Liverpool 4 Arsenal 1 - Prem (Mar 31 2007)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 4 Arsenal 1

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Peter Crouch (3), Daniel Agger Half Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 31 Mar 2007 Star Man - Peter Crouch

 

 

 

 

 

All season long people have been trying to write off Peter Crouch, but it takes more than a spell on the bench or a broken nose to kill off Crouchamania. The big man ran wild like never before, and Arsenal’s beleaguered centre back pairing of Toure and Gallas just didn’t know what had hit them. A friend of mine said afterwards that he hadn’t seen a better performance from any striker anywhere this season, and I’d have to agree. This was a complete performance from Crouch, capped with a perfect hat-trick.

His link play was exquisite all afternoon, he led the line brilliantly, scored three great goals and some of his skill and close control was worth the entrance fee. Like I’ve said before, this lad is a freak of nature. People his size shouldn’t be that skilful. In fact, very few people of any size are that skilful. Crouch deservedly takes all the plaudits after this display, but it wasn’t a one man show by any means, and everyone played their part in what turned out to be a very impressive win.

After the wretched display at Villa Park, I’ve been seriously worried that our league season would just fizzle out as we prioritise the Champions League and we’d drop points all over the place like we did in 2005. I’m still worried about it now, and despite this brilliant display, I still think next week at Reading will be more of an indication of how the rest of our season will shape up. But that concern is for another day, this win should be savoured.

Rafa took a lot of stick after the cup exits, some of it justified due to his team selections for those games, but he deserves a big pat on the back for the work he put into this game. His starting line up was an interesting one, and if you were picking a line up based on ability to keep possession and play football, this would be more or less our strongest eleven. Finnan and Kewell would have very strong cases for inclusion, but aside from those two this would be our best ‘keep ball’ eleven.

The big plus for me was the way we attacked in wide areas. That’s our biggest weakness, but in this game the wingers and full backs made a huge contribution. Aurelio and Gonzalez have a good understanding and seem to like playing together. They looked promising together in pre-season, but both have had injury problems since then and have not really shown what they can do (Gonzo more than Fabio). On the other flank, Arbeloa and Pennant had played together for the reserves last week against Blackburn, and had struck up an immediate understanding. Both had been brilliant in that game, and it didn’t take them long to show their understanding against the Gunners either.

Four minutes in, the pair exchanged back heels on the right touchline, and the Spanish full back drilled the ball across to Crouch who tucked the ball into the bottom corner with his right foot. A great start, just what we needed. The balance of the side looked really good, as Alonso and Mascherano sat in midfield winning the ball and starting attacks.


The story was that when Rafa first met with Mascherano, he explained to him the role he saw him playing and it was next to Alonso, with Gerrard in a more advanced role. This was the first opportunity we’ve had to see that plan in action, and I think everyone will have come away impressed.

Alonso had a hand in the second goal, but the bulk of the credit should go to Aurelio. Crouch was fouled as he jumped for a header, and as soon as the free kick was awarded, Aurelio set off down the left and called for the ball. Alonso took a quick free kick and found the Brazilian in space, and he delivered a gorgeous cross that was met by the head of Crouchy and sent hurtling into the top corner.

Heading is Crouch’s biggest weakness, especially when he has to generate power himself. This time, the power was in the cross and he only needed to divert it towards the target. That said, it was still a great header and I’m not trying to take anything away from him. It’s just it was one hell of a ball from Aurelio.


We were in total control of this game, and Arsenal just couldn’t get anything going. They were missing Henry and Van Persie of course, and it showed. Baptista may have had a field day in the Carling Cup, but Carra and Agger are a different proposition to Sami and Paletta. They can run, for a start. Baptista was poor, and it was Adebayor who was their only serious threat. I used to think he was pretty shit, but he’s won me over a fair bit this season and I now think he’s a very good player. He’s still a poor man’s Crouch though.

Baptista wasted Arsenal’s only real decent chance of the first half, when he sliced his shot after Arbeloa’s mistake had put us under pressure. It was the only thing the Spanish full back did wrong to be fair, and he’s made a very good start to his Liverpool career. I don’t see him as first choice, but he’ll do the job that Lucas Neill had been earmarked for, covering right across the back four.

From what he’s shown so far, we’re certainly no worse off for having signed him instead. The Australian couldn’t have done any better than Arbeloa has done, and let’s not forget that there’s the added bonus of Alvaro not being a horrible, dirty, money grabbing twat. He's not as good as Steve Finnan, but then who is? You'd have to say that from what we've seen of him so far (not much admittedly), he's definitely much better than Josemi and probably better than Kromkamp too, at least defensively he definitely is.

It’s difficult to say if this result was because we were so good, or they were so bad. You’d have to say an element of both I suppose. We played well, but we can certainly play better. For a start, Gerrard was very quiet. If we can win so easily without him having to really do anything, then that’s encouraging. Also, Gonzalez struggled a bit, especially in the latter part of the first half. He went through a spell where nothing he tried came off, but he kept going and I thought in the 2nd half he did much better, before he was subbed.


I can’t make up my mind if he had a good game or a bad one. It was a mixed bag, but there were some things to be encouraged about and he ensured that Eboue had his hands full. It was a vast improvement on what Mark produced at the Emirates, when the Arsenal right back completely dominated him.

