A disappointing result at Anfield. But there's absolutely no need for Captain Hindsight to make an appearance. And there's certainly no need for anyone associated with the club to take any heed of the drivel spouted by the likes of Neville, Carragher and Keane - I certainly didn't!
There's no need to go through a timeline of the match, as you've all watched it; so I'm just going to launch into my view of the events - and what could have been done differently.
Now I personally had very little issue with the line-up selected by Mikel Arteta. The two slightly controversial selections could easily be justified. And even though it has been levelled at Arteta on many occasions that he is too conservative in general... well, this was Anfield.
Yes, of course you want to go there and win. But it isn't that easy. So for pundits to suggest that in order to win the league you HAVE to go there and win?... well, that's nonsense. Pep Guardiola's record at Anfield is P10 W1 D3 L6!
With Odegaard not deemed fit to start, Merino was a perfectly sensible replacement. Anfield is probably the most difficult away PL ground for any side. Merino scored home and away against Liverpool last season. Arteta wanted somebody to lead the press - from the very position that Odegaard would have been - and there was nobody else to do so. So any suggestion that this was a defensive decision can easily be pooh-poohed. Sure, Nwaneri could be regarded as a more adventurous and progressive selection, but he is 18 years old and in my opinion not quite ready to start at Anfield; and certainly not to do the job that Merino was charged with doing. Plus - and I cannot emphasise this enough - with key players such as Saka, Odegaard and Havertz unavailable, looking to contain Liverpool for 65 minutes and then go for the win is not actually a bad strategy!
As for the selection of Martinelli, we should not forget that this was the player who dragged Arsenal back into the corresponding fixture last season, as we came back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2. Sure, he had another poor game, and I think we can all agree he is going to find himself well down the selection pecking list now as a result; so perhaps this was the beginning of the end for him at Arsenal. He certainly isn't kicking on at all from the player he was a couple of years ago, and his best contributions yesterday were defensive. It was his running power and ability to track back that got him the nod in the first place, in my humble opinion.
If I am going to criticise the Manager - and I am not going to do so anything like as much as many others have done - I would have liked to have seen Eze introduced at half time. It was clear that Martinelli - probably due to his own indecision and lack of confidence - wasn't getting any change out of makeshift full back Szoboszlai; there were two decent first half opportunities where his decision-making was clearly lacking. I had certainly seen more than enough at half time. Judging by Eze's 25-minute cameo, we would have got more down that side of the field with him there for the entire second half. The question of whether Eze ought to have started is being posed in hindsight - the guy will have had a handful of training sessions to get used to a complex system.
So, having dealt with those queries... another injury. And Arteta should probably have pulled Saliba from the game after the warm-up. As it was, he lasted barely 5 minutes due to a twisted ankle, but in truth we had nothing to worry us on that score as Mosquera dropped into the role almost seamlessly. Sure, he's not as accomplished on the ball as Saliba - but he looked quick, strong and confident throughout. Clearly an excellent purchase.
It was clear to see from the start that Liverpool were as worried about Arsenal as Arsenal were about them. The match was cagey. Sterile. Nothing like the chaos we'd seen in Liverpool's two previous matches. And here's where it's a real balancing act.
Does anyone want to go to Anfield and play an open game? Aren't you just asking for trouble if you do? They rattled up 4 goals against Bournemouth, and scored two at Newcastle on Monday. By opening yourself up to the threat, you're asking for trouble! And so Arsenal played in a restrained, methodical way; restricting Liverpool to little or nothing, and - insomuch as one could call it that - dominating the match. One just has to look at the match statistics to see what a good job they did as a whole. Liverpool were restricted to just 0.45xG (a mere 0.09 in the first half) - and you'd have to go back a long way to find any match where they were kept that quiet. They barely got into Arsenal's penalty area, and managed just two shots - both off target - in the entire first half. True, Arsenal didn't do too much either; but they forced a number of corners and had the only shot on target of the half when Madueke drew a decent save from Allison. It changed in the second half - but I'll come to that.
Now; corners. A big problem for Arsenal yesterday as in the absence of both Saka and Odegaard there was nobody to take an inswinging corner from the right; thus nullifying much of the threat posed. If We'd have had that number of corners from the left, with Rice able to whip the ball into the 6-yard box, then perhaps things would have worked out differently. Liverpool, to be fair, coped well with the physical battle from corners… there was no way, of course, that any VAR checks for holding were going to be any more that cursory.
One other thing - and something that bothers me. We see Raya trying to draw opponents onto him, and then playing out from the back with intricate passes into midfield, but sometimes Arsenal get caught. As we saw once here when Van Dijk pounced on a dangerous vertical ball in to Zubimendi (in my opinion fouling him, but different rules apply to the Dutchman, as you well know...). He passed when he could have shot from the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, and the danger was averted. But here's the thing; Arsenal seem happier to take risks in their own third of the field than in the opponent's third; which makes zero sense. As I said no more than two posts ago, what I really want to see is the team playing more high tariff passes high up the pitch - because they can be pretty secure in the knowledge that their incredible defence will bail out any loss of control.
