Pointing Fingers: Mikel and Cole Blunder against Liverpool

What every football fan has to come to terms with, one time or the other, in football is that sometimes it is just not your day. Every team has one of those games where something inevitably goes wrong no matter how prepared or well-trained the team was before the game: a silly back pass or a slip or a mistimed tackle is all it takes to undone all the hard work you've put in. The problem with Chelsea at this moment is that this kind of incidences are occurring too frequently. And more often than not, we get punish for them.

Against Liverpool, there were a few nervy moments in the first half but Chelsea's defense was pretty solid. We conceded 9 shots and only 3 were on target. The six off target shots came from outside the box. In comparison, Manchester City, now the golden standard of the Premier League, conceded more shot attempts (13) and shots on goal (5) playing at home to Wolves than Chelsea did against Liverpool.

So, as I was saying, our defense looked better than it has been recently. But we still managed to concede two goals from two individual mistakes: one by Mikel and another by Cole. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Mikel's Costly Extra Touch

Picture 1.1 Cech's Pass to Mikel

The first goal came out of nothing. It was the usual pass-out from the back. Despite Drogba's presence in the team, we didn't play direct football, at least not from the goalkeeper. Petr Cech made 29 passes in this game, only 5 landed in Liverpool's half.

The first question we need to address is, "Did Cech make the right passing option by choosing Mikel?" Looking at Picture 1.1, Cech has three choices -- Mikel in the middle (with Adam rushing on to him from behind), Luiz on the right and Drogba (who made a good run behind the two Liverpool center backs while being onside). 

I think a long ball to Drogba, in this particular instance, is the best choice. However, I don't think Cech is at fault for picking out Mikel. His pass, though, could definitely be better. Bouncing balls, by law of nature, are more difficult to control than balls that rolled across the surface. So, Cech gets a stern frown from me for the quality of that pass; nothing more.

Picture 1.2 Mikel's Options

When Mikel took the first touch of the ball to receive the pass from Cech, he has three options to escape from Adam's pressure*. One, pass it straight back to Cech. Two, spread it out wide to Luiz on his left. Or three, shield the ball with his body from Adam and move to his right, as the dotted line indicate, and find Lampard or Cole.

* Here, I am assuming that Chelsea players around Mikel has communicated to him that Adam is closing down on him. If that wasn't the case, then we have a communication problem which will need to be addressed. But as it stands, there is no means to prove it or disprove it. 

Any of these options are feasible but each has its own risk. Mikel chose the third but what happened next could only be visually described as...

Picture 1.3 Mikel's Clusterfuck

... and by the technical term -- clusterfuck (which, according to the Urban Dictionary, is a synonym of mess or disaster).

But this mistake does not merit the end of Mikel's career at Chelsea. He has been one of the more consistent players for Chelsea over the past few seasons; he simply does his job well. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and I find elegance in the simplicity of Mikel's game. Those who think all Mikel does is make boring short, side-to-side passes obviously have never played in the defensive midfield position, which requires so much concentration, self-control and dedication. Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to make the most simple pass. For me, the 24-year-old is here to stay for the long run.

Cole's Clumsy Tackle    

Picture 2.1 Adam's Pass to Johnson

It was Chelsea's good defensive organization on the left that forced Liverpool to switch their point to attack to the right, through Adam's exquisite long ball to advancing Johnson. The pass definitely has great quality, but if you want to be a stickler, you can blame Mata for not pressing fast enough to deny space and time for Adam to execute that pass. To me, that would be a tad harsh.

There are two Chelsea players active around Johnson (red dot) -- Malouda (blue triangle), who is running back to defend, and Cole (blue dot), who is looking to close down on Johnson.

Picture 2.2 Fullback Defending 101

When Johnson takes the first touch to bring the ball down, the Chelsea is doing OK defensively. Two players looking after the man in possession, while two central defenders, Luiz and Terry, are running back to two potential threats in the box.

All Cole needed to do was shadow Johnson and push him to the wide position, indicated by the red dotted line, away from the goal, while Malouda drops in behind to cover. But Cole made a rash decision.

Picture 2.3 Johnson Moves Inside

By tackling Johnson unnecessarily, Cole allowed Johnson to cut onto his left foot and head towards goal. And you know what happened next.

In this instance, Cole is the sole culprit as far as I'm concerned. Some point out that Malouda could have done better but I don't see it. First of all, Malouda deserves credit for running back to help out. Second of all, he, as I said above, would have been in the perfect position to cover Cole, if the latter could have stalled Johnson for, oh I don't know, ONE more second.

Update: After much consideration (and discussion), I have come to the conclusion that there are two stages one can focus on in this instance: the initial passing stage (from Adam to Johnson) and the dribbling stage (where Johnson beat Cole). Taking the first stage on its own, I think Malouda has to be blamed for not being closer to Johnson, who is a right back, and quite possibly Malouda's mark.

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There you have it, folks. Two simple, silly mistakes by two players who are normally quite reliable. Individual errors cost us the game but high defensive line is still the favorite scapegoat of the time.

Carefree, wherever you may be...