{"id":478499,"date":"2025-10-06T16:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478499\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T16:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:49:14","slug":"chelsea-liverpool-estevao-exploits-liverpool-late-on-2-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/478499\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea \u2013 Liverpool: Est\u00eav\u00e3o Exploits Liverpool Late On (2-1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea were strong in the organized phases of this match. Their man-oriented defending stifled Liverpool\u2019s buildup, and their left-sided attacking strategy exploited gaps in Liverpool\u2019s pressing. However, Liverpool retain a transitional threat and forced their way back into the game in the second half, only to be beaten in the last minute by an Est\u00eav\u00e3o winner.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tactical analysis and match report by\u00a0Josh Manley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We decided to make this article free to read. If you want to support our work, consider\u00a0taking a subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After a winning<\/a> start to the season, Liverpool\u2019s fortunes had taken a turn in the week leading up to this match, as last weekend\u2019s defeat at Crystal Palace<\/a> was followed by a loss away at Galatasaray<\/a> in midweek.<\/p>\n

Chelsea meanwhile managed to secure victory in Europe this week when they hosted former boss Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s Benfica<\/a> side. In the league however, they had won just two of their first six games, with red cards in their last two matches against Manchester United<\/a> and Brighton proving costly.<\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca\u2019s side lined up in a 4-3-3 shape here, with a back four of Reece James, Josh Acheampong, Beno\u00eet Badiashile, and Marc Cucurella. Mois\u00e9s Caicedo was at the base of midfield with Malo Gusto and Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez ahead of him, while Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho played either side of Jo\u00e3o Pedro up front.<\/p>\n

Liverpool meanwhile started with a 4-2-3-1 shape. Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, Virgil van Dijk, and Milos Kerkez made up the back four, with Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister in the double-pivot. Dominik Szoboszlai was chosen over Florian Wirtz as the number ten in support of Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, and Alexander Isak in the frontline.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s man-marking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maresca went with a man-oriented defensive scheme against Liverpool\u2019s possession phases, and his team executed it relatively well in the first half. Chelsea played with good intensity against the ball, and Arne Slot\u2019s side looked relatively listless in organized possession.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s midfield three had a relatively clear match-up against Liverpool\u2019s midfield three in terms of marking assignments, with Caicedo, Gusto, and Fern\u00e1ndez not having to stray far from their initial positions to make initial contact with Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, and Gravenberch respectively.<\/p>\n

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Chelsea in higher pressing.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez did have a bit more running to do than the others, as Gravenberch sometimes dropped between the Liverpool center-backs, meaning Fern\u00e1ndez would temporarily jump forward alongside Jo\u00e3o Pedro, who generally focused his pressing on Van Dijk.<\/p>\n

Neto would track Kerkez\u2019s forward runs on the left, whether they be inverting or overlapping. On the left, things were a bit different for Garnacho. His responsibility was to jump forward and press Konat\u00e9 diagonally from his left-wing position when the Frenchman was on the ball, trying to force Liverpool back to the left side.<\/p>\n

Garnacho generally executed this with good intensity. In higher pressing phases in Liverpool\u2019s half, Garnacho\u2019s pressing onto Konat\u00e9 would be paired with Cucurella pushing forward onto Bradley, and Badiashile sliding across to pick up Salah on the right of Liverpool\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n

Despite their struggles in organized possession phases, Liverpool still had a couple of decent chances going forward as they still looked dangerous in transition moments, as they so often do. The home side did not help themselves in this respect, with some slightly sloppy play at times in the middle of the pitch affording Liverpool the chance to have fast-breaks against the Chelsea backline.<\/p>\n

Chelsea attack down the left<\/strong><\/p>\n

In their own possession phases, Chelsea seemed to have quite a concrete idea of how to exploit Liverpool\u2019s pressing system. For some time now, Liverpool\u2019s game plan against the ball has allowed Salah to stay higher up and expend less energy in the defensive phase, in order to leave him fresh and well-positioned for counter-attacks in the right channel. They have reaped the rewards of this idea in recent years, but this game showed that there are also drawbacks.<\/p>\n

Cucurella was able to find himself in plenty of space on the left side in this game by drifting into the space behind Salah. Chelsea could then look for him with third-man combinations to bypass Salah, or with direct passes when appropriate.<\/p>\n

Gravenberch was often occupied by Fern\u00e1ndez dropping in to assist Caicedo in the buildup around the number six area for Chelsea, while Bradley was pinned by Garnacho, and was actually bypassed on the couple of occasions where he tried to jump up onto Cucurella.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The left side was spacious for Chelsea due to Liverpool\u2019s pressing scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In general, it was far too easy for Chelsea to create two-versus-one situations against Bradley on that side, and Garnacho\u2019s enthusiastic running with and without the ball stretched the Liverpool right back to his limit.<\/p>\n

