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Mykhailo Mudryk cameo livens up Chelsea’s goalless draw at Liverpool | Premier League

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The 1,000th game of Jürgen Klopp’s managerial career will not be remembered with fondness, if it is remembered at all. “I heard Arsène Wenger lost his 1,000th game 6-0 so I’m really happy that didn’t happen,” the Liverpool manager said. Klopp was determined to accentuate the positives despite his team, and Chelsea, illustrating why Champions League qualification may be beyond them.

A flat goalless draw at a freezing Anfield did nothing to validate talk of a revival from either Klopp or Graham Potter, although both seized on any crumbs of encouragement they could find. For Chelsea, whose run of six Premier League away games without a win is their worst in over seven years, they came in an impressive second half display from new £88m signing Mykhailo Mudryk and another imperious defensive performance from 38-year-old Thiago Silva. For Liverpool, who remain without a league win in 2023, it was a second successive clean sheet and the return to fitness of Darwin Núñez. Slim pickings indeed.

“He was really good,” the Chelsea manager said of Mudryk. “He will get better the more he is with us but there were promising signs. He has only had two sessions with us but from watching him with Shakhtar he is dangerous in one v ones, he makes things happen in the final third, he gets supporters off their seats and he knows where the goal is.”

Kai Havertz had an early goal ruled out by VAR but that was a rare incident in a game of precious little quality. The fixture’s usual stakes were already lowered before kick off with Liverpool and Chelsea ten points off the top four in ninth and tenth place respectively.

Klopp reflected: “For me it is clear, you have to make small steps and that is how it is. I expect progress and from the last league game it was definitely progress. We defended with passion, which we didn’t do two weeks ago, so that is important. Usually a point against Chelsea is not a bad result but I feel everyone is thinking; ‘How can you not win against them?’ They will win a lot of games, believe me. I saw good signs. Now we have to do the good things better and for longer. I am sure they will go in that direction.”

Havertz had the ball in the Liverpool net after only three minutes and perhaps the complexion of the game would have altered had VAR not disallowed the strike for offside. But probably not. The hosts struggled with crosses into their area from the outset. New Chelsea signing Benoît Badiashile was left unmarked at the first corner of the game, from Conor Gallagher, and his touch dropped for Silva to strike the base of a post from close range. Havertz converted the rebound and Liverpool had conceded first yet again. They were reprieved when, with the Chelsea celebrations over and the teams ready to restart, VAR found the goalscorer in an offside position.

Chelsea’s Kai Havertz thought he had given his side the lead, only to see his goal chalked off by VAR. Photograph: Chelsea FC/Getty Images

Klopp rightly rewarded Stefan Bajcetic and Harvey Elliott with starting roles following their contributions to the midweek FA Cup win at Wolves. The Liverpool manager also kept faith with the same midfield trio that brought more intensity and energy to the team following the abject defeat at Brighton, at the expense of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, while James Milner was preferred at right back to Trent Alexander-Arnold. The end product was perfectly encapsulated by Klopp’s face when the half-time whistled sounded, a picture of undisguised fury at possession being lost and his team failing to trouble Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Chelsea goal.

There was more intensity and purpose from Liverpool after the break, and presumably after a few home truths from Klopp. Mudryk made an immediate impression, showing good feet to weave away from two Liverpool defenders in a tight space before finding the side-netting. Milner, booked for hauling down the Ukraine international, was replaced by Alexander-Arnold after Mudryk had escaped him once too often.

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    Hakim Ziyech fired over at the end of a superb run across the Liverpool defence and Alexander-Arnold skied a good chance from Núñez’s cross from the by-line. But a non-event of a game got the scoreline it deserved.

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    Belgium knocked out of World Cup after goalless draw with Croatia

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    CNN
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    Belgium was knocked out of the 2022 World Cup on Thursday after a goalless draw with Croatia left it third in Group F.

    In what was a frustrating evening for the Red Devils, both Romelu Lukaku and Yannick Carrasco spurned good opportunities to score the goal which would have sent Belgium through.

    As it was, the No. 2 ranked team in the world failed to make the breakthrough at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, meaning it won’t be featuring in the knockout phase of the tournament.

    Morocco – which won its game against Canada on Thursday 2-1 – and Croatia qualified from the group, finishing first and second respectively.

    For Belgium, it is another disappointing end to an international tournament and the Royal Belgian Football Association announced shortly afterward that manager Roberto Martínez had stepped down from his role as national team coach.

    In his post-match interview, Martínez said that Belgium can go home with its “heads held high.”

    “It’s not easy to win games in the World Cup. We weren’t ourselves in first game, we had a deserved defeat in the second game,” Martínez told the BBC.

    “Today, we were ready, we created opportunities and, today, there is no regrets. We’re out, but we can leave with our heads held high.”

    It was meant to be the last dance for the so-called ‘golden generation’ of Belgium.

    With many of its squad approaching or in their mid-30s – including Dries Mertens, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld – the World Cup in Qatar was seen by many as a final opportunity to get over the hump and win an international football title.

    But although the squad was packed full of top-level players, the age profile of the team led some to believe that Belgium’s window had passed.

    In fact, Belgium’s star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said in an interview with the Guardian that his side had “no chance” to win the title because the players are “too old.”

    And, needing a win in its final Group F game against Croatia to advance, Belgium’s weaknesses were clear to see in a slow-paced first half.

    The team had a lot of possession without ever really breaking down an organized Croatia while also looking vulnerable on the break.

    The biggest talking point of the half came midway through when Croatia thought it had a penalty – 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modrić had even placed the ball on the spot – only for referee Anthony Taylor to eventually rule out the spot kick for offside after a video assistant referee (VAR) review.

