'Story of the season' - Westerveld on Chelsea draw

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Liverpool have lost the "perfect balance" that they had last season, says their former goalkeeper Sander Westerveld, as the "story of the season" continued in Saturday's draw against Chelsea.

Arne Slot's side took the lead early in the first half against the out-of-form Blues, but their "passive" approach cost them three points as they failed to confirm Champions League qualification.

"It's the story of this season," Westerveld told BBC Radio Merseyside after the match.

"All the injuries, not fit players and Curtis Jones playing right-back again so it's never really a fit team. They start well and score a great goal but we can't get it over the line. They can't dominate the game or ball possession and Chelsea played very well. They found space too easy and we gave them too much space at the back."

Westerveld added: "Last season, I think what Slot did was get that 100% forward play, that aggressive pressing from Jurgen [Klopp] – he changed it a little bit to dominate the ball and keeping the ball a little bit more and the balance was perfect.

"But this season it seems the balance has gone the other way; too passive, you play the ball around the back for too long to each other, nobody is moving and at the end, even the crowd starts booing.

"It's lacking energy and that's bad."

Listen to the full chat on BBC Sounds