A lot has been said about Chelsea's tactics - much of it by Brendan Rodgers - but there are a couple of things that seemed to have passed under the radar. The first is that José Mourinho does not always set up his team to play this drearily. He is not the bore extraordinaire that a lot of people would like to make out. Or maybe we imagined all those goal-fests for Real Madrid and the six-goal thrashing of Arsenal. What he does is devise system to win football matches and, if necessary, he will sacrifice aesthetic qualities when the opposition looks faster and more skilful. And that, plainly, was the risk when he was fielding his support cast against a Liverpool side, at Anfield, on a run of 11 straight wins, and with the volume turned high. Ugly? Yes. Hypocritical? Undoubtedly (just look at his comments when West Ham played this way at Stamford Bridge). Effective? Almost always. The other point is that Brendan Rodgers was wrong when he pointed out it was not difficult to coach that way. No other side in Europe defends as well in big matches as Chelsea, and it is not a fluke. It is a triumph of organisation, structure and competitive courage and if Chelsea can bring in a decent striker or two in the summer it should make them a formidable team next season. Defending is just as much a part of this sport as attacking and Liverpool would be in a more commanding position if they had found a better balance in this match. Daniel Taylor
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via Chelsea | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1rDEFt5
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