    After the break and following the introduction of Lukaku, Belgium increased the tempo as it pressed for a vital goal – the Inter Milan striker heading straight into the arms of Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković.

    Seconds later though, it was Croatia who had a good chance; Mateo Kovačić’s curled effort tipped away by Thibaut Courtois.

    Despite Belgium being the team needing all three points, it was Croatia who ramped up the pressure. Courtois, playing in his 100th game for Belgium, had to be at his best to deny both Modrić and Marcelo Brozović.

    Belgium nearly got the all-important breakthrough on the hour mark when Carrasco was denied by heroic block from a defender before Lukaku hit the post when he likely should have scored.

    ust minutes later, Lukaku missed another glorious opportunity as he headed over from close range – the ball looked to have gone out moments before De Bruyne crossed it so the effort likely would have been ruled out.

    As time ticked away, Belgium had two massive opportunities to rescue a victory.

    In added time, Lukaku – with the goal at his mercy – could not sort his feet out and his weak effort was eventually gathered by the goalkeeper near the goal line.

    And in the final few seconds, when it looked like Belgium would have one final chance, a superb recovery tackle from 20-year-old Joško Gvardiol saved the day for the Croatians.

    It huffed and puffed, but Belgium could not find the vital goal. Afterwards, Martínez was asked about if this marks the end for the country’s ‘golden generation’ and the Spaniard was philosophical.

    “You see Youri Tielemans and other young players – the ‘golden generation’ is doing something that is bringing the next generation on,” he said. “It’s not what names are on the pitch, the legacy can be left in many ways.”

    Martínez added when asked if the result was a disappointment: “We wanted to get through but I’m sure the other national teams wanted to get through and that’s the tournament.

    “In the previous World Cup, we won three games in the group stage, we wanted to go all the way.”

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    Frustration for Uruguay in stodgy goalless draw against South Korea | World Cup 2022

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    There appear to be three sorts of games at this World Cup. There are the games in which the stronger team batters the weaker team (Spain, England, France). There are the shocks, in which the stronger team is undone by an opponent that is slightly better than it has anticipated (Saudi Arabia, Japan), and there are the evenly matched games in which nothing much happens (the others). With just one shot on target (plus two that hit the post), this was very much in the third category.

    The temptation is to come up with a tenuous grand theory as to why this should be. There is barely any data but, still, let’s indulge ourselves. Could it be that all three types of game are the result of the lack of preparation time, four weeks compressed into four days? Some sides, having played in continental competition last year and comfortable with how they intend to play, are still in rhythm from their domestic seasons and so hit their stride immediately.

    Others could have done with more time to fine-tune, to try to generate something approximating to the cohesive styles that now predominate at club level. Aware of their shortcomings they become naturally more risk-averse, defensive structures being far easier to assemble than the attacking systems that can overcome them, and the result is stodginess. And this was extremely stodgy – or, as the South Korea coach, Paulo Bento, put it, “a very competitive game with a very high level of play between two teams that respected each other”.

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    One of the nicest things about World Cups is meeting old friends. Usually that means journalists, or Belgium, but Uruguay have a pleasing array of familiar faces so that watching them is like idly turning on a random snooker tournament in the middle of the afternoon and finding that Jimmy White is still gamely taking on John Higgins. There was Luis Suárez, scuffling around up front, a magnificent irritant – although, given he managed just 14 touches, perhaps neither so magnificent nor so irritating as he used to be. There, coming off the bench were the flared cheekbones of Edinson Cavani. And there, at the heart of the defence, gnarled, implacable, half as old as time, was Diego Godín. He even headed against the base of the post three minutes before half-time for old time’s sake.

    Matías Viña’s athletic attempt to score fails against South Korea’s Kim Seung-gyu. Photograph: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

    There was also Martín Cáceres still chugging up and down with his man-bun. Of the Uruguay back four, it was he who had the most work to do, with Na Sang-ho probably South Korea’s greatest threat. It was from the FC Seoul forward’s low cross that Hwang Ui-jo fired over after 34 minutes. The right-back Kim Moon-hwan sank to his knees in despair which, given there was at least an hour still to play, seemed an overreaction – but perhaps he knew just how few chances there would be.

    And Uruguay play in a pleasingly unchanging way. Football may always be developing. We may now live in a world of high lines and low blocks, of half-spaces and transitions. But Uruguay, for all the talk of the revolution wrought by former coach Óscar Tabárez, remain steadfast, always defending – even if there was a slightly distressing moment early in the second half as Rodrigo Bentancur, a product of Tabárez’s holistic approach to youth development, performed a figure-of-eight pirouette to extricate the ball from trouble just outside his own box.

    Sometimes it is beautiful, as when José María Giménez dispossessed Son Heung-min with a delicious sliding tackle five minutes into the second half. But mostly it is just slightly frustrating: why, when they have such talent in the side, are they seemingly so reluctant to use it?

    “We wanted to match their level of aggression,” said Bento. “We managed to do so during the first half.” At the Asian Cup in 2019, the criticism of South Korea was that they dominated the ball and did little with it. The first half here seemed to be following that pattern, but Uruguay gradually began to assert themselves as the game went on. “We couldn’t put pressure on Korea and lost precision,” said the Uruguay coach, Diego Alonso. “We had to change at half-time and were able to defend higher.”

    But they did not assert themselves enough to win the match, or really to cause much of a threat, at least until Federico Valverde pinged a 25-yarder against the post in the 89th minute. Avoiding defeat, perhaps, is the most important thing in the opener in the group, but this was a game in which it felt both sides would happily have shaken hands on a draw at half-time.

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