Kevin Whitcher
So let’s take some positives from the visit to Liverpool yesterday… Luis Suarez has left the club and Daniel Sturridge didn’t play. Because if these two were in Brendan Rodger’s team, the result would have been similar to Arsenal’s previous visit to Anfield in February. As it was, the home side failed to convert their superiority and multitude of chances.
Quite simply, this was a game in which Arsene Wenger was tactically exposed. Let the players work it out for themselves is the ethos. Quite why they didn’t manage to re-adjust after five minutes when it was obvious they were being torn a new one in midfield is one for debate. However, when it became clear they couldn’t work it out for themselves, where was the instruction from the sidelines? Madness.
The Gunners got away with it until the ball was given away in typical fashion by a dangerous attempt at a clever pass by Giroud, turning a counter-attack back into a scramble to defend. It was exploited and Arsenal went a goal down, the least they deserved. However, fortune smiled upon them and they managed to respond with an equalizer in first half injury time. A very un-Arsenal goal with plenty of head tennis and a deflection, but it mattered not. Parity was restored.
The improvement was marginal after the interval, but improvement there was. And in a rare quality attack, Giroud and Cazorla combined very well to create an excellent goal. Critical was that the move involved some width and a cutback from the goal-line. Always dangerous and something I have urged the team to do more often. When Borini was red carded, the hope was that the Gunners could see it out. But it was never a given. Wenger’s team rarely manage to kill narrow games, a weakness that has been evident for many seasons (including notable matches at Anfield in 2008 and 2009).
And so it came down to a set piece and our old friend zonal marking. The image of the players at the moment the corner was taken said it all. I think there were maybe two or three Liverpool players on the six yard line, accompanied by all the Arsenal outfield players marking their space. The problem was there were a number of red shirts hanging around on the edge of the area. Even worse, when the ball came into the space between the defence and Skrtel, the only player tall enough to actually deal with the cross ducked out of it, as he did at Stoke for Jonathan Walters’ goal. That’s the team’s captain on the day, their leader on the field. The guy supposed to rouse the troops for the challenge ahead. Arsene Wenger’s self-created problem is that – due to his negligence in the transfer market last summer – he cannot drop Per Mertesacker for form reasons. The manager has made a rod for his own back and more than once the team have paid for it via conceded goals and dropped points. Still, Arsène knows, always remember.
Debuchy remained at centre back in spite of Chambers’ return to the side, possibly as a consequence of the latter’s performance at Stoke. It was a role reversal from the opening matches of the season, and perhaps a sign that the manager really isn’t sure what the hell to do when it comes to defence.
Thank goodness Arsenal did not get Real Madrid in the Champions League draw, because the hard work they made against, frankly, the poorest Liverpool side I can recall seeing for a long, long time, does not augur well for when they next face a side of real quality. The players were being over-run (as the possession stats indicate) and had no answer. Sadly, the same goes for the manager, and the fact his team were not beaten heavily should not disguise that.
Sky’s pundits summed it up better than I can. Gary Neville: ‘‘Arsenal are like mannequins, Liverpool are playing around them”. Alan Smith: “Arsenal are directionless and leaderless”.
The manager was tactically out-thought and his team outfought. That there were no changes at the start of second half was shocking. Equally as worrying, it looks as if Alexis Sanchez may be finally running out of steam. He won the free-kick that led to the equalizer, but aside from that, was largely peripheral. He is used to a break at this stage of the season, and looks knackered already. No wonder, after carrying the team for the last four months.
Liverpool played most of the game without a striker and created a lot of chances. Better teams will punish Arsenal before the season’s out. However, looking at the table, they will probably glean enough points to finish fourth. And if they manage to eliminate Monaco in the Champions League and make the last eight, it will be claimed as a season of progress. If you want to read a more thorough tactical analysis of why Arsenal looked so bad yesterday, there is a good one here. It should also be remembered that, in terms of physical level, most of Liverpool’s players had played two matches since Arsenal’s last game. That might explain the slight drop off after the interval, although the home side should really have been out of sight by half time.
To finish, a year’s Gooner subscription would make an excellent gift for an Arsenal fan you know. You can buy one here.
I am now on Twitter@KevinWhitcher01.
The new issue of The Gooner with free 2015 Art of Arsenal calendar can be bought online here. It will also be on sale outside the stadium for the coming home matches v QPR and Hull, and the away matches over the festive period.
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Further Reading
A sequel to Arsènal – The Making of a Modern Superclub and entitled Arsène and Arsenal The Quest to Rediscover Past Glories has been written by myself and co-author Alex Fynn. It takes up the story of the club from the last update of the previous book, and can be bought online here. Use the promo code ‘Gooner’ to get 10% off the publisher’s price of £8.99.
