Chelsea vs Liverpool Review

It was a week ago when Brazilian journalist Natalie Gedra asked Enzo Maresca a question the answer to which neither knew would soon become prophetic.

What were his thoughts on the legendary Italian manager’s belief that a football team is an orchestra that has no place for soloists? “Yes, he [Sacchi] is right, you need your team to be an orchestra,” responded Maresca, “but inside that orchestra you need a couple of artists that make music better with their little details.”

“In my team… you need Cole Palmer, you need…” Maresca draws out his thought half-a-second, as if hesitant to place his players in the same realm as Palmer’s otherworldly talents. And then, effortlessly, the name rolls of his tongue. “You need Estevao.”

Do not underestimate the agony Maresca would have endured when trying to formulate the ideal approach to this game. Can you weave a symphony out of an orchestra whose lead pianist is out with a broken wrist, and the entire trombone section missing after a series of differing mishaps?

The Italian has been quite rightly criticized for taking risk-averse approaches and making defensive subs in recent games. Not many would have blamed him for doing so with a squad missing 8 first team players, against the league champions. There must have been the temptation to throw Reece James into central midfield, simply because it worked against PSG. Or even to go to a back 3, considering 5th and 6th choice CB were in line to make starts.

Instead, Maresca threw Malo Gusto into central midfield, looking to match Liverpool’s aggressive and intense trio with a presence more athletic than Enzo Fernandez, Andrey Santos, Romeo Lavia & Reece James. To reinforce his side out of possession, Neto & Garnacho started on the wings; both ran non-stop for 75 minutes, hitting drop-dead exhaustion after sprinting into spaces left by Liverpool’s FBs before dropping back to help their fullbacks. Maresca stayed with the back 4, trusting Benoit Badiashile with Josh Acheampong, a pairing that had never played before in the centre of defence.

For the first 45 minutes, Maresca’s Chelsea rose and fell in unison - stringendo - the tempo picking up quickly, culminating with an intense press on Liverpool’s PL debut-making GK Giorgi Mamardashvili, legato as it fell into the contained intensity of a midblock flowing as one, no gaps, no spaces - flowing, waiting, for the moment that signalled crescendo.

Liverpool repeatedly began build up and went to Mamardashvili, whose attempt to switch under pressure rolled harmlessly out of play on more than one occasion. At the other end of the pitch, the defence radiated the kind of confidence that was sorely lacking in a 4-game-run that saw them concede 9 goals.

Acheampong, making his first start after his mistake gifted Brighton a goal in a costly defeat, stretched those lithe limbs, effortlessly galloping through Liverpool bodies. He pushed up tight on Alexander Isak, preventing the Swede from linking up play away from the last line. Badiashile looked like the defender that had every club in Europe taking notice during his time at Monaco. Like Garnacho and Neto, both central defenders were forced off due to the sheer physical and mental workload demanded in a game of this magnitude.

Liverpool’s equalizer brought upon Maresca the toughest test of his faith in his plan. Two fullbacks at centerback, cramps and exhaustion gnawing at tendons and bones. Surely this was the time to shut shop?

Instead, Maresca stuck to his plan. Lessons were learnt from the United and Brighton games, where pace was taken off. Here, he unleashed it in for the last 15 minutes, injecting havoc into Liverpool’s nervous system. Gittens’ raw pace gave Szoboszlai quite a few issues, and had his first touch been better, there would been a 1v1 and lift-off in a Blue kit.

The artist on the right was on for 15 minutes. He created as many chances as any Chelsea player bar Cucurella. Did Estevao watch that interview? Only he knows. But he came on, and allegro - the rhythm now electric, rising and rising; feet tantalizing, toying with the senses.

"We know that Salah is always ready for the counter attack,” said Cucurella after the game, “so we practiced that and the manager said that the space might be there [on the right side of Liverpool]." When that gap was exploited and the Spaniard snuck into the box, Estevao didn’t just see his name his lights, he heard it - the crescendo meeting its jubilant climax, an ode to the joy he symbolizes for an entire nation. The Bridge is his theatre and it erupts in ecstasy to celebrate a rare triumph - the virtuosity in the conductor’s design, an artist who took centerstage without turning the symphony into his own concerto and a ravaged orchestra that found harmony in the middle of chaos.

Encore, please.