Calum McFarlane reflects on ‘positive’ Chelsea result against Liverpool that could’ve been even ‘better’

“I thought the game could have went either way really at certain moments [but] I think we could have won [and] come away with three points. […] This club needs to win games of football, and we haven’t done that today. We’re not happy with the form and some of the recent performances. So, yeah, it’s nice to have a good, complete performance. It would have been better with a win, but when you come to these places, it’s really difficult. So, yeah, it’s positive.” It’s a thankless task for the interim management team to have to see out the remaining last few games of the season, but McFarlane has shown that even without certain official qualifications, he’s got a solid grasp on tactics and man-management, and his gameplans have proven reasonable and useful (when executed accordingly). He was able to manufacture some width from the team in this one without any recognized wingers available, and expose the weaknesses in Liverpool’s backline that have prevented the defending champions from having any say in this year’s title race. “I thought it was a really good performance [and] I think we were effective down both sides. [Palmer] and Malo caused them real problems with their rotation on the right [as did] Cucurella running off the ball and finding space with great movement. [He] is not a winger. He has played there before, he told me, but even when he plays left-back or when he rolls into midfield, his movement off the ball is of a real high quality, the timing, the understanding of when to do it. So, it’s something that we knew with him in that position we could maybe expose. I thought he’s unlucky not to get an assist and create a lot of problems for them.”

-Calum McFarlane; source: Football.London Small victories in a non-victory, to be sure. But some signs of life (and hope?) for the one game left this season that still matters and still would give us European football along with a nice shiny trophy.