To put it bluntly, Liverpool deserved to win. We were lucky to draw. So what? Got a vital point at Anfield. After the match, Rafa would be the proud manager and Jose would be the happy manager. In the premier league rat race, I’d always prefer to be the happy manager, especially after a match in places like Anfield. If I seem to sound apologetic, let me clarify: I’m laughing my ass off at the scousers, that we got a point there. This was the same place which eliminated Chelsea from champions league through a goal that never crossed the line. So, Liverpool played better but I’m not at all ashamed to come away with a valuable point.

I did go to this pub which had scousers all arund. I had to patiently watch the match amongst shouts and cheers of “come on stevieeee” and “shoooot johnnyyy” etc. It was nice to come out of the pub with a smile on my face, of course after shaking hands with them and wishing them good luck. As it was seen in a very high pressure viewing environment, I mat not have caught the finer points of the match but I’ll write about the impressions that lasted in my mind.

Liverpool played exactly how a big team would play at home. They were playing high tempo, pushing us constantly and at the same time playing with a disciplined and organised back four. I was surprised to see Essien start as the right back. I should only guess that Alex was not fit enough to play more than half hour or something. Also the performance of the genuine right backs in the squad is not quite convincing which made Essien move back. The Torres goal was a very clear example of why Essien can not equal a genuine quality right back. His positioning was too awful that it looked like he forgot his role for a moment. Don’t get me wrong. Essien is an awesome player and has the heart to play wherever his manager wants him to play. If you see that goal again, Essien pushed up and was staying quite up the pitch and realised very lately that he created huge space behind him. Gerrard intelligently capitalised that for a superb through ball. Even after this, we could have prevented the goal. Ben Haim was bit slow and hence allowed Torres to position himself at a shooting angle and Ben Haim was ball-watching when Torres did his little tricks and finished it superbly.

I thought these players had a bad match – Ashley Cole, Drogba, Malouda, Ben Haim, Essien and SWP. Too many bad performances for an away match against a ‘big-spending’ title contender. That’s always been Chelsea’s resolve. We come out with something even in those matches which we call as horrible Chelsea performance. On the other hand, Liverpool were very energetic and attacking, and may be played their best football of the season so far. With their best football and our poor football today, it ended up at 1-1. No complaints.

In the second half, things did start brightly for us. We started creating more meaningful chances in the second half. I had a feeling that all Chelsea players were trying to find Drogba’s head or feet, which is not warranted. We have a good strikers in Pizarro and Kalou and also sharp shooters in Malouda, SWP and Joe Cole. The Drogba-centric game actually limited our options and made it easier for Liverpool to handle us. And then came the moment. In normal speed, I thought it was a penalty. After seeing the first replay, I thought that the referee was a bit harsh on Liverpool. After seeing more and more replays, I don’t think it was that bad a decision after all.

See what Jose has to say about the penalty.

The only thing I want to say is that in the box there is no advantage law, so because the ball went to Didier and he was alone, there is no advantage law. If the referee sees a foul it’s a penalty, so when Malouda opens the legs to let the ball go to Didier, and is kicked from behind, I think it’s a penalty.

Clearly Malouda was not trying to shoot the ball. He was only trying to let the ball go through this legs to reach unmarked Drogba. As Malouda was trying to do this piece, Carragher barged onto him to make Malouda lose the balance. As Jose says, there is no ‘advantage law’ in the penalty box.

And he went on to say this:

We came here to win the game, I think we showed that with the team we started the game. Many of you think Chelsea comes here and plays Makelele, Essien in midfield, three or four in midfield, but no, we tried to win and we tried for 85 minutes. ‘In the last five minutes I’m honest and I say when they play Crouch, Kuyt, Babel, Torres, in that moment I have a giant in my bench, and when I see that giant going in I say “come on its your time”. I close the door and go home with a point, it’s two points Liverpool doesn’t get. Yes in that time I know Arsenal draw and Man United lose so I think it’s positive but it’s fair to say Chelsea tried to win the game like Liverpool did.

To talk on the positives, we scored in a penalty! Not trying to be mean, but we had to score this penalty to exorcise our spot kick horrors of recent times. If your last penalty was a goal, it always gives you that confidence. It was nicer to see Lampard getting that goal. Lampard, invariably shoots his penalty to the left and very rarely to the right. Even this time, Lampard went for the left but not a blast to the top left but a blistering drive to the left bottom. Reina must have thought about the law of averages and Lampard’s missed spot kicks to the left side but Super Frank had the guts to send it once again to the left.

How sweet can this day be? Man Utd losing the derby!!! After two draws, the Man Utd blogs were all flowing with so damn furious comments and a huge amount of negativity has crept into them and their beliefs. The blogs and the comments are a good measure of the overall morale and mentality of any team’s performance. Right now, Man Utd is suddenly facing a low, with Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson and Tevez in the team. And you know what, they have their first choice keeper and central defenders intact too.

We are quietly marching towards the summit of the league table. Teams like Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal etc certainly lack the consistency now that’s required for a league title. Liverpool can still draw with teams like Villa, Fulham while Chelsea would coolly pick up three points and march on. So, after three matches, I’m still able to say that this could be Chelsea’s season.