10 classic photographs From Chelsea V liverpool Game

Here Are 10 classic photographs From Lfc / Cfc Game

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‘There is a vulnerability about Chelsea because Andre Villas-Boas hasn’t established a defensive partner for John Terry’ – former Blues defender Michael Duberry

The ex-Stamford Bridge centre-back laments defensive problems and urges Fernando Torres to justify his record-breaking price tag when the £50m Spaniard faces old club Liverpool

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Former Chelsea centre-half Michael Duberry believes that his old team go into their crunch game with Liverpool looking vulnerable as the Blues struggle to “find their identity” under manager Andre Villas-Boas.


Duberry believes that Villas-Boas’ failure to find a regular partner for John Terry in the heart of the Chelsea back four and the shortcomings of Jose Bosingwa have left the Stamford Bridge side looking weak in defence.  

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s match with Liverpool at the Bridge on Sunday, Duberry expressed concern at Villas-Boas’ failure to shore up his team’s defence since arriving from Porto last summer

“I don’t think the Chelsea defence was as solid as it once was. They haven’t found a solid central defensive combination and they have lost their old routines so there is vulnerability about them,” Duberry told Goal.com.

“I still think they are finding their identity. They are trying to get away from the managers of the past and the manager is still trying to put his own stamp on the club in terms of the way they are set up and the way they look. He is still finding his feet so there are teething problems for Chelsea because they are playing a more expansive game than they have in recent years.”

Duberry, who came through the ranks at Chelsea - where he made 115 Chelsea appearances - and is now playing for League Two side Oxford United, believes that Brazilian defender Alex should play alongside Terry but still has misgivings about Bosingwa and his place in a defence that has already conceded 15 goals this season compared to 33 throughout the last campaign.

“I put Chelsea as favourites but with Luis Suarez in the Liverpool attack there are goals in their team so it is a game where there could be plenty of goals because defensively Chelsea have not found their solid back four or a partner for JT,” Duberry added.

Centre of attention l Terry & Co are struggling to get to grips with rivals

“I would go for JT and Alex because he is a solid defender who is hard to beat and has a thunderbolt of a free-kick and he works well with JT. He would be my preference with JT.

“I always want my full-backs to be able to defend first and foremost. Ashley Cole gives you plenty both ways. He is the crème de la crème – one of the best left-backs in the world if not the best. 

“I always feel that Bosingwa is not a solid right-back. Going forward he looks the business but defensively he looks vulnerable. A lot of their goals have come about with sides exposing weakness on the right flank.”

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres will be up against his former team-mates and Duberry is hoping that invigorates the Spaniard.

“There is a lot of pressure and I am sure that he can deal with it and hopefully he will thrive under it,” Duberry continued.

“This might be the game that sparks him. He will get a lot of abuse from Liverpool fans who will never forgive him for leaving Anfield and he will be under pressure from Chelsea fans who are willing him to do well and show the Liverpool fans that they have got a better Torres than you have.

“Fernando Torres is settling in but at £50 million you want him to settle in after his first game. That is an easy thing to say but you would want him to make a quick start to his Chelsea career with two or three goals to put the fire in his belly or the wind in his sails or whatever you want to call it.

“I am sure that every Chelsea fan will want him to kick on because the transfer tag around his neck means that he should have been firing on all cylinders as soon as he turned up at Stamford Bridge. But for whatever reason he didn’t and people want him to start firing soon.”

The 36-year-old Duberry, who also played for Leeds, Reading and Stoke, is expecting fourth-placed Chelsea to get the better of the Anfield club who won 1-0 in the corresponding fixture last season.

“Liverpool are not flying as high as they were at the start of the season when everyone was talking about Kenny getting them going and that they were Championship contenders and all that sort of stuff,” Duberry added.

“Whenever a new manager comes in everyone is on a high. They are buzzing but when things start to level out you find out what you are really at. Don’t get me wrong, Liverpool are a better team than they once were but now they are still not on that high of when Kenny took over. I think Chelsea will have a bit too much for Liverpool. I'd go for Chelsea to win 3-1.”

