Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
STAMFORD BRIDGE – One of the first quirks you notice about Bruno Saltor, which sets him apart from the sharply dressed Graham Potter, is that he has a habit of tucking his tracksuit into his socks. Every bit the caretaker, this was not so much a job audition to replace his old friend, but a reminder you can kill the man but so easily kill the idea.
That is especially true when the “idea”, or what Todd Boehly likes to call the “vision”, the “project” or some other buzzword, was not Potter’s doing. The fact Chelsea create chance after chance but nearly always waste them has not changed since Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa. It’s just that there is a little more light at the end of the tunnel, if the precision and planning of Julian Nagelsmann is imminent.
Chelsea’s next manager knows they are walking into chaos. Potter was not so unpopular that it explains why his former players were suddenly improved, even if they had reservations about his experience. You can probably attribute that to Liverpool’s own disordered mess.
There is one big difference between these two clubs, who just as they did at Anfield in January showed exactly why this is now a mid-table battle rather than one which decides titles or the European places. Chelsea’s next big revolution is just around the corner; at Liverpool, the wheels of change will turn a little more slowly.
Still, they matched each other for moments of farce. Ben Chilwell looked up, picked out Enzo Fernandez out on the left, and launched the ball at him; it rebounded off the back of his head. By the time it was at the other end of the pitch, Curtis Jones stumbled on it, fallen backwards onto the floor and earned what most young Liverpool midfielders dream of – a stadium full of people comparing him to Steven Gerrard. It wasn’t particularly flattering.
This began to feel a little like a Carabao Cup tie, rather than a meeting of the teams who have won two out of the last four Champions League finals.
Then came the breakthrough – or not, as it turned out. Almost as farcical, Kai Havertz effort bouncing off Alisson’s face, and back onto his arm for the goal to be disallowed.
Just as if Potter had never been away, there was so much positive play: Liverpool’s makeshift midfield was overrun, and on the left, where Kostas Tsimikas had replaced Andy Robertson for reasons known to Jurgen Klopp alone, Reece James was almost given free rein – but goals were a problem. Bruno even left Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of the squad and put Mason Mount on the bench, just like the good old days.
N’Golo Kante roamed, enjoying a rare appearance and picking up the peculiar honour of making his three most recent starts at Stamford Bridge under three different managers.
Joao Felix turned Joel Matip the wrong way before fluffing his lines – probably the reason Jordan Henderson used a brief hiatus for Muslim players to break the Ramadan fast to prod one finger towards the centre-back in a heated row about positioning.
Yet nobody would look at this Liverpool XI, one which began without Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Robertson, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, and expect any different. Chelsea ought to be better than this and that is their next manager’s unhappy job. They cannot “amortise” their way out of this fix.
Boehly is already under significant pressure to get that appointment right. Sacking Thomas Tuchel looks increasingly ridiculous, the result of a belief system almost as absurd as the one that sees Jose Mourinho linked with a third coming.
Worse is that until the summer, Chelsea will lack a focal point up front – though that wasn’t much consolation to Liverpool, who only three days ago were dismantled by Manchester City even without Erling Haaland. It was always assumed that Potter did have a part to play there, not least because he had exactly the same issue back at Brighton.
In that light, Bruno might have seen this as the perfect opportunity to consign what he had called the “sad” end of his predecessor’s reign to history. When he was at Brighton, there were murals of him painted on the city’s walls, declaring him “always a Seagull” – until he wasn’t anymore – and it is doubtful how much longer he will be a Blue either.
Chelsea’s new boss cannot come soon enough, but he will not come in expecting any quick fixes.
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