Intentar ORO - Gratis
Chelsea pinch victory as incohesive Reds fail again
The Independent
|October 05, 2025
Just when the stage seemed set for a launch moment from Liverpool's new stars, Chelsea's great hope provided one.
-
Just when the Premier League champions looked like they could snatch another stoppage-time winner, Estevao gave Chelsea what their late siege deserved. Liverpool got what was coming. This was of course the second time in a week that they have lost 2-1 to a late goal, to make it a third successive defeat.
Liverpool are now very much in a classic Premier League crisis. Chelsea are out of one, as Enzo Maresca almost symbolised with that Jose Mourinho-style run down the touchline to celebrate the winner.
That resulted in yet another red card, this time for the manager himself, but it's hard to think that anyone will care too much about that. Everything is now so much clearer at Chelsea going into the international break.
That doesn’t just apply to results. It’s also how they got there.
As the game ticked into the final half-hour, and Liverpool were building some momentum following Cody Gakpo’s equaliser, Maresca knew exactly what he had to do with his substitutes. That's all the more impressive given that Slot himself mentioned after the game that Chelsea had eight players out, and it could be a “positive” for them.Instead, Romeo Lavia started to stem midfield, and ensure Chelsea were driving forward again. Jorrel Hato offered a required stability in defence. Estevao, from 75 minutes, was ready to seize the occasion.
There were more than enough occasions when the young Brazilian seized the ball from a Liverpool player lax in possession, something that was a feature of the game.
Against that, Slot's changes seemed to cede the game. They finished with two midfielders in the back four. That just can't work in a match in the balance like this.
People can of course point to available personnel, and the pattern of the game, but there is maybe something much bigger.
Esta historia es de la edición October 05, 2025 de The Independent.
Suscríbete a Magzter GOLD para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9000 revistas y periódicos.
¿Ya eres suscriptor? Iniciar sesión
MÁS HISTORIAS DE The Independent
The Independent
Blair commends Mahmood amid leadership speculation
Tony Blair has effectively endorsed Shabana Mahmood as a future Labour leader, praising her as “brilliant” and “impressive” in a joint public appearance with the home secretary. The former Labour prime minister hosted a Christmas event for the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) alongside Ms Mahmood, which she used to deliver a passionate personal and political manifesto.
5 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
'We're Russia's next target
Nato chief delivers chilling warning to Europe over Putin
3 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
Superflu cases plunge NHS into 'worst-case scenario'
Health service director warns that peak is 'not yet in sight'
4 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
'Betrayed' fans face £5,000 bill for World Cup tickets
Call for an 'immediate halt' to ticket sales after it was found that prices are five times higher than Qatar 2022 tournament
3 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
Social media searches, Esta rules and hidden surcharges
Simon Calder walks us through the barriers waiting to trip up anyone planning a visit to America in a World Cup year
6 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
Why is Labour filling the Lords with its own peers?
There must be some irony, if not perhaps a hint of spite, in the fact that the House of Lords is causing the government some legislative difficulty just as the very last of the hereditary peers are shuffling out of the chamber.
3 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
The final, desperate days of a prisoner left to rot on IPP
Days before Taylor Atkinson took his own life, he told his partner exactly what he was going to do. Using information he had found in a science textbook from the prison library, he planned to inflict a catastrophic injury on himself, telling the woman whom he called his soulmate that he was leaving prison “in a body bag” that weekend.
10 mins
December 12, 2025
The Independent
ON THIS DAY
1803: Composer Hector Berlioz was born near Grenoble.
1 min
December 11, 2025
The Independent
Slot breathes easier as Jones sparkles in diamond shape
It isn’t the most infamous interview a Liverpool player has conducted after a match of late. Not any more, anyway. But after PSV Eindhoven won 4-1 to inflict Liverpool’s joint-heaviest European defeat at Anfield and take their run to nine losses in 12 games, Curtis Jones declared that they were “in the shit”.
3 mins
December 11, 2025
The Independent
‘It positions the harassment of migrants as a public duty’
Anti-immigrant activists are travelling to northern France to intimidate asylum seekers. Holly Bancroft investigates this disturbing new trend, and the far-right groups promoting it
5 mins
December 11, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size
