For the casual football fan tuning in for the League Cup final on Sunday, they would have noticed a couple of similarities between the Chelsea and Liverpool squad-sheets.
Firstly, the two most expensive goalkeepers in the world in Kepa Arrizabalaga and Alisson Becker sitting quietly on either bench.
Secondly the shot-stoppers were joined by nearly £200m of attacking talent with Thomas Tuchel keeping both Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner in reserve while Jurgen Klopp had Diogo Jota to call upon as back-up.
Combined, the quintet cost this year’s League Cup finalists £326.6m - a princely sum for five players not even called upon to start the first showpiece final of the season.
The outside observer would roll their eyes at such a fact, bemoaning the extravagant fees spent like no tomorrow at the top end of European football.
PAUL GORST: Jurgen Klopp may have just won his most important trophy yet at Liverpool
IAN DOYLE: Fabinho hands Thiago Alcantara boost as Luis Diaz gives future glimpse
READ MORE: Thomas Tuchel makes 'weird' Chelsea claim and Liverpool admission after Carabao Cup final defeat
But scratch beneath the surface and only one of Chelsea and Liverpool have really been wasteful in the transfer market, with there being rather different reasons behind Tuchel and Klopp’s respective decisions.
And it played its part in why the Reds left Wembley as League Cup winners, toppling the reigning European and world champions in the process, and have managed to claw back the deficit on Man City at the top of the Premier League table to restore a two-horse title-race while the Londoners stumble behind in the distance.
As soon as Liverpool beat Arsenal in the League Cup semi-finals last month, Klopp made it clear.
Second-choice Caoimhin Kelleher would start at Wembley ahead of Alisson.
The young Irishman is the Reds’ first-choice in domestic cup competition and, Wembley final or not, deserved his opportunity to start.
As his manager said after the final whistle, there needs to be room for sentimentality in football as 23-year-old’s inclusion was a human decision rather than a managerial one.
Yet Kelleher has never let Klopp down. If he did not have the best goalkeeper in the world ahead of him at Anfield, there’s no reason to believe why he wouldn’t be first-choice at Liverpool.
Alisson’s presence might deny him a long-term future with the Reds but Kelleher and Liverpool are very much enjoying their working relationship for as long as it lasts, with the Republic of Ireland international emerging as the hero at Wembley.
Making a number of great saves to keep the scores level and maintain his clean sheet, with point-blank efforts against Christian Pulisic and Romelu Lukaku particular highlights, it was the shot-stopper who stepped up to score what would be the winning penalty for Klopp’s men, as his Brazilian counterpart watched on from the sidelines.
Liverpool made Alisson the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when signing him from AS Roma in a £65m deal in the summer of 2018, not that that record would last for long.
But despite such elite status, he did not begrudge his young reserve the Wembley day out.
In fact, when informed by Klopp that it would be Kelleher who would be starting in the League Cup final, the Brazilian’s response was to hope the Irishman got his hands on the cup so he could join both Alisson and third-choice Adrian in an elite club on the Reds’ Goalkeeper wall of champions mural at the AXA Training Centre, alongside the rest of the club’s trophy-winning shot-stoppers.
Klopp’s decision to start Kelleher at Wembley was admittedly a gamble, but based on what he has seen from the young goalkeeper so far in his Liverpool career, a low-risk one. And it was a decision that certainly paid off come the final whistle at Wembley.
But it was a different story for Tuchel and Chelsea.
The Londoners made Kepa the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when signing him from Athletic Bilbao in a £71.6m deal, usurping Alisson just weeks after his own move to Anfield.
Starting his Chelsea career as first-choice, he infamously fell out with then-boss Maurizio Sarri when refusing to be substituted for penalty-saving specialist Willy Caballero in the 2017 League Cup final as his side lost to Man City on penalties.