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What we learned this week... It's time to kick Sepp Blatter out of football

The Fifa president stooped to new lows by ridiculously suggesting that racism could be sorted out with a handshake, while Tevez continues to go loco and Torres showed his class

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Let's kick Sepp Blatter out of football

There's one thing that unites football fans of any persuasion, that will cause them to pause for a moment from spouting bile over something insignificant, to link arms and rally round for the good of the game.

That thing, of course, is Sepp 'Did he really just say that?' Blatter. When he's not telling female players to wear skimpy clothes to get viewers interested, or saying that goals need to be bigger to create more entertainment, or giving his family and friends massive kickbacks, or comparing men who earn £100,000 a week to slaves (for more, read this and weep), he's claiming that there is no racism on the football pitch, and if there is, victims should just shake the bigot's hand and pretend it never happened.

"There is no racism, there is maybe one of the players towards another, he has a word or a gesture which is not the correct one," the blithering idiot who lords it over world football said when asked if there was a problem with discrimination on the pitch. “But also the one who is affected by that, he should say that this is a game. We are in a game, and at the end of the game, we shake hands, and this can happen, because we have worked so hard against racism and discrimination."

It was like the mutterings of an old granddad totally out of touch with the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, to everyone but Blatter, there was outrage at his statement (the best of the bunch was undoubtedly a certain Arsenal midfielder, who threatened to "Frimpong" the Fifa president should he ever turn up to see them play – something WWLTW would love to see happen).

The 75-year-old took to Twitter when he (or more likely, one of his minions) realised that he'd properly put his foot in his mouth. He posted links to all sorts of things purporting him to be some sort of anti-racism pin-up boy, with most of them accompanied with a picture of him and a man or woman of colour; he might as well have just trotted out the "some of my best friends are black" line of defence. (One such picture showed him embracing Tokyo Sexwale – pronounced "Seh-Kwa-Le", so there's nothing funny about that.)

While no-one is saying that Blatter is racist, his ridiculous sweeping under the carpet of the issue and his crass ignorance of the affect it has on people is totally depressing for a man who is, to all intents and purposes, the most powerful individual in the sport. He was at great lengths to portray himself as a progressive man, but the only thing that he cares about, clearly, is maintaining his Fifa fiefdom (he pointed out that South Africa was chosen as the World Cup 2010 hosts in part because of their opening up since the end of apartheid, conveniently ignoring the deplorable racist incidents in Russia, who have been awarded the 2018 edition).

His comments and his arrogance in defending himself were as laughable as they were depressing, but at least he is on Twitter and can be hounded by the likes of you and me, not to mention professional players such as Rio Ferdinand, who have been vocal in pointing out what an ignoramus he is. Hopefully – although he has survived so much and arguably much worse that it almost seems futile to fight – the big Swiss cheese can be kicked out of the game for good in the near future.

Carlos Tevez doesn't give a damn

The Argentine has picked up a terrible habit of late of not turning up to training, and this Monday was nowhere to be seen despite Manchester City warning him last week that he faced severe repercussions for sodding off to Argentina for a holiday without their consent.

There were reports that the striker had a medical certificate to excuse himself from flying back to England (WWLTW's guess is that he's gorged on so much steak and chorizo on his jolly that he's now too plumpy to fit into a plane seat home) for training, and despite City having a game at the weekend for which he is eligible to play in, Tevez is still seemingly sunning it up in South America.

The flabby forward gets paid a fortune but is racking up more fines than Mario Balotelli gets parking tickets (which is to say shedloads), so evidently he just doesn't care, which for a man not yet in the peak of his career is utterly baffling.

Forget Roberto Mancini, you'd need a team of the best psychiatrists in the world just to crack the surface of Tevez's troubled mind.

"Fly back to England? Nah" | Tevez fails to understand it wasn't optional

What we will learn this weekend...

