For most of a red conviction on Stamford Bridge, this felt like an exhibition match.
Liverpool was poor, but nobody seemed to give too much, certainly not the end where balloons were held to spell the word 'champions' and they went through their entire songbook to toast their heroes on the field.
The men of Arne Slot had traveled to London by rail on Saturday and after a number of sloppy accents and quirky fits, you wondered if they were off board and on their way to the Tap of Euston to start a night on the tiles.
On full-time, when a rare loss was confirmed after a sub-par version, Ibrahima-Konate danced before the end of the end while fans jumped up and down. It all gave the appearance of a testimony or a charity game, Chelsea, grateful for the gift of three points from Liverpool.
But although the result did not really matter, this game was a lot important for different players in a red shirt. The will of Harvey Elliott, Jarell Quansah, Wataru Endo and Kostas Tsimikas were given the opportunity to prove why they deserve to play a greater role in the future after BIT-Particones this season.
Ryan Gravenberch ended a point of 34 Starts and was left at home on Saturday that his partner was expecting a child, so probably enjoyed a well-deserved rest and some valuable family time. His usual midfield partners Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai were replacements.
So this was a much changed XI, which probably counts as a secondary factor for the incoherent display of Liverpool, especially in the first hour. Elliott, Quansah, Endo and Tsimikas all face an uncertain future, just like Darwin Nunez and Federico Chiesa who came from the bank.
So it is fair to say that they fought to show a lock that they can make it as important players in Liverpool … or to add to their market value if they want to continue this summer. Really a win-win for the club.
Elliott has been admitted with his desire to fight for his Liverpool career and said that this is 'my club', but the fact that he has to wait for Game 35 to make his first start of the campaign is disappointing for a player who promised so much in the before season.
A broken foot suffered from England under the 21 service, derailed much of his campaign and Slot admitted that Elliott was a shadow of his former self -assured himself after the resignation.
He had some nice accents here, but will have to do more to make the Liverpool -hierarchy a solid conclusion that he certainly does not leave.
The same judgment can be achieved on Quansah, who had bad luck to admit its own goal and then to be stitched by a bad pass that led him to give away a penalty. Unlike that, it was a strong performance of the young Englishman.
So although this game, result or display does not matter at all for most Liverpool fans, it was an opportunity to shine for the backup brigade. A big summer is waiting for the transfer market and in many cases players fight to prove that they can contribute next season.
None of them passed with flag and pennant – but they did not fail and will get more opportunities in the coming weeks.