While he would regain his place from the Argentine, both under Sarri and successor Frank Lampard, his card was marked and poor form saw him dropped and miss the 2020 FA Cup final before being replaced for good, despite his hefty price-tag, with Chelsea signing Edouard Mendy from Rennes in a £22m deal in 2019.
Since then, the Senegal international has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world for club and country, playing a starring role in Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations victories over the past year.
He was even the penalty shootout hero in the latter only last month as Senegal beat Egypt, saving from Mohanad Lasheen. But that wasn’t enough for Tuchel.
With Kepa Chelsea's most successful goalkeeper at saving penalties during shootouts, overtaking Petr Cech earlier this season, and statistically Chelsea's best shot-stopper from the spot according to Tuchel's data analysis, the German's mind was made up. If a game goes to penalties, the Spaniard is his man.
The £71.6m man was an 119th minute substitute against Villarreal for the 2021 UEFA Super Cup final, going on to save two penalties including the decisive effort from Raul Albiol.
However, history could not repeat itself at Wembley on Sunday. Brought on for penalties, Kepa failed to save any of Liverpool’s 11 efforts before missing the decisive kick himself.
As Reds academy graduate Kelleher emerged as the hero, the Spaniard was Chelsea’s villain. While the Irishman has never let Liverpool down, the opposite is true for Kepa.
And the irony of him being involved in penalties dramatics in a Wembley League Cup final once again was certainly not lost, especially considering Mendy had arguably been his side’s man of the match before his 119th minute withdrawal. Perhaps if the Senegalese had had his own tantrum, Tuchel’s men would have emerged victorious.
*Give us your LFC ratings for the win at Wembley:
Chelsea’s woes aren’t limited to just in goal, however, with Kepa not the only record buy left in reserve in response to poor form.
Lukaku rejoined the Londoners in the summer, becoming their club-record signing after spending £97.5m to lure him away from Inter Milan.
On his day one of the most feared strikers in Europe, the Belgian is Chelsea’s leading goalscorer this season with 10 goals, but form has deserted him altogether in recent weeks and his future is uncertain after giving an interview where he admitted his regret at departing the San Siro.
His second stint at Stamford Bridge make for unwanted headlines last weekend as he recorded a Premier League low seven touches in a narrow victory over Crystal Palace, with the striker benched and left unused against Lille in midweek as a result.
Brought on in the 74th minute against Liverpool, having been left on the bench again, he did have a goal disallowed for offside and did score his penalty in the shootout
However, he still did little to convince Tuchel he deserved to reclaim his starting place and looked a player low on confidence and out of form rather than one fighting for his Chelsea future.
His plight was the big football talking point for the Londoners in the build-up to Wembley’s final, while admittedly overshadowed by incidents off the pitch, and it was no surprise that he didn’t start against Liverpool.
Just as it was no surprise that Diogo Jota didn’t start for the Reds. But the absence of the £45m man was nothing to do with form as he rushed back from an ankle injury to be fit for the final.
The second-leading goalscorer in the Premier League, the Portuguese admittedly missed his usual spark after coming on against Chelsea when clearly lacking match fitness, though he did score in the shootout.
But Klopp will have no doubts about the forward. The arrival of Luis Diaz from Porto in January might leave Jota’s starting role far from guaranteed, but, like the Colombian, he remains a natural successor to Liverpool’s traditional front three.
With both attackers now picking up their first piece of silverware with the Reds, the future of Liverpool’s frontline is in good hands.
Yet if it hadn’t been for the coronavirus pandemic, would Jota even be a Reds player? Liverpool had looked set to sign Timo Werner from RB Leipzig at one point after all.
Instead, the financial ramifications and uncertainty of the pandemic saw them miss out on the German, who ended up signing for Chelsea in a £47.5m deal after they met his release clause.
But despite shining in the Bundesliga, his form in London has always been poor.
Scoring just six goals in his maiden season in the Premier League, Chelsea responded by signing Lukaku. Now both forwards find themselves left as expensive reserves.
