CHELSEA 2 LIVERPOOL FC 0

It was a much better performance than against Fiorentina, all told. It couldn't have been much worse than last Tuesday, really.
There was a battling work ethic this time, and we kept Chelsea at bay in the first half, without doing very much in an attacking sense ourselves.
Second half, after going a goal down, we acquitted ourselves pretty well, and had a real go at Chelsea.
All in all tough, looking at it without bias, we probably didn't deserve any points from this one.
Other than the Torres poke past the post, and Yossi's missed sitter, which would have been no more than consolation, we didn't really trouble Hilario.
It's games like this that show us that Liverpool still have a fair way to go if we're going to be pulling in domestic or European trophies in May.
For me, there's still question marks about the make-up of our centre midfield.
Does a pairing of Lucas and Mascherano have enough ability to make an impact going forward against talented opposition?
Despite Lucas' good start to the season, he was pretty anonymous against Fiorentina and now Chelsea.
It's one thing looking good against Hull, Stoke and Burnley, but quite another doing it against the Essiens and Ballacks of this world.
As for Mascherano, he had a fairly decent game, sniping away and covering a lot of ground in a defensive sense.
But when we need to press, the little Argie doesn't have many attacking tools in his armoury.
When you consider the exocets boasted by Arsenal's midfield - Diaby, Rosicky, Walcott, Arshavin, Denilson - it makes you wonder if a spoiling midfielder, with no real guile on the ball, is what Liverpool truly needs.

There were too many so-so performances on Sunday. Gerrard was probably our best, getting us moving forward at every opportunity.
The efforts of Riera, Kuyt and Lucas we're all a bit mediocre and Chelsea seemed to comfortably hold us at bay.
Torres wasn't getting much joy up front on his own, and consequently started getting angry with anyone who would listen.
And as has been a common theme this year with Liverpool, the impact options from the bench leaves a lot to be desired.
Yossi played well, and Babel didn't really get into the game. What we're crying out for is a striker of genuine class to come on and pose a few different headaches for a defence when Plan A has gone to pot.

A lot has been made of our defensive performances of late, and Sunday threw up a few more questions.
The question of Carragher and his pace has surfaced, but for me, the cardinal sin was committed by Skrtel.
The way he stood off Drogba and offered the African an open invitation to cross was shocking.
No semblance of a block....at least Carragher would have busted a gut to stop that ball being played in.
As for Carragher getting across quicker to stop Anelka getting there first, that's a difficult one to call.
When Agger comes in soon, it's got to be Skrtel who makes way, rather than Carragher, as the Slovak is way short of his best form at present.
I've heard lads say that our present fullbacks don't offer enough protection to our centre halves..something Arbeloa was pretty decent at.
Perhaps this might be the case with Johnson, but I'm not so sure with Insua as he seems fairly together defensively.

Maybe I'm being overly glum, but already chalking up three Premiership defeats looks ominous.
Still, not many teams will be picking up points at Stamford Bridge, and as long as we beat them at Anfield, and remedy our plethora of home draws, which we look to be doing at present, we may go close again.
Onwards and upwards.