Ben Twelves was at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon to watch Liverpool put in a decent display against Chelsea but ultimately saw their slim Champions League hopes ended.
Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
Premier League – Stamford Bridge – Sunday 10th May, 2015
Goals: Terry (5); Gerrard (44)
Simon Mignolet (Out of 10) – 7.5
Mignolet enjoyed another commanding afternoon between the sticks as he continues his impressive second half to the season.
Despite being relatively untroubled, and one dodgy punch aside, he was decisive when the home side swung balls into the box and was alert to developing situations ahead of him, dealing positively with everything that came his way.
Emre Can – 6.5
Despite being picked in an unfavorued position yet again, Can turned in a decent display at Stamford Bridge.
Limited to an extent by being played at right-back, the German powerhouse contributed well to the Reds’ play at times, especially second half, and bar a small number of defensive issues, the 21-year-old defended relatively well against Eden Hazard, growing in confidence as the game wore on.
Martin Skrtel – 7
The 30-year-old’s form since the turn of the year has been a big positive for Liverpool and Skrtel produced another solid display against Mourinho’s side.
He was booked for fouling Loic Remy when exposed 1v1 after 25 minutes, but after the caution the Slovakian was solid at the heart of the defence, where he competed strongly as ever and cleared his lines well all afternoon alongside winning some important tackles.
Dejan Lovren – 6
It was an improved afternoon for the much-maligned Croatian centre-back but he still endured a mixed display overall at Stamford Bridge.
Lovren looked strong and settled next to Skrtel at times winning some well-timed challenges, especially second half, but he was prone to moments of rashness and panic as he dived in on occasions and surrendered possession with poor distribution. Hit and miss from Lovren.
Glen Johnson – 6
The 30-year-old enjoyed a better afternoon than by his usual standards playing on his unnatural side in the Reds back four.
Johnson was far from excellent, but produced a couple of attacking bursts from bygone years and used the ball reliably for the majority, other than one abysmal clearance first half that handed the hosts an effort on goal.
Steven Gerrard – 7
The captain wasn’t as influential as we’ve come accustomed to seeing over the years, but still produced a decent performance in the deep-lying midfield role.
Gerrard used the ball well throughout, dictating play from deep especially second half and it was the inspirational captain who notched his second in two weeks with a well-placed header from Henderson’s free-kick. A better afternoon in his third-from-last Reds appearance.
Jordan Henderson – 6.5
The vice-captain turned in one of his less influential performances, but was still a solid if unspectacular performer in London.
Energetic as always and tried to produce a couple of his trade-mark runs from deep, Henderson was tidy in possession and delivered the pin-point cross for Gerrard to head home and level the scores but that was about all from the 24-year-old.
Philippe Coutinho – 7.5
In keeping with the majority of the season, Coutinho was once again the Reds shining light at a sun-drenched Stamford Bridge.
Everything Rodgers’ side did well going forward involved the Brazilian, and he was comfortably the Reds’ biggest attacking threat even though his clever work didn’t quite come off at times. Should arguably have scored from Sterling’s cut-back early on in the second half though.
Raheem Sterling – 7
The 20-year-old has been far from his best over recent weeks but he produced a better performance in the 1-1 draw.
Sterling tried to take the game to home side first half despite being clattered by Cesc Fabregas early on, without much joy, but he never hid and grew into the match as the game wore on and he looked a bigger threat second half.
Adam Lallana – 6
As has been the story of his season, Lallana flattered to deceive for the most part with a frustrating performance.
The 26-year-old barely featured in the first half hidden out wide though he did win the free-kick for Gerrard’s goal, but second half he improved for the duration he was on, linking well with Coutinho and Sterling at times before being withdrawn. Frustrating it took him so long to get in the game.
Rickie Lambert – 5
The boyhood Red endured a miserable afternoon in west London where he looked completely lost and was ineffective.
The 32-year-old lost Terry for the opening goal of the game, and failed to cause any problems for the home side or provide an outlet for his attacking midfield options, often not reading what they were going to do, making for a disjointed attacking set up.
Substitutes
Jerome Sinclair (on for Lambert 68th) 6
A difficult place to make his Premier League debut for Sinclair, but he showed signs of attacking endeavour with some intelligent movement as play developed.
Jordon Ibe (on for Lallana 71th) 6.5
The talented teenager was only on for the final 20 minutes but did produce some promising moments with a couple of mazy dribbles. Needs to work on his final ball.
Lucas (on for Gerrard 79th) N/A
Little time for Lucas to have made an impact after replacing Gerrard for the final 10 minutes though he did win one good tackle as Chelsea attempted to break.
Brendan Rodgers – 6.5
Aside from playing Emre Can out of position again and keeping faith in Glen Johnson, Rodgers was fairly spot on with his selection and tactics despite failing to break his Chelsea duck.
It was good to see the Reds boss introduce Sinclair for his Premier League debut, and bring on Ibe to inject some pace and directness to the Liverpool attack, though he could perhaps have allowed Lallana to stay on instead of withdrawing him when he was causing problems.
Referee: Andre Marriner – 6
Marriner did little wrong on the afternoon, but perhaps could have sent Fabregas off for a second bookable offence after his initial yellow for the tackle on Sterling. Now just three defeats in 17 games in matches under his watch.
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