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Soccer

Paddy Mulligan indicates how Liverpool can break down Chelsea

Former Ireland and Chelsea defender Paddy Mulligan feels Liverpool's best bet against his former ...



Paddy Mulligan indicates how L...
Soccer

Paddy Mulligan indicates how Liverpool can break down Chelsea

Former Ireland and Chelsea defender Paddy Mulligan feels Liverpool's best bet against his former club is to target the area between Gary Cahill and David Luiz.

The two Chelsea centre backs have been part of a strong back three alongside Cesar Azpilicueta that has carried Chelsea to the top of the Premier League.

Ahead of the match against Liverpool on Tuesday night, Paddy spoke to Newstalk.com and cited the way Dele Alli was able to ghost into space between centre backs when Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-0 in January.

"What Liverpool have got to hope to do is to get in between David Luiz and Gary Cahill. Both of them are not great defenders and can go missing," he said.

"Whereas with John Terry is a magnificent defender even with the little pace that he had. And Azpilicueta can't keep coming back and Moses won't get back to cover anyway.

"Now, do Liverpool have somebody to come in and make runs into the 18 yard box? I've seen them over the last week and they have nobody making runs.

"In August, September, October, November and December, they were making the runs in. The Lallanas of this world were getting into the box, hence they were getting goals.

However, Paddy does not hold out much hope for Liverpool in the remainder of this season even with the return of Sadio Mane from Africa Cup of Nations duty.

"They need more than Sadio Mane. They need miracles at this stage because I've seen them play badly over the years, but it's just gotten worse in the last week," he said, referencing the string of defeats in all competitions to Southampton, Swansea and Wolves.

"There's absolutely no energy in the team at all. Your first look should always be for the most progressive ball but Liverpool don't do it because they don't have enough leaders."  

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