Nemanja Matic Taunts Liverpool over Title Fail Ahead of Chelsea Clash

Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic has upped the intensity ahead of Chelsea's trip to Liverpool, suggesting the difference between the two clubs is that the Blues know how to win when a team parks the bus.

Brendan Rodgers accused Jose Mourinho of parking two buses when the Blues emerged victorious at Anfield in April, a tactic Liverpool could be accused of after trying to contain Real Madrid at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Matic suggests the difference between the two Premier League sides is that when Chelsea face such tactics, they still win. Dominic Fifield of the Guardian reported the player's comments:

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Many teams this season have tried to park the bus in front of the goal against us, but we win. It’s not easy. If you defend, you have to know how to defend. In that game (in April) we showed we have quality. Nobody’s happy when you lose a game, and they weren’t happy after that match.

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Jon Super/Associated Press

That fateful day saw Steven Gerrard famously slip to allow Demba Ba score a simple goal. This moment proved fatal to Liverpool's title hopes and saw the team finish two points off champions Manchester City, missing out on their first title since 1990.

Former striker Luis Suarez admitted he would have struggled to continue in Gerrard's position. "If I had been in Stevie's shoes, I don't know if I would have been able to carry on playing," noted the Uruguayan striker in his autobiography, reported by Ben Nagle of the Daily Mail.

Suarez, who left after the title failure in the summer, also suggests Chelsea's players weren't happy with Mourinho's tactics during the last Merseyside encounter.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Obvious time-wasting elapsed and the defensive approach saw Chelsea slow the tempo to evade Liverpool launching a fast start, as the Reds did so often last season. Suarez claims a member of the opposition was worried about being dropped, thus carrying out the instructions, per Simon Rice of The Independent:

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I was asking myself: ‘Why are they doing this from the first minute?’ I even asked one of their players. ‘What do you want me to do? If he makes us play like this, I have to play like this,’ he replied. ‘What else can I do? If I don’t, I won’t play. What would you do?

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Mourinho was overly cautious during the recent 1-1 draw with Manchester United, which saw him remove Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian for Kurt Zouma, John Obi Mikel and Andre Schurrle after the lead was established, per WhoScored.

The Portuguese manager often tries to snatch victories against the elite—he didn't start a striker at Old Trafford last season—but the time-wasting against Liverpool emphasised a Chelsea game-plan that was designed to disrupt. As Matic notes, it worked.

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Rodgers has been heavily criticised for his defeatist team selection against Madrid and will come under great pressure if Liverpool lose to Chelsea. There is no need for Mourinho's side to enter the match cautiously—the hosts haven't scored in four of their last five matches—so this is likely to be a completely different encounter to last season's contest.

Chelsea will go 15 points clear of Liverpool if they emerge victorious, all but ending Rodgers' hopes of going one better than last term. While results have been disappointing, the manager's change in tack should be the most worrying development for supporters.

Gone is the fast-paced, fearless offence. Instead, nervousness and a lack of tempo floods the side with doubt. Chelsea have the opportunity to exploit this by underlining their title credentials on Saturday in a match that Rodgers' side absolutely have to attack.