There is an efficiency to that, but it is not of the type to delight a manager or a home crowd. In a stronger team alongside better players, if Torres had not missed so many games injured, and had Liverpool not been forced to battle a relentless United, Gerrard's phenomenal form might otherwise have resulted in a league title. Gerrard operated like a luxury utility player, an elite footballer covering gaps left vacant by others and defending from the front, moving into space to ensure the system's fundamentals of width and positioning were maintained. The substitute Akinbiyi was the first to react and he calmly slotted the ball past Alex on the line. Following a 17th-minute corner, Juan Culio crossed deep from the right and the header from the centre-back Hugo Alcantara needed to be hoofed away by Mikel John Obi. The first half was well advanced before there was any sense that the visitors had been pinned down. Benitez wanted to squeeze as much attacking juice out of his captain as possible.
Conversely, in a team better equipped to win a league title, Gerrard might not have enjoyed the same freedom that allowed him to thrive, star and earn his individual prizes. Gerrard won possession in the final third 76 times - the sixth most of any player despite playing fewer games than all but one (Steven Pienaar) - with a determined approach to pressing from the front helping create chances that would otherwise not have existed. This has been amended. But since Coyle was appointed last November Burnley have played a brand of football that is most pleasing on the eye while climbing to fifth in the second tier, and they brought that attitude here. Drogba apologises for coin throw as Chelsea tumble out. Liverpool were only at their best with both on the pitch. There was sighting of liberation when Anelka shot against Claro, following build-up by Deco and Kalou, but within seconds Koné had cancelled out Chelsea' lead. "I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me," the striker said. Keane was a different sort of player more inclined to drop into the 10 space and link play than run off the shoulder of the last man and Liverpool's attacking output wasn't quite the same when he deputised: Keane managed five goals and four assists in 19 games before being sold to Tottenham in the January window. An example of how Benitez switched things around was in the 4-1 win over Manchester United, naming a side with Jamie Carragher at right-back, and due to an injury in the warm-up to Xabi Alonso, two ball-winning defensive midfielders in Lucas Leiva and Javier Mascherano behind Gerrard, with defensive wingers Dirk Kuyt and Albert Riera either side. It was his first goal for the club since April and as he celebrated in front of the Burnley fans, a coin thrown from the visiting supporters appeared to strike him. If Gerrard wasn't in the team through injury, or the match tactics required him in a deeper, more protective midfield role, creativity had to come from elsewhere.
That is when wingers like Ryan Babel were used. It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it.". Chelsea are unaccustomed to playing for high stakes at this stage of the Champions League. Drogba's coin-throwing echoed a similar incident involving Liverpool's Jamie Carragher against Arsenal in 2002. It seems certain the Football Association will investigate the matter and last night the player issued an apology. Cluj illustrated the fragility with their equaliser in the 55th minute. He wasn't needed - nobody could replicate Torres' stunning form in front of goal and without the Spanish striker, Liverpool simply couldn't attack in the same way, which meant Gerrard couldn't operate the same super-attacking midfield role. Premier League clubs are now expected to advance with ease, as Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal had done in the previous round of fixtures. As if facing the bottom team in group A were not enough, there was further encouragement in the absence through injury of Cluj's first choice goalkeeper Eduard Stancioiu.
They avoided what might have been a killer blow when Branislav Ivanovic headed Florent Malouda's header on to the crossbar in first-half stoppage-time, and midway through the second half they capitalised on their good fortune.
Whereas Arsenal fielded a team with an average age of 19 against Wigan on Tuesday night, 23-year-old Salomon Kalou was the youngest home player on display here. He responded with a one-finger gesture and then picked up the coin and hurled it back into the supporters.
Progress had seemed straightforward when Drogba struck but Scolari was punished after substituting both Deco and Drogba in the second half and the Burnley manager, Owen Coyle, was rewarded for a courageous passing game by Ade Akinbiyi's equaliser. With defensive wingers, Benitez could offer more freedom to Gerrard in possession because these players were more likely to hold position and shape in the event of a turnover than trickier, more selfish wingers. With 16 goals and nine assists in 31 league games, 2008/09 was his most prolific season, with the midfielder developing a telepathic understanding with striker Fernando Torres from a more advanced starting position that resulted in Liverpool scoring 77 goals - the most of any team in England's top flight. • This article was amended on Sunday December 14 2008. All rights reserved. That a side built to his strengths came so close to beating one of the best ever Manchester United teams should be indicative of what an incredible player the 08/09 Steven Gerrard really was. Available for everyone, funded by readers, The former West Ham midfielder has thanked supporters for helping him become a 'Chelsea person'. First published on Thu 13 Nov 2008 00.01 GMT. Gerrard was the star of this Liverpool team because the system was constructed around his particular abilities. Come back tomorrow for 2009/10: The year of the Drogba. Scolari, appreciating there was no need to gamble, had concluded that Anelka and Drogba should not start together for the first time in his tenure. The only teams to win at least 86 points and not win the Premier League since its inception are Liverpool 2018/19 (97 points), Spurs 2016/17 (86), Manchester United in 2011/12 (89) and 1994/95 (88). In 2008/09, he was pushed so far forward his position was a mix of second striker and attacking midfielder - something close to a '10' - with his tactical discipline and energy key to Benitez's strategy. Frank Lampard reveals debt of gratitude to Chelsea fans, Scolari's toughest test may be marrying Drogba and Anelka. The latter also lowered the average age of a department of the team that included the veterans Deco and Michael Ballack. The outstanding players of the season were Ronaldo, Lampard, Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, but Gerrard's individual contribution to the team surpassed all, with the Liverpool captain's statistics those of an attack-minded, all-round midfielder: For comparison, Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas has a similarly impressive player comparison radar: But Fabregase was more of a deep-lying playmaker, dictating play much further back (a role Gerrard would later perform under Brendan Rodgers). Didier Drogba came on to score the winner, showing that, despite all the injury worries, he can still be decisive. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. The FWA and Fans Player of the Season, Gerrard was incredible. From an advanced central attacking starting position he would often drift out into the channel and then drop deeper to midfield, from where he was able to make late runs to attack the ball in the box or thread through-balls in to Torres, who prospered with Gerrard nearby.
Please review our, You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. With their European campaign certain to end here, the visitors had nothing whatsoever at stake. Drogba reacted after giving Chelsea the lead in the 27th minute, with a world-class finish, on his first start for six weeks since injuring his knee in the Champions League against Cluj. Cluj, indeed, had created a clear opportunity of their own.
Chelsea suffered a shock exit from this competition at the hands of a dogged Burnley after a penalty shoot-out last night, and that may not be the end of their troubles. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on 27 May 2009. The individuals in the starting XI were often changed, with different styles of players preferred for different games, but the system remained the same.
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