Liverpool 1 Chelsea 4

Its a hard scoreline to accept. It wasnt as though Chelsea were all over us and dominated the match from start to end.

The difference between the sides was better finishing, better tactics, and ultimately.. quality players in the Chelsea squad. I will honestly hold my hands up and say that the better side won.

In the second half, Chelsea they tore us apart at counter-attacks. We were vulnerable because we had to attack, and Benitez did exactly that by taking off Hyypia for Pongolle and changing the formation to 3-5-2 from 4-4-2.

I knew something like this might happen, but i dont hold it against Benitez. It was a gamble, a big risk against a side as good as Chelsea. But Benitez gambled, and i applaud him for that, because he showed he wants to win, and isnt not content to damage-limitation. I am very sure that under Houllier's regime, he would have settled for a 1-3 loss. We will learn from this, and we will get better. Its only Benitez's second season in charge, and he hasnt had the resources of Mourinho to mold his squad, but we're getting there football fans....the old fashioned way, 'slowly but surely'.

I've had time to reflect on why Chelsea did better in this match than the last encounter. These are my findings:

• Firstly, they were more desperate to win this one than the CL game. 3 points is 3 points. And i think all that talk about a non-expensively assembled squad being equal to their massively expensively assembled squad hurt their ego's a bit, and they had a point to prove, and boy did they prove it well.
• Joe Cole and Damien Duff put more into their wing-play than the last match. We did not contain either of them as good as the last match when Duff and Robben were the wingers.
• Drogba was outstanding throughout the game. He did what Crouch did to them in the last game. And i think the fact that he drifted out to the wings a lot was a big factor. The penalty was conceded from Drogba coming in from the wing. The Duff goal was created by Drogba coming in from the wing.
• The threat of Crouch was nullified. He worked hard, but he seemed to be double teamed alot, mostly by Makelele and Carvalho. That seemed to have lessened his threat significantly. Chelsea did their homework well. Credit has to go to Mourinho.

I think this game has further highlighted the need for someone pacier than Hyypia to partner Carragher in central defence. Too sluggish at times, and his passing has been very very lax. Overall, he is no doubt an outstanding defender, and one i wouldnt want to give up, but his lack of pace is not good for the team. It saddens me to talk about him like this, but its the truth. Against the big teams, this lack of pace will show a lot. And i think Benitez knows this. I remember reading in one of the interviews with Hyypia, he said that Benitez did call him to the office to tell him that he was trying to bring a new central defender in.

Overall, us Liverpool fans should not worry about this result. There are many positives. We actually played very well, but just couldnt find the key to unlock the Chelsea vault (more than once!). I suspect with time, and few more additions to the squad, we will never have to endure such a mauling at their hands, or any other team. You will never walk alone!