Fernando Torreswill unintentionally continue to repair his relationship withLiverpool fans by missing sitters when the Reds travel to Chelsea on Sunday. Carlos Tevez will flop into the Etihad Stadium unannounced, to boos from all around the stadium, halfway through the first half of the game between Manchester Cityand Newcastle wearing a leotard before grabbing the microphone and challenging Roberto Mancinifor a winner-takes-it-all cage match next week. He'll then fail to turn up. In the bottom-of-the-table clash at the DW Stadium, Blackburn fans will continue to berate Steve Keanfor being rubbish despite picking up a win, while Wigan managerRoberto Martinez will be lauded because he's a cuddly, cute little fella who plays a bit of tippy-tappy football, even though his side are drifting into the abyss.

Estonian security is rubbish

The Republic of Ireland picked up a memorable 4-0 win in the European minnows' Le Coq Arena last weekend en route to their first qualification for a major tournament in 10 years, and for one fan it was all the more memorable.

Intrepid Conor Cunningham travelled to Tallinn ticketless for the first-leg game but was determined to see his nation play and managed to get in via a rather sneaky route.

"I just spotted an open door and I thought I will stick my head through there but it was just a closed-in room but I found an Estonian tracksuit and I just threw it on," he said with a beaming smile.

"I threw the bag of balls over my shoulder and just went for it. I didn’t know what to do, to be honest, so I thought I'd better go into the Estonian dugout. No-one said anything to me and then I realised I was sitting beside their manager."

That man can drink out on that story for the rest of his life, and good on him for having the stones to pull that off, but what a joke Estonia's security staff (and the manager, for that matter) are. Conor was sat in the dugout for 15 minutes before someone realised that this bloke, who presumably was jumping with joy and shouting himself hoarse like a madman whenever Ireland attacked, wasn't actually part of the home team's technical staff.

Fernando Torres still loves Liverpool fans

Say what you want about the Spaniard's controversial move to Chelsea in January, but you can't deny that the man himself is a bit of a class act – unless, of course, you're still a Red rocking in the corner of your bedroom clutching a 'Torres 9' shirt and sobbing at the thought of the club wasting £35 million on a Bluto lookalike.

Torres has become something of a hate figure, not to mention a walking joke given how much of a disaster he's been for the Blues, ever since he swapped Merseyside for London, but he's still got a whole lot of love for the team he used to play for.

"The Liverpool fans have only paid attention to what the club made them see and they don't know the true story of my transfer to Chelsea," he said.

"That's why I don’t hold any grudges; they will always be special to me."

Aww, ain't that nice? One suspects he might be saying the same thing about Chelsea fans in a few months if he continues to stink out Stamford Bridge. 

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Red alert for Liverpool

Our expert - Anuj Punj gives his take on the problems Liverpool need to solve if they want Champions League football next season.

Don't get me wrong. This is not an article about Liverpool in crisis - they are far from it - at least nothing like last season when they were in the relegation zone at one point. But there are still some underlying problems the Reds have to resolve if they are to return to the top four.

Three consecutive home draws - two of which were against new boys Norwich and Swansea - are not the sign of a team with ambitions of Champions League qualifications. In fact, Kenny Dalglish's side have only won twice (3-1 against Bolton, 2-1 against Wolves) in their six home games this season.

While their away form has been encouraging, winning thrice and losing twice, their home form - or more accurately, their inability to kill off lesser teams - could prove to be fatal to hopes of a top-four finish.

But why, despite all the optimism and hype, are the Reds struggling to keep up with other top teams?

They need to enjoy the game

Football is meant to be fun and enjoyable. And when a player - or in this case a team - enjoy playing the game, they will usually excel at it. An example would be Lionel Messi and Barcelona.

That is the secret to the Catalan giants' success on the pitch. They play, not work. Liverpool on the other hand are doing the opposite thanks to the pressure of expectations of the Anfield crowd.

Kenny Dalglish and his charges need to get back to basics - playing and enjoying football. Those who have watched Liverpool play recently will agree with Daniel Agger that they look like "headless chickens running around".

The Reds' performances have not been free-flowing - in fact they look like they will struggle against the poorest of teams, who have nothing to lose. Dalglish's men are holding on to the ball when they shouldn't and passing it when they should really take the opponents on - all in the fear of committing a mistake.

The Reds need to relax and be confident of their ability. The goals and results will follow.

Dalglish the right man?

