Asked to reflect on his record against Chelsea as Liverpool manager — played five, won none — Brendan Rodgers smiled ruefully.
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Asked to reflect on his record against Chelsea as Liverpool manager — played five, won none — Brendan Rodgers smiled ruefully and recalled the last time the teams met, at Anfield at the start of November.
‘Let’s face it, it was not just the Chelsea game early in the season … there were plenty of other games we didn’t do well in. But at this moment, there is a different feeling, a different aggression, a different mood in the squad so hopefully we can go into these two games and be positive.’
There, in a nutshell, is the essence of tonight’s first leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final. The extent to which this is a new Liverpool, a reborn Liverpool, will shape the nature of a tie that begins tonight on Merseyside and ends next week in west London.
We know what we will get from Chelsea. Jose Mourinho’s side are strong, dextrous, physically intimidating and have one of Europe’s most prolific goalscorers in Diego Costa.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are tentatively emerging from a slump that began when Chelsea ended their Barclays Premier League title hopes last April.
But are Liverpool improving enough to slug it out with Chelsea over two legs? Or do victories against teams such as Swansea, Sunderland and Aston Villa count for little when faced with an enduring European heavyweight?
Certainly, opportunity knocks for Liverpool.
Not only are they in far better form than they were when Chelsea came from behind to beat them 2-1 in November, their opponents will go into next week’s second leg with one eye on a league fixture with champions Manchester City the following Saturday.
‘They are very strong, so yes, it’s the biggest test in English football right now,’ said Rodgers. ‘You see their quality. They are a very good side. But we will look at it as an opportunity to win at home.
‘Now our confidence is high, and we are looking forward to it, because we go into it on the back of a decent run.
‘Against Chelsea, we haven’t played as well as we would have liked in my time here. It would be good to change that.’
In fairness to Rodgers, some of his team’s performances against Chelsea — such as an unjust and narrow defeat at Stamford Bridge last Christmas — have been better than the results.
There has been evidence, too, in recent weeks that the players who can make a difference — such as Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and now Lazar Markovic — are beginning to find something approaching their optimum form in Rodgers’ new formation.
Certainly Chelsea captain John Terry knows from experience that trips to Anfield can go very wrong very quickly if you aren’t prepared.
‘It’s going to be a tough place to go,’ said the veteran defender. ‘They proved, when we went up there in the league, that it’s a tough game.
‘You have to forget form and where they are. It’s Chelsea- Liverpool. It’s going to be tough over the two legs and I just hope we are strong enough.
‘We have shown in the first half of the season that we are capable of pushing the top sides and that is what we aim to do.’
Rodgers spoke glowingly of some of Chelsea’s players yesterday, especially Costa. ‘I love his game,’ he said.
The Liverpool manager also knows the value of winning your first trophy in charge of a new club, having been on the Chelsea staff when Jose Mourinho steered his team past Liverpool in the 2005 Carling Cup final in Cardiff.
‘I joined Chelsea 2004,’ he reflected. ‘At that point they were a club who wanted to win titles and trophies. They showed once you win that first one, you want to go on and sustain it.
‘The first one is really important and the players who were there then will tell you that. They will tell you that getting across the line on the first one is important. I think it is that taste of success that hopefully pushes players on.
‘We have worked really hard in the majority of the two-and-a-half years of my time here but we are here to win. We are club that is synonymous with winning trophies. We want to get that back again and hopefully we can do that this season.’
Victory tonight would certainly give Liverpool a sight of Wembley. They start as underdogs and, given their troubles with confidence at times this season, that may be no bad thing.– Daily Mail
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