Reds lose but not all is lost

SINGAPORE - It's not all doom and gloom for Liverpool, even though they've lost their first league game since last December.

They are still leading the Premiership table with two games to go, although it would be interesting to see how Manchester City fare in their run-in to the title race.

The fans at Anfield were amazing last night (Singapore time) when Brendan Rodgers' men hosted Chelsea, but the players did not impress at all.

I was rather surprised at the manager's decision to field Lucas Leiva in the starting line-up, since the Brazilian was poor in their last match against Norwich, where they won 3-2.

I thought Daniel Sturridge would feature in the first 11 so that the England international, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling could pressure the visitors from the get-go.

Instead, they did not create many clear-cut chances, and it was an unfortunate slip by captain Steven Gerrard that led to Demba Ba scoring the first goal.

In previous matches, Liverpool have had to cling on to their advantage after taking early leads, but there was nothing to hang on to last night. The game also exposed Liverpool's weakness at the most crucial period - the depth of their squad.

Rodgers had only Sturridge to turn to on the bench, whereas Jose Mourinho had more options on the Chelsea bench, notwithstanding the fact that he made changes with Thursday morning's Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid in mind.

That said, the Blues had a perfect match.

They were disciplined enough in defence and could afford to sit back and let the hosts come at them before striking them on the counter.

That was exactly what they did in both goals.

Their delaying tactics frustrated the Reds and compounded the pressure on the hosts to score.

The loss is Liverpool's first after 11 straight wins in the league, and ends their 17-game unbeaten run in the Premiership.

Incidentally, their last loss was a 2-1 defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last December.

Nonetheless, Liverpool are still in the driver's seat for their first-ever Premiership title, and their first top-flight title after 24 years, although Newcastle might prove to be a potential banana skin on the final day of the season.

I am being mischievous here, but I am hoping that Newcastle can get a result at the Emirates against Arsenal tomorrow morning (Singapore time) to influence the race between the Gunners and Everton for that last Champions League spot.

After all, the Citizens will be playing the Toffees at Goodison Park this Saturday and a negative result for Arsene Wenger's men will spur on the blue half of Merseyside.

Also, I hope that Liverpool's loss against Chelsea last night would not affect the team psychologically in their last two matches.

The defeat is a crushing blow at this stage of the season and the result is a huge one for them, and there will be question marks on how they'd bounce back in their next match against Crystal Palace.

*Ray Houghton is a former Liverpool midfielder who played for the Reds from 1987 to 1992, winning two league titles and two FA Cup trophies. He is now an ambassador for the Football Association of Ireland and also works as a co-presenter on UK radio station talkSPORT.

This article was published on April 28 in The New Paper.

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