Kovačić Drops All-Time Performance Against Liverpool Amid Lukaku Drama

Chelsea entered the new year with an incredible comeback against rival Liverpool as a tough January of fixtures begins

Chelsea kicked off the new year in dramatic fashion. A can’t-lose match against Liverpool resulted in a thrilling two-two draw after the Blues were two-nil down inside 26 minutes. The game was end to end and included card controversy in the opening seconds, a beautiful Mohamed Salah goal, two midfield performances for the ages, a deserved omission, and a reminder of who is arguably the best goalkeeper on the planet. Sunday was incredible. Here are my thoughts on what was surely the most exciting match thus far this season.

All-timer Performances

Sunday marked the best performance I’ve ever seen from Mateo Kovacic in a Chelsea shirt. From his sensational goal to the clinic he put on along with N’golo Kante in the middle of the pitch… it simply was a joy to watch.

Kante and Kovacic dominated Liverpool’s midfield trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, and James Milner. Even with an extra man, Liverpool’s trio was woefully exposed, especially Henderson who was caught in possession time and time again.

Kovacic was a player I was critical of in the past for his lack of contributions in the final third but just about halfway through the season, he has seven-goal contributions in Premier League play. The only Chelsea players with more premier league goal contributions are Reece James and Mason Mount (Jorginho also has seven-goal contributions but six of those are penalties).

Kovacic adding end-product to his game is something I didn’t think could happen but it most certainly has. On the other hand, he was simply sensational in possession as he didn’t let the opposition an inch of space. It simply is a joy to watch him and Kante play football especially when both are playing together (and when they don’t have to prop up Jorginho).

With that performance, Kovacic should definitely be in the discussion for Chelsea’s Player of the Year and shout out Kante for dropping that performance while not being 100% fit. With his deal set to expire next summer, I think it would be incredibly stupid not to offer him a new one despite the injury concerns. He needs to retire at this club. Hell… they both do.

Number 10 Doing number 10 Things

Guys… I had to listen to people in Chelsea spaces say in all seriousness that Christian Pulisic was strictly brought into Chelsea to sell shirts. That he’s only here to appease Americans and help grow Chelsea fandom here in the States.

In reality, he’s actually here to bang weak-footed half-volleys into the opposite corner against Liverpool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the criticism is completely unwarranted, it’s just weird seeing/hearing people single out Pulisic when in reality our entire attack outside of Lukaku and Mount struggle to consistently finish and/or create chances.

After missing a huge chance early on in the first half, Pulisic leveled the match for the Blues and the stadium ERUPTED. Even watching through my small computer screen you could tell Stamford Bridge was ROCKING. The atmosphere seemed incredible thousands of miles away, I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be in the stadium. It immediately had me missing London and especially Stamford Bridge. I hope I can get back soon.

As for Pulisic, what a massive goal that was for Chelsea, and what a massive goal it was for him. Asked to play right wing-back against Brighton, and then later in the match against Liverpool amid the club’s injury crisis, he stepped up as a true professional and did his job. Going forward into an incredibly difficult gauntlet of January fixtures, Tuchel will need him firing if we want to secure a top-four finish. A massive goal for Pulisic and Chelsea Football Club. Let’s just hope he can stay fit.

LiVARpool

You know this league is corrupt when your friend who’s an Arsenal fan is visibly annoyed that Kovacic’s goal went to VAR for review. After Kovacic scored one of the most incredible volleys I’ve ever seen, VAR was somehow called upon. I believe they were checking to see if Rudiger was obstructing the view of the Liverpool goalie, Caoimhin Kelleher but it was a slap in the face considering Rudiger was jogging back towards the center of the pitch away from the Liverpool keeper. Plus, is Kelleher really going to save that? I mean it went off the post and into the top corner of the goal for christ’s sake. Tuchel was visibly pissed that VAR was called upon and fans sitting behind the bench caught him on video throwing a water bottle and yelling “let’s go home” which I thought was absolutely hysterical.

The fact that VAR was even called upon was so disrespectful. There was genuinely no reason for it to intervene and it genuinely seemed like the league was trying to find any reason to rule the goal out.

On top of that, in the opening seconds of the match, Sadio Mane had one of the most deliberate elbows to the face that I’ve seen in a while. Cesar Azpilicueta caught an elbow to the face as he and Mane contested a header right after the kick-off. Every time I see it, I think it’s a red card more and more. If it didn’t occur inside the opening seconds of the match I think Mane gets sent off but Anthony Taylor was refereeing the match so who knows. I don’t even think VAR was called upon and if it was it was incredibly brief.

To make matters worse, Mane went on to score minutes later. And a few minutes after that, Pulisic received a yellow for a challenge on Diogo Jota that wasn’t even a foul, to begin with. The officiating in the Premier League is genuinely shocking and after watching Sunday’s match between Chelsea & Liverpool as well as Saturday’s clash between Arsenal & City it’s most definitely possible that we are witnessing blatant corruption.

Lads, It’s Tottenham

Tomorrow marks the first of three matches between Chelsea and Spurs in the month of January. The first leg of the League Cup semi-final tie against Tottenham isn’t something I’m particularly looking forward to. For me, it’s just going to stretch our injury-plagued squad even thinner. Plus you know Dan Levy will insist that his club play the strongest possible line-up they can while our focus will primarily be to rest players for the huge Premier League match on Saturday against Manchester City.
I don’t necessarily want to throw the league cup tie against Tottenham, especially when going up against a former manager, but I think a lot of squad rotation is needed if we want to keep our top four hopes alive.

A lineup like this lets a handful of key players rest, but the likes of Alonso, Rudiger, and Thiago Silva could be called upon after a hard-fought 90 minutes against Liverpool because of injuries to key players such as Ben Chilwell, Andreas Christensen, and Trevor Chalobah. It’s a shaky midfield but I think it’s worth resting Jorginho, Kovacic, and definitely N’golo Kante. Xavier Simons could be pulled up from the U23s considering he was called upon for Chelsea’s previous league cup match but knowing Tottenham will most likely play their strongest lineup, Cesar Azpilcueta could be called upon to play right-wing back as Heung-min Son will probably play on the left for Spurs.

Also, it looks like Lukaku could be back in the squad after he apologized to the manager, his teammates, and the fans. He’s back in training so maybe he’ll get some minutes? If so, I don’t think he’ll start.

All in all, even with injuries and the drama surrounding Lukaku still fresh, I think we can beat Spurs but I’d be lying if I told you that I’m already looking past tomorrow’s match to Saturday’s clash against Manchester City.

Thank you for reading and as always, Up the Blues! And the best of luck to Edou Mendy in AFCON as he’ll be between the sticks for Senegal!

Sidenotes

I absolutely love how people on Twitter are catching on to Virgil van Dijk’s nonchalant bullshit act. The guy always tries to look his best for the cameras whether or not that’s a mean mug after he makes a tackle on a small winger or simply clears the ball. He also just jogs around all the time like he’s too good to make a tackle or fight for a header. Just weird stuff from him and it’s funny seeing Twitter react to it.

Trevor Chalobah needs to keep his head high. Yes, he made a mistake leading to the Mane goal but it happens, especially if you’re a young player (and he was playing injured). Trev has been sensational thus far this season and I’m excited to watch him going forward.

I’m incredibly nervous going forward with Kepa Arrizabalaga as our number one goalkeeper. Edouard Mendy is off to AFCON to represent Senegal. In his absence, Kepa will be called upon amid a tough January of fixtures. He will have to be massive.