When Willian scored the second goal of the game at Anfield in 2014, Liverpool fans’ hearts were broken, the players looked dejected and the title quickly swung in favor of Manchester City who had kept up the pace until the final stretch of the campaign.
Steven Gerrard made the plan easy for Chelsea as he slipped to leave Demba Ba one-on-one with Simon Mignolet and the Senegal international finished coolly. The win was proved Jose Mourinho as a master of the pragmatic gameplan and revealed the cracks in Brendan Rodgers’ side.
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Fast forward five years and Chelsea were presented with a similar opportunity to halt Liverpool’s title surge but under Maurizio Sarri, things were different. Chelsea went in with a tactical plan akin to Mourinho’s but perhaps it was Sarri’s dressing room speech that was offbeat.
Former Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole says Mourinho’s took them deep into thought and action.
“I think before the game we knew it was a big game for us. We knew we still had a chance or a little glimmer of fighting for the title. I think as players we already knew going into this game it was going to be a tough game.
They’re fighting for the title, if we lose this game they’re going to win the league. And we played a kind of B team or players that had not played a lot, people like Kalas, [Mohamed] Salah played, [Andre] Schurrle. So I think there was a point to prove for a lot of us and we came here and just frustrated them and it kind of worked.
It was just something he said in the team meeting. He didn’t want us to be the clowns that are seen in the circus for all these Liverpool fans. It was a great speech but I think it was more to the point that you’re still fighting for the title, you can’t give up and it’s a chance for certain players to prove themselves.”
Ashley Cole, Express
