Jurgen Klopp Liverpool gamble backfires in meek Chelsea draw as four Blues stars frustrate | Football | Sport

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made wholesale changes to his side but still couldn’t find an away win as his side held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge. Just three days after Graham Potter was brutally sacked by Todd Boehly, his former assistant Bruno Saltor was thrown into the deep end against with a tough clash. But neither side did enough to win the game despite two goals being ruled out via VAR for the hosts as they stuttered towards a drab draw. Express Sport looks at how both managers’ decisions impacted the game.

Klopp’s bold changes backfire

Jamie Carragher had suggested Klopp was both trying to give a rest to his players and also send a message to his underachieving stars, dropping Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson.

“It’s more than you do expect and what Jurgen Klopp’s done since he came in is there’s certain players who just play every game, and those players, some of them aren’t playing tonight. Is that to do with the performance against Manchester City? Is it to do with the fact that Liverpool have three tough games in a week? It’s a bit of both.”

But the ones that came in were hardly better. Joel Matip looked shaky and struggled to cope with Kai Havertz, while Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas struggling in the first half in particular. Up front, Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino were quieter than Salah might have been, and Klopp may regret making so many changes at once after stuttering to another disappointing result.

Potter axe doesn’t solve goal troubles

For the final months of Potter’s reign, the Blues were plagued by confidence issues in front of goal – and three days after the 47-year-old’s sacking, there was no change in their fortunes under Saltor. Four different players had fine opportunities to score and none did. For the sixth time in 10 home matches, they failed to score at home.

When Mateo Kovacic rounded goalkeeper Alisson Becker inside the first 10 minutes, there seemed to be only one outcome with the goal gaping. And it was this: somehow, some way, Chelsea would fail to score. And so it proved, as Ibrahima Konate produced a heroic sliding challenge on the line to make up for his error earlier in the move.

Reece James did finally find the net with a thunderous effort but the flag was correctly raised for offside, a familiar story in their season. Then it was Kai Havertz’s turn. The German thought he had finally scored after missing two golden chances earlier on, only for VAR to rule out the goal for handball – but his miss before that was almost unforgivable and a perfect exhibition of Chelsea’s profligacy this season.