Is It Time for Antonio Conte to Bring Cesc Fabregas in from the Cold?

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — It wasn’t just his team on good form against Chelsea on Friday night; Jurgen Klopp was too.

“That’s a nice last question,” he quipped with a big smile, before exiting the Stamford Bridge press room. “Goodnight.” It was a question about Cesc Fabregas that had seen Klopp bail. Never one for getting dragged into that side of football, the Liverpool boss wasn’t going to allow himself to slip into bad habits by talking about another team’s player regardless of his own side’s 2-1 victory.

The question put to Klopp—by Bleacher Report, we should add, as we’re not hiding here—wasn’t aimed at tempting him to make disparaging comments about Antonio Conte’s team selection or the benefits to Chelsea playing without Fabregas in the lineup. It was more an observation on how the game had gone that night for the Blues; they lacked control in central areas—the sort of control Fabregas brings.

So when Liverpool were able to be so effective and play so much football in Chelsea’s half, it was a question about whether the absence of Fabregas allowed them to do just that.

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The way Conte’s team was set up, sitting so deep at times, was perfect for a counter-attack to exploit Liverpool’s lack of numbers at the back. The problem was that for every darting run Diego Costa made to get in behind the defenders, the pass into him was never accurate enough.

Chelsea struggled to turn centre-backs Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip. Whenever they did, it was often in Liverpool’s half, when Simon Mignolet was able to claim back possession inside his own box. Without Fabregas firing those pin-point passes, Chelsea’s game plan wasn’t effective. And they were punished for it; the ball kept coming back at them, and they couldn’t win the territorial battle.

Klopp’s thoughts on that would have provided some insight as to how it helped Liverpool play, if at all. When Fabregas was introduced into the game—in the 84th minute in place of Nemanja Matic—Liverpool’s defensive line dropped significantly.

From trying to pressure Chelsea higher up and keep them clear of their own goal, the sight of Fabregas and a clock that was ticking down led Liverpool to camp …

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