Not even being in the office this morning could take the shine off that last night. What a F***ing win.
I said it to my Chelsea mate (forgive me..) who I watched it with, I've never seen Chelsea be so completely dominated at home in one half. It was absolutely brilliant and at times we were embarrassing them with our movement, passing and ability to win the ball back.
Aside from a tough spell between 45-55 minutes (or around then, can't quite remember right) I thought we were in complete control. They had a great chance after Costa scored, Migs made a decent save but otherwise we managed to blunt them quite effectively in the second. Unfortunately the fact we couldn't get a third meant the last few minutes were a bit tense, but I still don't remember a real heart in mouth moment at the back, we defended well and the substitutes each gave us something. Origi provided a good outlet and ran well and Lucas solidified that space in front of our back four.
Overall all round it was a simply fantastic performance, far more comfortable than 1-2 suggests and our play in that first half at times was scintillating. Everyone was great but Lovren, Henderson and Lallana were outstanding, Wjnaldum had by far his best game for us so far and Matip was mostly solid throughout.
Klopp has now lost only 2 of 14 games against Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, City and United (the loss to United and penalty loss in the Carling Cup to City) and that includes convincing wins at the Etihad, Emirates and now Stamford Bridge. I don't think I've ever been as confident in the big games since Rafa and the heady days of 4-1 victories at the old toilet.
Things have been taking shape off the pitch for a while, especially over the summer with the addition of the Bayern fitness coach Kornmayer (sp??) and last season there were some promising signs. Now you're starting to get a sense of the style taking hold on these players, and you can already see signs of a team gelling together in a system. Players are starting to know where their teammates will be on the pitch and that has clearly come from constant repetition of pass and move drills on the training pitch.
There's still a long way to go, and the obvious negative is the Burnley game which displayed a dramatic lack of consistency, but we'll have a few of those along the way, that's football. With every passing week I firmly believe we are witnessing something pretty special here, and although success is a long way away we have a manager who knows how to achieve it and is instilling that belief in his players.
Also, special mention to Marko Grujic's face after Hendo's screamer. I was as surprised as he was!!!
