A draw at Stamford Bridge is a good result, of that there is little doubt. Yet it could have been so much more, had Crouch taken one of the chances that fell his way and had Liverpool manage to capitalise better on Chelsea’s discomfort in passing the ball.

Let’s not fail to look at the positives, however. Liverpool played well – much better than they have so far this year – and easily managed to stifle Chelsea who, apart from Ballack’s late try barely had a sniff at goal.

Yet there remains a lack of apparent style when going forward. Benitez seems to change his system every week so the side inevitably lack rhythm. This was once again apparent against Chelsea where Liverpool struggled to create anything in the final third of the field.

Good Game
Pepe Reina was rarely called into action but he was always alert especially during Chelsea’s corners. Apart from a heart stopping back header to Reina late in the game, there’s very little to fault in John Arne Riise’s game as the Norwegian confirmed that he’s the best left back at the club.

The same doesn’t apply to Steve Finnan who is feeling the pressure of Alvaro Arbeloa. Against Chelsea, however, he was another who did reasonably well even if, like Riise, he looked under instructions not to venture too much forward.

After a brief return to right-back a week earlier, Jamie Carragher returned to the centre of defence and had another solid game. However, he was overshadowed by Martin Skrtel with the Slovak defender giving absolutely nothing away. Given that he lacks understanding with his team mates and can barely utter a word of English, this was quite an impressive performance.

The Slovak defender would have been the man of the match if it hadn’t been for another outstanding game by Javier Mascherano. There were rumours that he might be tired having just flown from an Argentina game but, if that was the case, it certainly didn’t show as he won absolutely everything.

Of Liverpool’s midfielders, Steven Gerrard was the only one who really knew with the ball when the side pushed forward. He continuously exploited gaps in Chelsea’s midfield but, unfortunately, rarely had good options to pass the ball.

Bad Game
Lucas Leiva started for the second game running and, although he wasn’t expected to play on the left this time round, he still didn’t seem to have to clear an idea as to what his role was. It might seem harsh to mark Dirk Kuyt as one who had a bad game as he worked hard on the right flank. Yet he was rarely of any danger and it is hard to determine why he was chosen to start there when there are two right midfielders in the squad both of whom have been playing well.

The opposite applies to Ryan Babbel who seems to be playing by default given the lack of alternatives. He often had space where to run and saw plenty of the ball but failed to really cause too much danger.

Come the end of the season and Peter Crouch might look at the two Chelsea games as the ones that brought to a close his Liverpool career. In the first he got sent off to ruin Liverpool’s chances of progressing in the League Cup whereas this weekend he failed to convert two great chances to give Liverpool what would probably have been a definitive lead.

Substitutes
It is decisions like the one to bring on Jermaine Pennant that raises doubts over Rafael Benitez’s suitability for the job. Not that bringing Pennant on was the wrong option but that he chose to put him on the left hand side of midfield thereby limiting the use of an extremely one footed player.