Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has revealed that Enzo Maresca’s team targeted Mo Salah and Liverpool’s right-hand side, due to the Egyptian’s attack-minded positioning.
The right-back position has been a point of debate for Liverpool since the beginning of the campaign.
Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong and Dominik Szoboszlai have all played there since Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s exit, but Arne Slot is yet to settle on a regular starter as injuries have stunted Bradley and Frimpong’s early part of the campaign.
After Chelsea‘s winning goal was supplied from Liverpool’s right, Cucurella revealed how they had targeted that area.
“We tried to attack always because we know that Salah is always ready to attack, to play the counter attack,” the Spaniard told Sky Sports.
“So we know that, we practice and the manager tells us that the space is maybe there. We saw that in the last minute.”
Pundit Daniel Sturridge, who played for Liverpool and Chelsea, pressed Cucurella further on this, asking if it was a weakness of Liverpool’s.
Cucurella replied in slightly broken English: “Yeah, I think they play one style of game that Salah is always ready to attack so we prepare that.
“If we do the crosses [with] maybe a lot of pace on them, so I think we try to make these things on our side and today it worked, and we can win the game in this way.”
As the Chelsea man mentioned, the Londoners got their winner thanks to Liverpool’s right-sided weakness on Saturday.
Cucurella floated into the area between Ryan Gravenberch and right-back Szoboszlai, receiving a clever pass from Enzo Fernandez before crossing low to Estevao at the back post to score.
“I think we created good chances but we didn’t score and I tried to give my last effort. Enzo put me a good ball and I tried to cross,” Cucurella commented.
While it was a good cross from the 27-year-old, had Liverpool been playing a regular right-back, Cucurella may not have been allowed the same amount of room.
The involvement of Wataru Endo in the goal has to be questioned, also.
The Japan captain was caught neither blocking the pass to Cucurella nor marking the Spaniard. Instead, he allowed the opposition player to turn and cross first time behind a backline also featuring midfielder Gravenberch.
In the instance of the goal, Salah wasn’t at fault. The Egyptian is clearly under instruction to remain higher on the right and wait for a break and this wasn’t as much of an issue for Liverpool last season.
However, a combination of Ibrahima Konate‘s poor form, less midfield protection and a constantly rotating cast at right-back has led to this area being highlighted by Chelsea.
If Slot doesn’t find a solution quickly, other teams will exploit Liverpool in the same way.