Liverpool 1 - Arsenal 1
By: ed | October 30th, 2007Some quick thoughts for me after a very busy week at work:
1. Arsenal played some beautiful flowing football; Liverpool hoofed it forward and hoped it would “stick” to a clearly injured Torres. Who is now even more injured.
2. Alonso is clearly the glue to our midfield and the creative heartbeat of our team. Hope he comes back soon. Very soon.
3. Did anyone even notice Fabregas in the first half? I thought Mascherano had him in his pocket until the 30-something minute.
4. It was no coincidence that Arsenal scored once Mascherano was injured. 4b - would’ve been nice to have brought on Sissoko or even Lucas for the Monster. Shame Alonso, Torres and Voronin had been hauled off by then.
5. Gerrard’s goal. I don’t think it was a fluke that he hit it where he did. Rafa and the gang must’ve done their homework and seen Arsenal’s defensive wall is as robust as a house of cards. Expect Manure to hammer it at the wall if they get a free-kick in the same sort of area this weekend. Rafa 1, Arsene 0.
6. Reina should’ve saved the goal - it was so poorly hit, more like prodded, and it was straight at him. If he had had a moment to set himself, I’m sure I’d be writing about a Liverpool win.
7. Having said that, Fabregas showed good presence of mind to shoot early.
8. Yes Arsenal missed two open goals and hit the post twice, but Liverpool had the best chances and, despite being passed off the park in the first two thirds of the pitch, Almunia really kept Arsenal in it. Fantastic saves from Gerrard (twice), Crouch and Riise put Arsenal in the position to be able to rescue a point. Gallas’s fantastic block also saved a certain goal.
9. Same old Arsenal - a million passes in the first half but no shots for Pepe to save.
10. Four points from six against Everton and Arsenal isn’t bad and against two of the big four, we can feel we could have had six points from six (the Chelsea game). We’re still unbeaten in the league and looked like we were getting a bit of spark and belief back.
11. Gerrard looked to be regaining his form.
12. Rafa is churning out the results. They’re not pretty right now, but our league form is very solid. If we can keep this run going and then kick it up a gear in January we may be serving great big dollops of humble pie to our critics come June.
13. The less said about the Champions League the better.
Going to the Liverpool game? Find out how to get to Liverpool and where to stay near Anfield.
Buy tickets to Liverpool games.
Category: Post Match Reaction
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments
-
to say liverpool had the better chances is absurd, the riise shot went over the bar, it wasnt saved, and only gerrards shot that came off of flaminis poor clearance posed any danger. crouch did well but he only had one decent shot on goal and almunia was all over it. compare that to two off the post followed by two scuffed follow ups makes arsenal the team with the better chances. if anyone but bendtner got near the fabregas rebound you’d be writing about how shocked you were to see arsenal beat hopeless long ball liverpool.
p.s. rafa’s squad rotation is nonsensical. does he pull the squad out of a hat? people in positions they dont belong, still injured players, i mean, what the hell. and where was ryan babel?!
Posted from
United States
-
Hitting the bar is not going into the back of the net and is not a shot on goal. Liverpool had more shots on, with actual chances to go in the net.
“if anyone but bendtner got near the fabregas rebound you’d be writing about how shocked you were to see arsenal beat hopeless long ball liverpool.” If, if, if, good analysis. If Toure hadn’t of cleared Gerrard’s shot, if Gerrard or Crouch or Riise would have got a better foot on the ball, blah, blah, blah.
Your comments on Rafa’s rotation policy are just ignorant, you have no clue what you’re talking about. I know though, you have more than 2 La Liga titles, an UEFA Cup, a Champions League Trophy, and a FA Cup. Oh wait, you don’t.
Posted from
United States -
explain how starting two obviously injured players and using voronin and kuyt as wingers is good policy when you have people like ryan babel on the bench. rafa’s past accolades mean nil when he’s trying a new and obiously broken rotaion system. nobody on that team gels and you know it because theyre in different positions or benched even after a good performance. i remember him saying its being done to keep players fresh through out all the different tourneys but im pretty sure you guys are about to crash out of the cl and you barely had a fit squad on saturday.
oh and also he coaches ugly football. like gattuso said last year, liverpool plays footbal from 10 years ago.i like how instead of explaing to me how you thought i was wrong, you just accused me of not being a world class manager. im sorry i didnt know i needed uefa cups and champions league trophies before i could have an opinion.
Posted from
United States -
i think it was the right decision to have babel on the bench. he’s a great talent but he’s not tactically disciplined/aware enough to be playing in such a big match. voronin and kuyt are hard workers who leave themselves on the pitch and follow orders. just what’s needed for a free-flowing arsenal side.
if torres was indeed fit, as he had claimed, the formation would’ve worked well with the two wider forwards supporting torres and with gerrard breaking through the middle. it’s a shame that torres was too eager to get back in the team.
that being said, i’m getting worried about rafa’s rotation as well - but this is the part of the season that the players have traditionally struggled in and we’re still there or there abouts in the league.
re: “anyone but bendtner” comment, you’re forgetting that fabregas fluffed an easier chance minutes earlier. clearly the pressure was on arsenal to perform.
Posted from
Canada -
True.. the arsenal youngsters did look a bit antsy… you must give the kids a lot of credit for forcing Liverpool onto their heals for most of the game.. and that at home! Now with shots like Gerrard, Crouch and Riise have.. they can really shoot from anywhere and be dangerous, and Torres, and Alonso getting hurt didn’t help. Personally i don’t like rafa’s style.. he needs to provide some consistency for the players so they can begin to gel. but he has a diff style.. can’t blame him for that.. and he brings results so.. it’ll be nice to see this matchup again when it really counts in the spring!
Posted from
United States -
how much pool spent in transfer window?
how much wenger did?
what did the pundits say(Gunners were slated to be 5th best)
pool for EPL!!!!!!!!!
IS hyypia the highest goal scorer for u?
cpl exit will not hit u ppl hard cos anyway in the latter stages barca/real/arsenal/manu cud have ripped u apart.
reina is ur god.
gerrard is 3252343 times overrated.
torres babel? y do u have to waste money?
arent there enuf charities in england?
i like liverpool but maybe houlier was good and pls dont dance on ur cpl triumph…u wont repeat it for 3 decades if rafa lives that long.Posted from
India
Comments are closed
Home 
