Perhaps this Andre Villas-Boas lad knows what he's doing! It's taken just 10 minutes for his substitution of Daniel Sturridge for John Obi Mikel to pay off. Chelsea and Liverpool are level at 1-1 after 55 minutes, thanks to a goal by Sturridge. Liverpool's defending on the move was absolutely terrible, but Chelsea still did well to get bodies into the box quickly, while the change in formation and player roles certainly contributed to the goal.
Following a bad giveaway in midfield, Chelsea took off on the counter, with even John Terry getting involved with an overlapping run on the left flank. Florent Malouda took the ball forward and swung a great ball into the back post, which no one was able to deal with. Sturridge AND Juan Mata found themselves completely unmarked at the back post, and Sturridge tapped in the goal.
From a Liverpool perspective, the goal was a terrible one to give up. Charlie Adam gave the ball away, Daniel Agger should have done something with the cross, and Luis Enrique completely lost Sturridge. A giant bucket of fail. It was a great move by Chelsea, but Kenny Dalglish will be dissatisfied with his team's total failure to do anything about it.