had Chelsea stretched and opened up space through the middle for us to exploit.
Salah (who never passes, don’t forget) combined well with Firmino and the latter set up Mané for the opening goal, the Senegal international’s header giving the much maligned Kepa absolutely no chance.
The Chelsea goalkeeper then showed just why he is a laughing stock when he gifted Sadio his second goal just four minutes later; I watched Arrizabalaga quite a bit at Bilbao and he has all the ability to be a world class goalkeeper; sadly, it appears that he doesn’t have the mental fortitude required.
After that, the game just became an attack v defence training match, played almost at walking pace. Chelsea knew they were beaten; we knew that we could raise our game several notches if necessary, although Thiago’s clumsy challenge on Werner gave Jorginho the aforementioned opportunity to pull one back from the penalty spot.
It’s always nice to leave Stamford Bridge with three points; all the more so when we’ve been barely out of second gear. While some will say that the Christensen red card was the deciding moment, I would contend that we were already well in control and would have worked our way through them eventually anyway.
Arsenal next: we gifted them the three points in a match we completely dominated but somehow contrived to lose during Project Restart; their Community Shield victory was also gained largely against the run of play. We need to bring the highflying Gunners back to earth with a hefty bump.
WOTM: my other half’s sister. Her kids support Chelsea (blame their dad) and she invited us over so that I could watch it with them today (their dad left a couple of years ago) while the two sisters could have a good post-lockdown catch-up in the kitchen. And her legendary chocolate millefeuille is just as good as it’s always been.
Good result, but to be honest I’m fucking furious. What an opportunity to absolute twat these and serve notice on the rest of the league.
Sadio MOTM
Fab Honourable mention
2 wins and we move on.
Fantastic result, a good reminder that — despite our patchy form since February — we’re actually still quite a good side. 
One word for that: ‘Relentless’. That is close to the perfect game IMO, the way we controlled the play and smothered them. It’s a bit of a joke how much we dominated this game.
I don’t know what the older LFC teams were like but jeez the ball control of this team is off the charts. I keep getting the ‘Magnets Bitch’ scene of BB in my mind.
I think the whole team could get motm, but I’m going for Fab. Unfamiliar role, started a bit slow, but improved exponentially as the game went on and broke up so much of their play.
Finally, Klopp of you are reading this, thank you for the bit of Keita-Thiago foreplay. Hope to see many more minutes this season with them in the same midfield.
Champions performance, not even close.
Fabinho was immense.
Perfect game, 3 points and clean sheet a welcome aspect after a while. Thanks to Alisson for that. Well controlled game, tactically superior and what was made us the champions last season.
Mane was incredible, not just the two goals but the constant chasing down and the work rate incredible. Plus the red card due to his run, which was the turning point. Hence just shades the man of the match for me from a closer contender Fabinho. Who for me was top top class playing out of position. Better CB performance than we have seen for a while.
Thiago’s game was very good as well, penalty aside he’s very good closing down and spraying those passes dictating the midfield.
Our journey to invincibles continues!
Was hoping this was be a better indication of how well our season would go but the sending off spoiled that. Great games, loads of positives. Alis first pen save, Thiago fitting in brilliantly but have to say Fab playing so well was the best thing for me. Mo still seems on fire. The only downside was Bobby stills seems a little off even after his assist. On our way though.
PS meant to say was i the only one not impressed by Werner? Fab totally outplayed him all game
Clean sheet
Delighted, very professional though disappointed with the last 20, still doesn’t bother me so much.
I’d have taken it before, very impressed with Fabinho at the back, kept Werner quiet for most of it.
My picks: 3 clear performances from Sadio; Ali and Fab
Thiago is absolutely glorious. That ball on the 93rd minute. Wow.
And United got twatted by Woy. Can weekends get any bettef?
Good second half for us after that no-show in the first half. Chelsea hadn’t even a shadow of a chance with ten men. Our lads made the additional player count in full.
Mané showed his level tonight, brilliant on both goals. Alli with two great saves during the second half.
Good little run-out for our new world-class midfielder. Hopefully Hendo’s injury is nothing serious though. Fingers crossed!
Simply wow. Even 11 v 11 we looked supremely in control. Werner sat in Fabs pocket all game. Thiago just oozes class. Kepa is a bit shit