One of the great records in the history of English football came to an end yesterday, but you would never have known it when the final whistle sounded at Stamford Bridge. The look of utter desolation on the face of John Terry required a fitting response from Chelsea's fans, who should have consoled their captain and the other stalwarts of the 86-match unbeaten home record in the Premier League - notably Petr Cech, Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho - with resounding acclaim for their superlative achievement.
Those 86 matches will stand among the great monuments of the English game, alongside Herbert Chapman's four league titles with Huddersfield and Arsenal between the world wars, Tottenham Hotspur's Cup-and-League double season of 1960-61, Bob Paisley's three European Cups (and 18 other trophies) at Liverpool between 1974 and 1983, Nottingham Forest's unbeaten 42 league matches under Brian Clough between November 1977 and December of the following year, Manchester United's treble of 1998-99, Arsenal's "invincible" season of 2003-04, and Sir Alex Ferguson's 10 league titles in 22 seasons at Old Trafford.
For that record Chelsea should salute Claudio Ranieri, who was in charge for the first half-dozen matches; Jose Mourinho, who supervised the next 57 over three complete seasons; Avram Grant, unbeaten at home in 19; and Luiz Felipe Scolari, with two wins and two draws before the walls came tumbling down yesterday. The team that began the run with a 2-1 win over Fulham on March 20 2004 went like this: Ambrosio, Gallas, Desailly, Terry, Bridge, Gronkjaer, Geremi, Lampard, Duff, Crespo and Gudjohnsen, with subs Joe Cole and Scott Parker. Terry and Lampard were on duty yesterday, but Joe Cole was badly missed as the team searched for weaknesses in the triple-locked centre of Liverpool's defence.
For all the praise showered on Scolari in recent weeks, and for all Chelsea's missing stars (principally Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, as well as Joe Cole), it has to be said that the club's new Brazilian manager showed little inventiveness in his attempts to claw back the lead established by Liverpool while the match was still in its formative stages. And for this Lampard and Deco should shoulder some of the blame, since - as Scolari admitted afterwards - in the absence of Drogba the team are ill equipped for a game based on crossing from wide positions.
All credit, however, to Rafael BenÃtez, whose seasons of tinkering are finally bearing genuine fruit. This morning Liverpool sit on top of the Premier League at a meaningful stage of the season for the first time since the Spaniard took charge in 2004, and there is nothing deceptive about their position. He may have done little to encourage local talent but everything Liverpool accomplished yesterday was firmly in the mould established by Bob Paisley and his great predecessor, Bill Shankly. Resolute in every tackle, pressing from the front with remorseless persistence, fast and direct on the counterattack and constantly stretching Chelsea's defence with the sort of raking passes that summoned the ghosts of Ian Callaghan and Ronnie Whelan, the players were true to their heritage in every respect.
Throughout the first half their astonishing intensity left Chelsea gasping for air, and for answers. Whenever the blue shirts tried to move the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, each receiver came under harrowing pressure and none had the time or space in which to select a penetrating pass. If Dirk Kuyt's unselfish chasing and harrying embodied Liverpool's effort in the first half, Javier Mascherano's magisterial shepherding in the second period made him the game's outstanding individual.
Chelsea were set a puzzle, and could not begin to solve it. Pepe Reina remained untested in the Liverpool goal, the home side's best chance coming when Ashley Cole's wild slice flew wide from Franco Di Santo's header in the 73rd minute. But this was by no means merely a study in negating the creativity of others. Liverpool might easily have had two and perhaps three more goals in the second half.
The end of an era, then. No longer the richest club in the world, no longer defending an extraordinary record, now - after last week's narrow victory over AS Roma - on a run of two generally undistinguished performances, Chelsea are currently just a very good Premier League team who must fight it out among the leading pack, with no presumption of superiority.
As Lampard reminded us during the build-up to yesterday's match, in Mourinho's first season they really were something to see, scoring four goals in a match on no fewer than nine occasions, including the Champions League ties against Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The great record had to end some time, but Scolari now has serious work to do.
