There’s nothing to pine for at Chelsea – while Liverpool choke on their memories

I t was, if nothing else, the perfect tribute. Not for Chelsea’s players the outsized leaving card or the valedictory video message. No, what better way of celebrating the legacy of their outgoing coach Graham Potter than by creating plenty of chances and then missing them in increasingly comedic circumstances? Expected goals: Chelsea 2.19-0.20 Liverpool. Actual goals: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool. Dearest Graham. Always in our hearts.

Thing is, Potter has gone and taken his oil diffuser and self‑help books with him. Who carries the can now? Certainly it would be hard to apportion too much responsibility to Bruno Saltor, the former Brighton right-back placed in temporary charge. There were some stories floating around this week that Potter was so obscure to some of his players that they had to look him up on the internet. Although we can at least assume they found something, which is more than can be said for Bruno: the sort of guy you try to Google and fail.

But in another sense the sight of this assemblage of star footballers taking to the field without a full‑time coach – flying solo, going commando – felt strangely perfect. At its most skeletal principles, the ideology of Todd Boehly has always been based on entertainers: buy them in, stack them high, give them whatever they want. Did the Travelling Wilburys need a coach? Did the X-Men need a coach? Of course not. (Professor X was, if anything, more of a director-of-football type.) And so perhaps this was simply Boehly fundamentalism taken to its purest, most logical conclusion.

The curious thing was that for large parts it worked. Chelsea were the better team in both halves, looking dangerous on the break and keeping Liverpool at arm’s length at all times. Enzo Fernández