Was that Chelsea or Stoke out there at Anfield?

First off, three cheers and a few huzzahs, please, for the return to form of Fernando Torres. When you go a bit without scoring goals, it's easy to forget all the good times you've given us, Fernando. Good work today by saving the brilliance for the end. Adds a lot of drama and excitement to the experience, kiddo.

Watching that match today, though, I couldn't help but consider the overwhelming impression from the experience was how poor and uninspired Chelsea looked. Yeah, Lampard probably was judged too harshly with a straight red, even though it was a dangerous tackle. But where was he before being sent off? Lampard was a rumor out there today, and Anelka was nonexistent. As things went on, I kept thinking back to what playing Chelsea used to look like, how wound up I would get about it and on edge. They were always dangerous, and a Chelsea attack would cause my sphincter to tighten as Lampard would bring the ball forward and assess his options.

But today, I felt certain before half time that Chelsea would not score. They're such a poor comparison to the team of even last season, let alone two and three years ago. This was supposed to be a huge game for Liverpool, a real test of their ability to maintain the chase. It didn't seem that way. Chelsea appeared a team playing for a point, like the Premier League wanna-bes and also-rans do when they come to Anfield.

It's outstanding that Liverpool took the full points today, but this match appears to have taught us more about the character of Chelsea than it did Liverpool.