LIVE: Liverpool v Chelsea | UEFA Super Cup | August 14th, 2019
Match info:
Match K.O. at 21:00 Cairo local time (GMT+2) | 15:00 ET (Canada-USA)
Venue: Besiktas Park stadium, Istanbul (Turkey)
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart
This will be the first time ever that two Premier League sides have faced off in UEFA’s curtain-raiser, making England’s top flight the third of Europe’s major leagues to fill both positions in the fixture. Serie A was the first in 1990 and La Liga have done so on no less than five occasions, with an incredible three in a row between 2014 and 2016.
But now England has completed this incredible achievement, and we will see the first English winner of this competition since Liverpool beat CSKA Moscow in 2005
The biggest worry for Chelsea is surely Liverpool’s enormously high-powered attack, specifically the magnificent Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané in the wide areas. Worse still is that they will be doubled up by the continent’s deadliest full-back duo, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Andrew Robertson.
Liverpool are at their strongest on the flanks and their entire system is set up to create their goals in that zone of play through their wing-forwards cutting infield and their full-backs crossing. Against Norwich, all four of their goals came from wide areas, albeit one of them from a corner, as they devastated the Canaries down the flanks.
Chelsea would have been nervous enough after Friday night but then on Sunday, they got diced up by Manchester United, conceding four as Norwich did at Anfield, with the Red Devils causing them particular problems in the wide areas.
Three of United’s goals came from them exposing Chelsea’s full-backs, twice doing so with dramatic outside-to-in runs (Marcus Rashford’s second and Paul Pogba’s assist for Daniel James’ goal) after Anthony Martial had made it 2-0 by converting a cross from the right flank.
The final battle is a kind of obvious, in the sense that of course, the managerial showdown is a battleground, but it’s how these two managers will face off against each other that could decide the final. Liverpool are a known quantity at this point; it’s pretty obvious that Klopp with deploying an aggressive and dynamic midfield to press Chelsea and prevent defensive incursions as well as allowing Liverpool’s full-backs to bomb forward and dominate the flanks whilst their wing-forwards cut in to score.
But how can Lampard counter this? Unlike Liverpool, Lampard is a virtually unknown both in management generally and at Chelsea specifically. He’s used many different formations so far and seems to be a practical person, so what does he have planned? Well, one change he could make is to directly counter Liverpool’s flank power.