Although the left-sided attack was the main feature for Chelsea, their first goal also saw them exploit Liverpool in the center. Szoboszlai would sometimes try to join Isak in the first line of pressing against Chelsea\u2019s center-backs, and on this occasion, they were bypassed. This left a three-versus-two in midfield with Caicedo as the spare man for Chelsea. They found him with a third-man combination that put him in oceans of space on the edge of Liverpool\u2019s box, which he took advantage of with a rocket into the top corner.<\/p>\n

When Chelsea had the ball higher up the pitch, they were generally in something of a 2-3-4-1 shape, with James inverting in the right halfspace and Gusto ahead of him making forward runs in support of Jo\u00e3o Pedro. Meanwhile Cucurella and Fern\u00e1ndez occupied the higher and lower left halfspace positions flexibly, while Cucurella also made overlaps for Garnacho.<\/p>\n

In general, Liverpool\u2019s defensive phases were a bit unstable, with Chelsea always having an easy way to outplay their pressing down Salah\u2019s side. Despite getting around Liverpool\u2019s midfield on a fairly regular basis, Chelsea were not able to create that many clear shots at goal as the final third play lacked a bit of cutting edge.<\/p>\n

Open second half<\/strong><\/p>\n

Slot made a change at half-time, removing Bradley who was walking a disciplinary tightrope on a yellow card in addition to his existing tactical difficulties against Chelsea\u2019s left-sided attack. With Liverpool behind, Slot needed to be aggressive, so he moved Szoboszlai back to right back, and brought Wirtz into the number ten role.<\/p>\n

Liverpool pressed more intensely from the start of the second half, including Salah who was a bit more urgent in his pressing movements towards Chelsea\u2019s left-sided center-back. Wirtz marked Caicedo more tightly instead of trying to push up to the frontline as Szoboszlai had.<\/p>\n

More changes came for both sides barely ten minutes later, as Slot added Andrew Robertson and Curtis Jones into the mix. Robertson was a straight swap for Kerkez, while Jones\u2019 introduction in place of Konat\u00e9 meant Gravenberch moved to center-back.<\/p>\n

Maresca was forced into a reshuffle of his own when Badiashile went down injured. He brought on Rom\u00e9o Lavia who played in central midfield, with James moving to center-back and Gusto to right back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chelsea had a decent left-side supply line through Badiashile, Cucurella, and Fern\u00e1ndez, spearheaded by Garnacho.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The second half was quite an open affair overall. There were plenty of transitions for both sides and the game became stretched, forcing makeshift backlines to defend in exposed situations. Chelsea were unable to keep things as tight and intense with their man-marking compared to the first half, and Liverpool players began to evade their opponents more regularly. This transitional nature seemed to benefit Liverpool initially, as their attackers began to look dangerous. Just past the hour mark, they equalized courtesy of Gakpo.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the source of this goal was mechanistically similar to Liverpool\u2019s own defensive struggles. The move started when Garnacho had inverted to pressure Gravenberch, but on this occasion Liverpool found the third-man combination to move the ball out to an unmarked Szoboszlai at right back, who was too deep for Cucurella to jump up onto. The resulting right-sided Liverpool attack ended in the cross that found Isak and Gakpo in the box.<\/p>\n

Around ten minutes later Maresca made a triple substitution which would end up being decisive as Est\u00eav\u00e3o, Marc Guiu, and Jamie Gittens replaced the existing front three. Going into the final fifteen minutes, Chelsea began to rally again, taking more control of the game.<\/p>\n

Est\u00eav\u00e3o was lively throughout this period, and it did not come as a surprise that he ended up making the difference in the end. Minutes after his inswinging cross led to Fern\u00e1ndez hitting the post in added time, the Brazilian met Cucurella\u2019s low cross at the back post, sending Stamford Bridge into pandemonium, including Maresca who ran down the touchline to celebrate a hard-earned three points.<\/p>\n

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Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maresca\u2019s game plan worked pretty well in organized phases of the first half. Chelsea\u2019s man-oriented defensive scheme stunted Liverpool\u2019s buildup, and they had a clear plan on exploiting Liverpool\u2019s right side. In the second half, they lost some control and got into a game of transitions, which benefited Liverpool. They rallied well at the end though, gaining a valuable win.<\/p>\n

From looking at the expected goals figures for this game, one might assume that Liverpool were better for most of the game, and maybe even deserved to win. The underlying numbers reflect Liverpool still being a transition threat and Chelsea being inefficient in the final third, but don\u2019t quite tell the story of Liverpool\u2019s qualitative tactical deficiencies on both sides of the ball. Their pressing was exploitable due to the liberties afforded to Salah, and they were lacking ideas in buildup against Chelsea\u2019s man-marking system in organized possession phases. Slot continues to search for the best way to integrate Liverpool\u2019s considerable attacking talent.<\/p>\n

Use the arrows to scroll through all available match plots. Click to enlarge.
Check the\u00a0match plots page<\/a>\u00a0for plots of other matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea were strong in the organized phases of this match. Their man-oriented defending stifled Liverpool\u2019s buildup, and their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-478499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115328251745421366","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}