Coutinho, Hazard And Other Things We Learned as Liverpool Comfortably Beat Chelsea

Many predicted that a loss for Jose Mourinho in this game could be his last but a win could be the catapult that Chelsea need this season, the same catapult was something that Jurgen Klopp needed as he saw his Liverpool side win the Carling Cup tie against Bournemouth in midweek but a Premier League win had eluded him so far.

Chelsea though started with a bang thanks a goal after just three minutes from Ramires but they didn’t seize on the lead and Liverpool found their way back thanks to a sumptuous finish by Coutinho though the referee did play more than the two extra minutes after the first half when Coutinho levelled.

Chelsea though didn’t dominate the game after scoring and after Liverpool brought on Benteke, he helped set up Coutinho’s second and finished the scoring with a great finish to make it three for Liverpool, three points for Klopp and a sixth loss in the league for Mourinho. With the referee making a couple of big decisions which would aggrieve Mourinho, we provide the five talking points from the game.

Referee’s call

Jose Mourinho stated earlier that the referees are not doing a good enough job while that wasn’t the case in most of the games for the Chelsea manager, there were a couple of questionable decisions which referee Mark Clattenburg got wrong and both affected Chelsea.

Philippe Coutinho’s first goal should not have stood simply because the time added at the end of the first half had already lapsed before the Brazilian equalised. Another moment was when Lucas, on a yellow card, tripped Ramires but was not given a second booking which should have taken place. Liverpool played on with eleven men but Jose does have the right to complain about the ref’s performance today.

Klopp’s first win

This was Jurgen Klopp’s biggest game in charge of Liverpool and it didn’t start all that well when Liverpool conceded early on but the team slowly got back and showed just what they were made off.

We saw Gegenpressing, we saw pragmatic football, and we saw what a Klopp team can do. Chelsea were poor but Liverpool deserved the victory, even when they were a goal down, they dominated possession. A first win for Klopp was important and coming against Chelsea in this fashion should give them the platform to go on and achieve better things.

Coutinho not Hazardous

There have been questions about the performance of both Eden Hazard and Philippe Coutinho and both weren’t all that great throughout the game. Coutinho did change the game with both his goals and those moments of magic sealed the deal for Liverpool.

Hazard was missing throughout the game and has to do much more to prove his ability. Liverpool fans would be pleased with Coutinho’s performance but the Brazilian has to do this more often for the Reds if he wants to be considered as a world-class talent.

A tale of two defences

Chelsea were known for their defence under Jose Mourinho, in fact, all of Jose’s teams were known for their brilliant defence. That was just not on show today, the second and third goals conceded by Chelsea were shambolic and Jose has to take a bit of the blame for this alarming downward spiral that the defence has been on.

Liverpool’s central defenders though were brilliant, Sakho and Skrtel might not be household names but they were excellent in controlling the likes of Hazard and the combustible Costa. Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool do defend better than the old Liverpool

Is this it for Mourinho?

A third loss at home this season in the Premier League, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea are now on 11 points from 11 games and it might even be difficult to qualify for Europe next season. This does not look like a team that won the Premier League a few months ago.

Chelsea look hollow, Halloween has come early and they are a ghost of the team that ran away with the title. The Chelsea fans, most of them want him to stay but their owner might not have the same idea. Roman Abramovich wants success but is there any manager available who can replace Jose? That would be the question in Roman’s mind, this could have been Jose’s last game and it doesn’t look good for him or Chelsea even if he does stay, sometimes things aren’t meant to be.