‘Much better’… Mauricio Pochettino says Liverpool outplayed Chelsea in one key area yesterday

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Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was not happy with his team’s performance against Liverpool last night.

The Blues had been in decent form heading into the game at Anfield. There had been some trepidation amongst Liverpool supporters that their side could be in for a testing night.

But in the end, a Conor Bradley led Reds team swept Chelsea aside with gusto. 4-1 on the night. Relentless, tenacious and a bundle of energy, Liverpool signalled their intentions as early as the pre-match warm-ups and never stopped throughout the 90 minutes.

Chelsea did have one or two moments, and Christopher Nkunku pulled a goal back. By and large though they were outfought and outplayed. And speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Pochettino admitted that it was in duels especially that he was disappointed.

“I think it’s so clear that they were much better than us,” admitted the Argentine coach.

“We lost every single duel, I think every time that we recovered the ball, first and second touch we lost the ball so easily. Well deserved three points for them.”

Pochettino bemoans Chelsea display

Prior to the game, this one had been billed as a way to gauge these two team’s midfields. Both have invested heavily in that area of the pitch over the last year or so.

Liverpool’s desire to recruit Moises Caicedo has obviously been covered in great detail ever since the summer. But last night, the Ecuadorian and fellow £100m+ man Enzo Fernandez couldn’t lay a glove on Liverpool.

Caicedo, nominally Chelsea’s defensive midfielder, only attempted six duels in his 66 minutes on the pitch.

Compare that Alexis Mac Allister, who went in for 20 duels playing more or less the same position for Liverpool. Mac Allister won 11 of those, and showcased all the qualities that make him suitable for the position.

Fernandez meanwhile won just five and lost nine of his own duels as Liverpool’s No.10 won the battle of the Argentine World Cup winners. Heck, Alexis attempted as many duels as Caicedo and Fernadnez combined.

It obviously isn’t that these two are bad players, they’re not. But they just don’t seem to be able to get to grips with their roles in this Chelsea team.

Granted, Liverpool are perhaps not the best side to judge these kinds of things against, especially when they’re in that kind of mood. Anfield was baying for blood and the Reds duly obliged.

Pochettino and Chelsea will have better days, their have been shoots of recovery there. But from a Liverpool point of view, this all bodes well ahead of the Carabao Cup final later this month.