Thoughts on the Champions League and Greatness

By Boris Mellor
May 4 2005

Congratulations to Liverpool on their victory against Chelsea; and on such a spirited performance. For me Carragher and Traore outshone Gerrard, and come to that, everyone in Chelsea’s team.

 Mourhino claims that the best team lost. Maybe, but then he shouldn’t have been so smug about not scoring at home. All the pundits agreed it gave Chelsea the edge at Anfield, well they and the master tactician, Jose, may care to reflect on that. Benitez claimed it was simple, all Liverpool had to do was win. How right he was.

 

In addition, Chelsea only managed one shot on target to Liverpool’s four; if only they had someone sharper than Cisse it would have been wrapped up long before the ridiculous six minutes stoppage time.

 

So once again the top team in England has failed to win the CL. Last year it was Arsenal’s turn to forgo the mantle of greatness. The Gunners were told, by the pundits, that their invincible title stood for nowt, as they had not won the Holy Grail.

 

Now Liverpool are told that they are not great (correctly so in my opinion) because greatness is measured in Domestic titles (Michael Walker today’s Guardian), not triumphs in an European knock out competition.

 

A year ago Arsenal lost as for the first time two English Clubs met at the knockout stage. At Highbury, in the first half, we were so far ahead on points that a boxing referee would have stopped the match. However, its goals that count, and in the second half the team flagged and Chelsea took over, scoring two. Indeed, it was an advance warning of the frailty of our defence. But another important reason was the fact that the squad, which was far smaller than Chelsea’s, was tired out by the number of top class matches it had played.

 

Too tactical for his own good

So why was Chelsea so lacklustre at Anfield? I like to think that Arsenal played a role in that. The script written by the pundits was that Chelsea would beat Arsenal and tie up the Premiership against Fulham. That failed as Arsenal played the better football on the night, resulting in a nil nil draw.

 

Then attention turned to the derby with Spurs, for some strange reason, according to Hype Television, Arsenal were on the very edge of defeat, as the Chelsea hordes gathered in pubs to watch us gift them the title. It didn’t happen. So Chelsea had to go to Bolton to win it; only three days before their biggest game of the season. Bolton put up a great resistance and was unlucky to lose 2-0. However, Chelsea had deservedly won the title. It had been a long gruelling season, but now the trophy was won. Jose claimed they would not need motivation for the Liverpool game. However, last night’s performance suggests he was wrong.

 

But what of the tactical errors – simple – he was content with a draw against Arsenal. I cannot imagine Wenger taking that approach – he knows only one tactic, to go for a win. That draw was fatal; it set into train the events that led to the lacklustre performance last night. It was the beginning of Chelsea’s fading; even the Fulham game stretched them to the limit. As you near the end of a marathon the legs get heavy. A victory against Arsenal would have shortened the race. Jose could have rested even more players at Bolton.

 

 However, that is not the whole story; the other error was Jose’s belief that a draw against Liverpool was good enough at Stamford Bridge. He told his team that he was not worried if they failed to win, that a draw was good enough. He went on to proclaim the 0-0 as the best result for Chelsea, that all the pressure was on Liverpool. Once again the braying pack concurred, the tactical genius had spoken.

 

So plan B has failed, plan C anyone?