So half-time was reached with very little to report. Not the kind of match that a neutral would have enjoyed, and much resembling a game of chess - with neither manager prepared to launch into an attacking strategy. Liverpool's most-used passing combination by that point had been Van Dijk to Konate and back again... And the second half started in a similar style. But I can pinpoint two moments that changed the balance of the game - and one of them is going to be quite controversial (and if any match-going fans want to contradict me on it, feel free).
Liverpool did get the ball into the net in the 60th minute as Ekitike slotted home from the otherwise almost anonymous Wirtz's shot - but from a clearly offside position. Fortunate for Arsenal on two counts, as Raya brought Gakpo down in the melee for what would have been a clear penalty.
The first change that Slot made was Jones for MacAllister. And this made an almost immediate difference to the home team's style of play, as the more progressive Jones starting making runs into areas that hadn't been occupied by the Argentinian. With Szoboszlai able to start displaying a range of Trent-like passing from right back, into areas with which Zubimendi and Rice took time to adapt to, the flow changed somewhat. Certainly, Jones' link play was far more effective in the attacking sense than MacAllister's had been.
Secondly, in the 64th minute the Arsenal fans piped up with our version of one of the Liverpool supporters' favourite songs. 'We won the league at Anfield. We won it at The Lane...' And the affronted response was immediate; 'We conquered all of Europe' makes those Arsenal achievements look small in comparison, and the 4000 Arsenal fans were immediately swamped by a wall of noise from The Kop. You can hear the change in decibels very clearly on the television coverage. The Liverpool fans, who had had little or nothing to get their teeth into, had been roused. And they began to drive their team on. Tell me I'm crazy if you like; but I spotted it as it happened. Did you?
Within a minute, Jones drove onto a clever pass from Szoboszlai and fed Gakpo, who shot at Raya. Moments later Gyokores was booked for (accidentally) bringing down the angelic Van Dijk. And they started getting Salah onto the ball more frequently. This was the moment for me. The moment when Arteta needed to act. Which he did, to be fair; Odegaard and Eze replacing Merino and the disappointing Martinelli.
But whilst the Norwegian looked energetic and tried to drive Arsenal up the field, Arsenal's attacking was almost all long ball - trying to hit Gyokeres or the wingers; whereas Liverpool were playing between the lines and looking to - and for the most part succeeding in - bypassing Rice and Zubimendi. Tactically, this was key. Eze did add some dynamism down the left, in what was a promising start. One piece of skill on the byline almost took my breath away.
The key moment of the game came about as Jones - taking up a position behind Zubimendi - was fouled by the Spaniard 30+ yards out and very centrally. Not necessarily a position of undue danger, but... Szoboszlai's kick was magnificent; over the wall and curling right into Raya's right hand side-netting. The shot had to be pretty much perfect, and pretty much perfect it was. No blame whatsoever attached to Raya (as verified by Joe Hart on MotD2 that evening) and - as I posted on one or two of my WhatsApp groups immediately - 'You have to say that that's magnificent.' A moment worthy of winning any football match, and very much up alongside Rice's two efforts against Real Madrid last season.
From then on, naturally, Arsenal upped the pace. Eze had a chance to get a shot away from fairly close range almost immediately after the goal; but it wasn't a massively high tariff opportunity. Nor was he likely to get a penalty from Gomez's two little digs at him on the way through. Not at Anfield. And the best chance followed soon after as Madueke's cross was brilliantly intercepted by Gomez, who stood his ground in front of the predatory Gyokeres at a vital moment. Of course, as a result of upping the tempo Arsenal left themselves more open at the back; that's a risk you take against this Liverpool side if you want to try it - and it's a really difficult balancing act. The current buzzword; transition. And that's where Liverpool can be so deadly.
Arteta's final change was fascinating, as Dowman came on ahead of Nwaneri and Trossard. He had little time to make an impact, but didn't look fazed in the slightest by Anfield. Interestingly, Liverpool immediately tripled up on him; as if he was the second coming of Bukayo Saka; or even Lionel Messi. What a remarkable prospect he is.
Despite Arsenal's desperation, they couldn't trouble Allison in the final few minutes, and that was that. And whilst it's massively disappointing to have come away with nothing, all the signs were there that Arsenal and Liverpool are going to be engaged in a titanic battle for the title this season. In my view, had Odegaard been fit enough to start, or had Eze had an extra week's training with his new team-mates and therefore been deemed ready to start this match, we would have seen something quite different from Arsenal.
As it was, it took a moment of sheer brilliance to separate the sides. With Liverpool pretty much at full strength, but Arsenal missing 4 starters. And going forward... well, fitness is going to be key as the season progresses. Yes, Liverpool have paid a ludicrous £130m for Isak, but they can only put 11 players onto the field at once. And the collapse of the Guehi deal has certainly left them light in defence. They have to come to The Emirates in January - whilst AFCON is on; so no Salah. It's game on.
What we certainly don't need to listen to is Northern pundits and their pathetic anti-Arsenal agendas about Liverpool having more about them or more ambition than Arsenal. I'm not buying in to that. And nor should you. They're certainly not saying any of that if it ends up at 0-0!
We're now into one of those irritating Interlulls. It's never nice to go into one n the back of a defeat. But we're back on home ground when we return. So keep the faith. COYG!