Yes, it's too early to judge. But a feeling that King Kenny has done what he could, which is to lift the club's atmosphere and spirit, is starting to creep in. Will he be able to lift trophies at Anfield - or even lead them to Champions League this season? To be honest, the signs don't look so good.

From the day of his appointment, I've always believed that it was one out of pure emotion than rational thinking. While Dalgish's record speaks for itself and he has done an impressive job so far in his second stint, his approach and ruthlessness or lack thereof, are major flaws.

The former Reds legend is known for his fierce protection of players in public. So it makes me wonder how he conducts his half-time team talks, especially when his side need a real wake-up call.

The goalless draw against Swansea at Anfield last weekend was disappointing and almost agonizing for the fans to watch. One would have expected Dalglish to fire his charges up in the second-half. But it didn't happen.

I hate to make comparisons - but I'm sure Sir Alex Ferguson would have demanded an improvement and a result from his Manchester United side - which he usually gets.

It may sound harsh, but on current evidence one can't help but feel that Dalglish is a glorified babysitter at Anfield.

Just not good enough

Charlie Adam from Blackpool; Jordan Henderson from Sunderland; Stewart Downing from Aston Villa; Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique from Newcastle. Spot the similarities in Liverpool's summer signings? They are mostly from mid-table clubs.

No doubt the above-mentioned players are good footballers. But are they world class?

Besides Enrique and Suarez the rest of the other signings simply don't look like they belong at a club like Liverpool. Adam has been average, Henderson has largely been absent, Downing has blown hot and cold and Carroll looks more £3.5million than £35million.

Having said that, it would be unfair to judge them so early in the season. After all, the likes of Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker, who were both thought to be not good enough for Arsenal initially, now seem to be settling in well for the Gunners now.

Wanted: Goal poacher

Luis Suarez has been a revelation at Anfield, creating a constant supply of opportunities for Liverpool. However, his problem lies in converting the chances. In 11 Premier League appearances thus far, the former Ajax man has scored only four goals. That's not enough by any yardstick.

Let's face it - the Uruguayan is more of a creator than a lethal finisher. Carroll was supposed to be the man at the end of the chances. But he is struggling to even get into the starting line-up. The truth is the Reds should have been right up there with the likes of United and Manchester City if they'd had someone to take the plethora of chances that have fallen their way.

Dalglish needs to bring in an out-to-out goal poacher who can get the tap-ins and score some ugly goals. Robin van Persie is the perfect example and it's his ability to be ruthless in front of goal that has seen Arsenal rocket up the table after a horrific start.

Liverpool need a striker in a similar mould.

A top-four finish still looks a feasible target for Dalglish's men. However, their only enemies are themselves if they continue dropping points against teams they are expected to beat - especially at home.

But the sad truth is, Anfield is no longer the fortress it once was.

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Liverpool will not sell Anfield name

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has reassured fans the club will not follow in the footsteps of the likes of Newcastle by selling the naming rights of Anfield.

The Magpies joined the increasing number of clubs who have renamed their stadiums by dumping their renowned "St James Park" for "Sports Direct Arena".

Arsenal and Manchester City are among the top clubs who have made the switch as the lucrative sponsorship deals proved too tempting to turn down.

But Ayre insists Liverpool will not go down that road due to the history and tradition of Anfield.

"We have no intention of exploring naming rights for Anfield," he was quoted as saying in The Daily Mirror. 

"It has been a name deeply ingrained in our ground and our club for more than 100 years and I can't imagine any Liverpool fan calling the current stadium anything else.

"That's different in a new stadium as it's a new start and a new proposition, and we are actively talking to potential naming partners for a new stadium [if that happens], but we have never considered renaming our spiritual home of Anfield."

The Reds are currently sixth in the Barclays Premier League and play Chelsea on Sunday.

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Daniel Sturridge: Is He the Answer to Chelsea's Blunt Attack?

Do you remember 2005? It was only a mere six years ago, but it seems so distant now. The stock market was strong and people had jobs. George Bush was inaugurated in for his second term as president of the United States.  London was awarded the 2012 Olympic Games. Chelsea won their first Premier League title by a commanding 12 points.