A run to relish
Before yesterday, the last time Chelsea lost in the league was at home against Arsenal on 21 February 2004. Chelsea led after 27 seconds through Eidur Gudjohnsen, Patrick Vieira equalised and Edu scored the winner. Since then there have been:
86
League matches played at Stamford Bridge of which
62
were won by Chelsea who have gained
210
Premier League points, scoring
177
goals and conceding
44
to the opposition but keeping
54
clean sheets
Those 86 matches will stand among the great monuments of the English game, alongside Herbert Chapman's four league titles with Huddersfield and Arsenal between the world wars, Tottenham Hotspur's Cup-and-League double season of 1960-61, Bob Paisley's three European Cups (and 18 other trophies) at Liverpool between 1974 and 1983, Nottingham Forest's unbeaten 42 league matches under Brian Clough between November 1977 and December of the following year, Manchester United's treble of 1998-99, Arsenal's "invincible" season of 2003-04, and Sir Alex Ferguson's 10 league titles in 22 seasons at Old Trafford.
For that record Chelsea should salute Claudio Ranieri, who was in charge for the first half-dozen matches; Jose Mourinho, who supervised the next 57 over three complete seasons; Avram Grant, unbeaten at home in 19; and Luiz Felipe Scolari, with two wins and two draws before the walls came tumbling down yesterday. The team that began the run with a 2-1 win over Fulham on March 20 2004 went like this: Ambrosio, Gallas, Desailly, Terry, Bridge, Gronkjaer, Geremi, Lampard, Duff, Crespo and Gudjohnsen, with subs Joe Cole and Scott Parker. Terry and Lampard were on duty yesterday, but Joe Cole was badly missed as the team searched for weaknesses in the triple-locked centre of Liverpool's defence.
For all the praise showered on Scolari in recent weeks, and for all Chelsea's missing stars (principally Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, as well as Joe Cole), it has to be said that the club's new Brazilian manager showed little inventiveness in his attempts to claw back the lead established by Liverpool while the match was still in its formative stages. And for this Lampard and Deco should shoulder some of the blame, since - as Scolari admitted afterwards - in the absence of Drogba the team are ill equipped for a game based on crossing from wide positions.
All credit, however, to Rafael BenÃtez, whose seasons of tinkering are finally bearing genuine fruit. This morning Liverpool sit on top of the Premier League at a meaningful stage of the season for the first time since the Spaniard took charge in 2004, and there is nothing deceptive about their position. He may have done little to encourage local talent but everything Liverpool accomplished yesterday was firmly in the mould established by Bob Paisley and his great predecessor, Bill Shankly. Resolute in every tackle, pressing from the front with remorseless persistence, fast and direct on the counterattack and constantly stretching Chelsea's defence with the sort of raking passes that summoned the ghosts of Ian Callaghan and Ronnie Whelan, the players were true to their heritage in every respect.
Throughout the first half their astonishing intensity left Chelsea gasping for air, and for answers. Whenever the blue shirts tried to move the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, each receiver came under harrowing pressure and none had the time or space in which to select a penetrating pass. If Dirk Kuyt's unselfish chasing and harrying embodied Liverpool's effort in the first half, Javier Mascherano's magisterial shepherding in the second period made him the game's outstanding individual.
Chelsea were set a puzzle, and could not begin to solve it. Pepe Reina remained untested in the Liverpool goal, the home side's best chance coming when Ashley Cole's wild slice flew wide from Franco Di Santo's header in the 73rd minute. But this was by no means merely a study in negating the creativity of others. Liverpool might easily have had two and perhaps three more goals in the second half.
The end of an era, then. No longer the richest club in the world, no longer defending an extraordinary record, now - after last week's narrow victory over AS Roma - on a run of two generally undistinguished performances, Chelsea are currently just a very good Premier League team who must fight it out among the leading pack, with no presumption of superiority.
As Lampard reminded us during the build-up to yesterday's match, in Mourinho's first season they really were something to see, scoring four goals in a match on no fewer than nine occasions, including the Champions League ties against Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The great record had to end some time, but Scolari now has serious work to do.
A run to relish
Before yesterday, the last time Chelsea lost in the league was at home against Arsenal on 21 February 2004. Chelsea led after 27 seconds through Eidur Gudjohnsen, Patrick Vieira equalised and Edu scored the winner. Since then there have been:
86
League matches played at Stamford Bridge of which
62
were won by Chelsea who have gained
210
Premier League points, scoring
177
goals and conceding
44
to the opposition but keeping
54
clean sheets
My verdict: PRIDE OF LONDON is CHELSEA...The teams in Blue; not red of Arsenal, not white of Spurs, not white and black of Fulham and definitely not maroon of West Ham. We will back stronger and restart this home record again. the fortress will be rebuilt!!!