Brought on alongside the Belgian in the 74th minute, the German remains a player low on confidence who looks scared to shoot in case he misses, and repeatedly finds himself caught offside.
He might have scored in the shootout against Liverpool, but like Lukaku, he did little to convince Tuchel he should be starting for Chelsea.
In the build-up to the League Cup final, the German boss had warned of the Londoners’ issue with strikers.
“There’s even a history of strikers struggling at Chelsea so it is not the easiest place in the world for strikers,” Tuchel admitted.
"I don’t know why it is like this but maybe it is. Chelsea is a team considered as a strong defensive, physical team.
"We demand a lot from our strikers in terms of defending. We want to be a physical, hard working group that is not shy to make it a physical game and not only a skilful game, that maybe plays a part.
"We have many games throughout our year together where we created many chances, many deliveries and struggled a bit in the conversion."
Aside from Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Diego Costa, it has been a recurring issue for Chelsea since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
Under the Russian, nearly £460m has been spent to sign Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo, Mateja Kezman, Andriy Shevchenko, Franco Di Santo, Daniel Sturridge, Fernando Torres, Demba Ba, Mohamed Salah, Loic Remy, Andre Schurrle, Olivier Giroud, Mischy Batshuyai, Alvaro Morata, Werner and Lukaku.
While the final duo and Batshuayi remain on the books, though the latter has spent most of his Chelsea career out on loan, not many of the others enjoyed particularly long or successful individual careers at Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, you can also throw Claudio Pizarro and Samuel Eto’o, who joined on free transfers and Alexandre Pato, Radamel Falcao and Gonzalo Higuain, who were all brought in on loan, under the same bracket.
The most Premier League goals any of these players have scored for Chelsea is 20, with only six reaching double-figures.
On average they have spent £22m per striker on these underwhelming signings. On average they would each return just eight Premier League goals.
Chelsea will be hopeful that Lukaku and Werner can change this narrative, but so far the evidence suggests they will be the latest big-money failures, with Tuchel now tasked with finding the answer to a two decade-long problem.
You can justify the odd expensive misfire of a signing but 20 years’ worth of flops in attack? The Londoners keep repeating the same old mistakes.
Granted, it hasn’t stopped them from reinventing themselves as one of Europe’s strongest sides, winning Premier League titles, Champions Leagues and domestic cups along the way.
But with Abramovich’s backing Chelsea were transformed overnight into a club that could repeatedly make such transfer misfires without barely battering an eyelid, before swiftly moving on the mistakes and rolling the dice again on their way to further silverware.
Compare that to the impact of Diaz or Jota for Liverpool, and before that Salah, Mane and Firmino at Anfield, and the Reds are operating in an entirely different stratosphere.
The Colombian was just 28 days into his Liverpool career when he got his hands on the League Cup, and was arguably the Reds best outfielder on the day.
Six games into his Liverpool career, he has won all six. Registering a goal, an assist and his first trophy, he has been an instant fit and looks like he’s been a Reds player for years.
As for Jota, he has 30 goals from 63 appearances for Liverpool and, if he keeps up this season’s form, is arguably on the verge of achieving world class status, like Salah, Mane and Firmino all achieved under Klopp before him when firing the Reds to English, European and world glory.
Under the German, Liverpool's extensive scouting of targets ensures they repeatedly sign players who would fit perfectly into their side and suit their style of play. In contrast, a look at Chelsea's spending over the years and you see a fascination with big names, regardless of suitability, and big fees with varied results at best.
There were methods to Klopp’s madness when naming his side on Sunday, with such strength in depth demonstrating why the Reds now find themselves chasing an unprecedented quadruple.
With Klopp utilising the talents of 33 different players during Liverpool's League Cup campaign, their win over Tuchel's side was a real squad success.
As for Chelsea, their £216.6m discarded trio on the bench are just the latest examples of their foolhardy approach to transfers and the imbalanced side it creates as a result, in total contrast to Liverpool's own methods, as well as the fine lines between success and failure.