Oh my, how those were different times. Full of hope and ambition of what could be. A beautiful future for all on the eve of new horizons that only pointed towards prosperity and joy—especially if you were a Chelsea fan.

Jose Mourinho (“The Special One,” if you are so inclined) had broken the spell that had gripped the grounds of Stamford Bridge for the past 50 trophyless years and brought glory and honor to her fans. Even more importantly, he paid back the great investment of the then-enigmatic owner Roman Abramovic. He too had a feature of hope to his cause, a kind of ambivalence and naiveté from the fans that saw him as a charismatic foreigner and we became infatuated with seemingly blind economic support. 

Only later would we learn that such failures to return on his investments would be met with same punishment that many czar’s had bestowed upon those that disappointed, just not as bloody. But on that particular year, Chelsea rolled through the Premier League with the same fortitude that Peter the Great did through the Polish Plains.

They did differ in one key respect. Peter’s triumphs over Sweden’s Charles VII was done through a hard line march through the vast expanses of Eastern Europe. Chelsea’s title was won through a bunkered-in mentality—defense was the name of the game. Chelsea’s 15 goals conceded that year still remains a modern record (tied only with the 1888-89 Preston North End). Add 72 goals for on top of that and you not only have the best Chelsea season ever, but one of the greatest in the history of the English football.

Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

Yep, 2005 was sure some year.

On Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, I woke up with a headache, thanks to some little punk from Middlebury College who decided to give me a shot with his fist right in the eye during a water polo match this weekend. I have been looking at jobs the past few weeks with an eye (my one good one) towards graduating in December, knowing full well there is not much out there. My apartment is a mess, my dog just ate my remote and my heat is not working.

And you know what is the one thing above all that is most disconcerting? Chelsea looks terrible.

Through 11 Premier League games, Chelsea sits in a precarious fourth place with 22 points, nine adrift from league-leaders Manchester City. What is concerning most Chelsea fans is something that they have not seen under the Abramovich era, a porous and vulnerable backline. The three league titles the Blues have won over the past decade have all been on the backs of stout and resolute defenses. In that time, Chelsea has never surrendered more than 34 goals in a single season. They have already given up 15 less than a third through this year.

It is easy to point at the Chelsea back line and say there is the problem. There are so many issues, whether it be the fact that most of them are card-carrying members of the AARP or that their communication problems are similar to something you would see in a bad sitcom that would lead to two characters showing up for the same date. The real problem, however, behind the hemorrhaging in front of the Chelsea net (and I don’t mean Petr Cech’s nose) is simply in the game plan.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas' belief in the “high-line” is naive.  It worked at Porto and to great success, but at the risk of sounding like an elitist who only believes England is qualified to run an established professional league, the Primeira Liga is a joke. Any league where the winners are disproportionately better than the rest is subpar to one which every result, though it could be an upset, is met with some sense that it was in the realm of possibility.

Now in England, playing teams week in and week out that would all challenge for the title in the Iberian nation, the truth of the matter is that good teams—complete teams, which all 20 in the Premier League are—have no issue picking apart such a system.

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

But it goes beyond the league. Like I have already said, Chelsea have won titles on defense and a stubborn, hard-nosed approach to it. Four players are sent out to sit right on top of their own box and basically build a wall that the only way to tear down is to beat into submission. This is how every single Chelsea defender was brought into the team for and bred to do once they got here. Now, after decades of playing one style to the game, you are all of a sudden asking them to change to a wholly different one?

You know the saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Can someone please translate that into Portuguese for our "savior"?

So, what does this all have to do with Daniel Sturridge? Don’t worry, I’m getting there.

It is absolutely foolish for me or you to sit here and think we are breaking new ground. I don’t really expect Villas-Boas to log on to B/R anytime soon for some advice on how to improve his faulty back line. He has to have known coming into the season, or at least by now, that his system—the way he deployed it in Portugal—is not going to work to the same effect.

However, he continues to use it. Week in week out it is the same thing: Chelsea conceding goals and dropping points.

