LIVERPOOL 1 – ARSENAL 2
Truth be told, I didn’t plan on writing a blog today. As those of you who pay attention to the dross that I tweet will know, I’m currently away in Peru (hence the cunning title of this blog), however it was never going to stop me from watching in full our trip to Anfield. And the manner of the victory today has put me in a very good, and subsequently blog writing mood you'll be delighted to hear.
I didn’t really know what to expect pre-match. I was kind of under the impression that both clubs would be slightly hung over from last weekend. Liverpool, fresh from their epic, triumphant, and world class (ha) Carling Cup Final victory on penalties against Welsh giants Cardiff City (that’s not meant to disrespect, obviously I would have loved for us to win the trophy). And Arsenal, following on from our brilliant come back against the enemy in the North London Derby.
So I wasn’t expecting a thriller, and kind of thought it would play out to be a draw. Which is exactly how it was looking until Robin van Persie and Alex Song almost perfectly re-enacted the 125th Year Anniversary goal against Everton in December, in the second of eight stoppage time minutes at Anfield this lunch time to secure a smash and grab 2-1 away win for us.
It’s hard to put into words how good a finish it truly was. Not only the technical side of it, as connecting with the ball whilst it drops over your shoulder at pace is one of the hardest things you can do in the game (second time this season for RVP, folks). But also the meaning of the goal in its wider context. An away win at Liverpool, who, after last weekend’s Carling Cup final win have been dubbed by many darling hacks as the new favourites to get the coveted fourth spot.
That kind of shut them up then.
It was a tough game for us. Liverpool were the better side from start to finish, probably. The stats certainly suggest that. Better possession. More shots. 12 corners to our none. But really, there’s only one stat that counts. That’s the final score line.
When you look at the stats a bit more, maybe it suggests that Liverpool weren’t as dominant as you’d think. I’m not bothered by the corner count. We’re terrible at corners, so not overly concerned if we don’t get any. And we haven’t conceded from too many corners recently, which makes a nice change.
Of their 12 shots on goal, only four were on target. Two of which were from the penalty, as Dirk Kuyt’s spot kick and follow up were both expertly saved by Wojciech Szczesny, who had as good a game as I can remember from an Arsenal goalkeeper. We all know he has the quality, but consistency has been his problem as of late. After today, he’s set a pretty high standard for himself for the rest of the season. If he can maintain it, we’ll be in great shape.
The penalty was a joke. Being in a Spanish speaking country, I couldn’t be swayed by the views of the commentators (although the repetitive screams of ‘PENALTY, PENALTY, PENALTY’ were amusing). So I was on my own to decipher whether there was contact or not. It didn’t take long, as there was absolutely none. I’d say it was less of a penalty than Gareth of Nazareth’s one last weekend. And that’s saying something.
Either way, justice was done and as I said, Szcz made an epic save. Unfortunately he could do nothing to keep out Liverpool’s goal, a coolly taken finish by our centre back Laurent Koscielny. It’s OK to laugh about it now. It was really bad luck for Kos, who had an otherwise great game. It was just one of those that you put your foot out to get something on a pacey cross to take it away from any nearby strikers. It went wrong for him this time, and trust me, as an ex-Sunday league centre back myself I have had that happen to me far too many times. Luckily not on Sky Sports though, but usually a cold, damp pitch in the outskirts of Cambridge. I was terrible.
Our equaliser came out of nothing, but it was a combination from the two who got us back into the game against Sp*rs last weekend. A fantastic cross by the excellent Bacary Sagna was met with desire and intent by van Persie. Great cross, great header. Back into it, less than ten minutes after going behind.
As I said, Sagna was brilliant today. A couple of goal denying tackles at the back, good pass rate, and a world class assist for our goal. He’s a top, top player. Best right back in the League. And up there in Europe too.
The second half was very open, and aside from a couple of decent chances for Theo Walcott we didn’t have a huge amount to shout about before the goal. Mikel Arteta went off on a stretcher with an oxygen mask attached, apparently suffering with concussion after a knock with Jordan Henderson. Abou Diaby came on, then went off less than 30 mins later as he appeared to struggle with the pace and intensity of the match. Hopefully it’s not a reoccurrence of his injury, but you wouldn’t bet against it given his record. And we all hope for good news on Arteta too.
Our midfield was rather flat today. Yossi Benayoun and Tomas Rosicky didn’t have the same affect they did last week, but I guess it’s tough to expect too much from players who don’t get regular game time. Inconsistency is a given as a result. Both good players, and should get plenty more chances in the coming weeks to repeat their NLD showings. Walcott was lively in bursts, and as always made some top off the ball movements. Wasted a couple of good chances, but still played a part in the win and is a valuable member of the squad.
There are still defensive problems there (of course). We were horrifically open on several occasions again today, and a team with better attackers would have put a few past us. And if not for some great stops by Szcz, that might have happened today as well. I’m not sure what’s going on at the back. The back four starters are all internationally capped, and all very good players individually. It must be something either due to the set-up, tactics, or leadership back there. Which is why we miss Per Mertesacker so much, as he enforces the back line so well. Better defensive coaching is often thrown about as a possible solution. Tony Adams? Lee Dixon? Martin Keown? None of them would hurt, but that’s up to Wenger and not me.
Anyway, I said I wasn’t going to write a big one. So I’ll love you and leave you for now. Another top win, and that’s four on the bounce now in the League. Or five wins out of six, and 16 points out of 18. However you want to look at it, we’re on the mend, playing nicely and certainly not in a crisis.
Roll on Milan on Tuesday. It’s improbable. It’s very unlikely. But stranger things have happened in this beautiful game of ours, especially when we’re involved. Either way, it’s sure to be a great night, and on the back of two big wins against two of our closest rivals, I’d expect the lads to go into it believing they can do anything. I certainly do.
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