NO-ONE wins what they don't deserve." While much of what pours from Jose Mourinho mouth is self-aggrandising nonsense, his matchday programme notes should strike a chord with Liverpool's players this morning.
They have to. Instead of contemplating a hugely disappointing fourth successive league defeat to Chelsea, Rafael Benitez's men could so easily have been celebrating a morale-boosting triumph at the champions to bolster their claims for second place.
That they aren't isn't only down to their inability to cut out the big mistakes against the big teams the Anfield manager had been so vehement in warning against before this fixture.
And it's not just the "small details" of which Benitez is so fond. A failure to apply a cutting edge to enterprising build-up play and the reappearance of a worrying trend of conceding from setpieces are king-size shortcomings for any team wanting to compete consistently at this rarefied level.
Factor in the lack of discipline shown by Pepe Reina in the closing moments that has now ruled the Spanish goalkeeper out of Liverpool's next three games, it all added up to a shambolic, chastising afternoon for the European Champions.
Benitez was rightly furious at the antics of Arjen Robben that ensured Reina's red card, but that should not be allowed to detract from his team's performance.
What should have been an opportunity for Liverpool to show the great strides they claim to have made towards challenging for the Premiership title only served to underline just how many they still require.
Chelsea are by no means a classic free-flowing football team and will more than likely be usurped from the Champions League by Barcelona in the coming weeks, but they are perhaps the most ruthless, clinical machine the Premiership has seen.
While Liverpool, dominant for large stretches of the first half, created many good moments and a clutch of half-chances only to fudge their way around the final third, Chelsea made the most of the opportunities that were afforded them. The contrast was obvious.
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