Wait a second—United has conceded 12 and City 10, and Newcastle eight! Why aren’t the Magpies in first? And Arsenal has let 21 through and are only three points back, and Liverpool only 10 and Chelsea are ahead of them? Does this mean—yes, yes, I think it does—Chelsea have to score as well?

Now, before you all scroll to the bottom and comment on my stupidity, pointing out that Chelsea are indeed third in scoring with 24 goals, just hear me out.

Ian Walton/Getty Images

Goals at Chelsea have not been hard to come by, but why should they not? Villas-Boas is playing a 4-3-3 dynamic attacking formation. In this formation you have three players up top who are only concerned with the offense, two midfielders who move in when they have the ball and both full backs come up and support out wide. At any given moment when the ball is deep in the opponents zone there are seven to eight players with it. Of course they will score. The problem is not how many, but rather when.

Wins of 5-1 over Bolton and 4-1 over Swansea are great. No one is going to tell them to spare the other team and ease up on the gas pedal. However, in two of their losses, not only were they outscored (duh), but their offense was near nonexistent, at least in relation to the teams they were playing. And in their most recent loss to Arsenal, three goals is a fine total—but not when the other team scores five.

Villas-Boas’ system is different than any other Chelsea manager in the recent past. The stresses of defense are not a focal point and that is fine. It is difficult to argue with someone who wants to put more scoring in the game. However, if you are going to go into this shootout at the OK Corral mentality, it’s going to be difficult to win when the big boys are showing up with fully loaded .44 Magnum and all you have in the holster is a water pistol.

The Chelsea attack is a feeble and a joke when it is put in relation to its counterparts or up against the jobs it is expected to perform. Results like the one against Swansea should not be positive, but more expected. The very fact that they are not consistently putting away three or four a game is somewhat disturbing because they are built to do just that.

Villas-Boas has to understand that under the current system he will continue to concede goals and against better opponents it will be three or four. The offense are the ones who become responsible for bringing back a win. Getting three goals in a match is only enough if the other team gets two. Scoring six goals in a match is only enough if the other team scores five. The offense;s production should not be judged by the goal total under Chelsea on the scoreboard, but it needs to be judged in relation to the total of the opponent.

It sounds odd to criticize a team that scores half a dozen goals, but it is the style of play Villas-Boas has asked his side to play.

I know this article has nothing to do with Daniel Sturridge, but in fact it has all to do with him. He is a good player, there is no arguing that. He also is not to “that” level yet of being able to compete with the best of the best. He is only 22—what do you want out of the kid? But he symbolizes the problem in this inability to score not just goals, but game-winning goals, the kind that mean something, not scrap in extra time of a 5-0 victory.

His freezing in the moment is reminiscent of them getting only one against United and only three against Arsenal. It is just not enough. Chelsea are just not quite there yet.

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Liverpool Transfer Rumours: Reds Set To Raid Barcelona for Superstar Striker

With his team currently sitting in 6th in the Premier League in goals (only 14 through 11 games), Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has reportedly been looking for options to help him boost his strike force in January. His search appears to have led him to the camp of Champions League winners Barcelona—more specifically to their star striker, David Villa—as it has emerged that Dalglish might be preparing an audacious swoop for the Spanish superstar (The Daily Mail).

Villa joined Barcelona in the summer of 2010 from Valencia for an estimated £34 million, and has since emerged as one of the world's premier attacking players. Villa has scored 30 goals in 70 appearances for the legendary club, while in a sparkling Spanish international career he has 50 goals in 80 matches.

That said, relationships appear to have become strained recently, with a reported fallout between Villa and world-beater Lionel Messi raiding the tabloids. Barcelona have some very talented youngsters coming through the pipeline, and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to see the 29-year-old fall out of favour in the next couple of seasons. 

The move would certainly be a sensational transfer for the Anfield club. While Barcelona would most likely demand at least as much as they paid for Villa, Liverpool's rich owners have shown a willingness to spend money to improve the team. Villa would step right into the starting XI at Liverpool, likely alongside Luis Suarez, to create one of the best strike partnerships in the world.

Look for the Reds to take a run at Villa in the January transfer window. 

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