As for Arsenal, well they were poor. Wenger’s line up was strange, with Diaby on the left and Denilson in the middle. That seemed odd to me, especially as Ljungberg and Rosicky were on the bench. I don’t know how seriously Wenger took this game, but if I was an Arsenal fan I’d have been moaning about that midfield he picked. The battle for 3rd is the only thing they have left, but you’d never have guessed from this limp display. That midfield was never going to be able to compete with ours.

The middle of midfield is where we are strongest, regardless of what permutation Rafa goes with. Mascherano has really strengthened our options, and he’s getting better with every game. He played well against the Gunners, but I still reckon he’s only operating at about 60% capacity. He’ll get better and better the more he plays, he’s a class act is ‘the Chief’.

The 2nd half did see an improvement from the Gunners, but not until they went 3-0 down. It was only then that they began to show any urgency, but that co-incided with us slacking off a bit and relaxing. We’d started the half well, and Gerrard had a shot saved by Lehmann after some great play by (either by Crouch or Gonzalez, I can’t remember).

The third goal came when Agger glanced in a header at the Kop end from an Aurelio free kick, and at this point I was starting to hope for six, just so we could get some serious payback for the League Cup game. The goal was the cue for us to take our foot off the gas for a spell, and Arsenal started to enjoy a lot of possession and began to look dangerous.

Adebayor hit the post twice (one may have been when the score was still 2-0 actually, I’m not sure), the second of which would have been a goal but for an astonishing save by Reina. His body was moving across goal when the big Togo striker sent a header in the opposite direction. Most keepers would have been beaten by that, but Pepe showed superb agility to leap back across his goal and push the ball onto the post.

He was beaten once though, a scrappy goal from Gallas after Toure had won a header from a right wing corner. Things could have got edgy after that, but we regrouped and started to play again. Aurelio kept surging forward from left back and Pennant was still a danger on the opposite side. And of course, Crouch was still running wild.

All game Crouch was just unplayable. Forget his height, that wasn’t what gave Arsenal problems. It was his magic feet. Peter Crouch is so skilful and has such quick feet, when he’s in this form he’s a joy to watch. On MOTD Shearer patronisingly claimed that ‘Crouch has got decent feet you know’ as though he was making some kind of startling revelation that people wouldn’t have been aware of. Cheeky bastard. Decent feet? Decent? Are you taking the piss? MAGIC feet, that’s what Crouchy has.

Look at the way he took that third goal, he made it look so simple when it was anything but. Crouch has better feet than Shearer ever had, and when I look around the league the only player with better close control and quicker feet is Ronaldo. Crouch doesn’t have acceleration, and that renders some of skill ineffective because he can’t get away from players. But his control and skills in tight spaces are better than 99% of players in this league. ‘Decent feet’, fuck off Shearer.

That hat-trick goal was just so good, but it’s no surprise is it. He’s scored some quality goals this season. The two scissor kicks, the waltzing around the keeper against Reading, the side footer from 18 yards at West Ham. . . . absolute class. He’s the best striker Liverpool has at the moment, and he’s been underused this season for me. He looks like he’ll score every time he plays, and he usually does.

He’s also the best forward England has, and you only have to see how shit they are when he doesn’t play to realise his importance to that side. Not that the press would ever admit that, they’re too busy fawning over a striker with a fragile temperament and a poor goal return. Still, fuck it, its only England.

We were good value for this win, and it could have been even bigger. Aurelio was denied the goal his display deserved when Lehmann just about tipped his low shot wide. He was denied a corner too, but then the linesman on the Main Stand side was awful all game.


The Brazilian would have been the star man for me had Crouch not been so sensational. I like Aurelio, I think he’s got a lot to offer and he’s got better as the season has progressed. I much prefer him at left back to midfield, especially as I think the opposite of Riise. Aurelio is a very good footballer, neat and tidy in possession, competitive and a great crosser. The problem is he’s so injury prone that I can’t see him ever stringing together a run of 10 or 12 consecutive games.

Mascherano was the other player to really impress. He didn’t do anything especially eye catching (aside from the delightful little pass to Pennant that led to the fourth goal), but his positional play is so good and he won back possession in front of the back four countless times.

Pennant continued his recent good form and clearly had the beating of Clichy from the start. He seems to have picked up an extra yard of pace from somewhere, and he no longer cuts inside all the time. Since the turn of the year I think he’s mostly played pretty well, but he isn’t getting too many plaudits because he’s so hard to like. He doesn’t say the right things, which means people don’t want to look for the positives. His ‘I should be in the England squad’ comments last week being a case in point.

Regardless of whether I think he’s a tit or not, I do think he’s playing pretty well right now, and is worth a regular place in the side. He has been getting stuck in more too of late, but he does need to watch himself when he doesn’t get a decision, as he seems to lose his head and goes looking for the nearest opponent to kick. He’s done it a few times this season, but at least it shows he’s arsed.

Overall this was a great win, but we have to make sure it doesn’t go to waste by ensuring we beat Reading next week too. The CL is our priority of course, but that doesn’t mean we should just forget about league games like we did in 2005. Being up for a home game with Arsenal is one thing, but it counts or nothing if we see any repeats of the Villa performance.

But next up is the CL quarter final, and the big question is whether Crouch will keep his place. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he didn’t, because Rafa will surely want Bellamy’s pace in the line up, and he may go with Kuyt because of his ‘local knowledge’. If it was a game in which I expected us to be under the cosh for long spells, I’d probably go with that too, but from what we’ve seen of PSV in our previous encounters, the chances are we’ll be the team doing most of the pressing and therefore I’d play Crouch.

The key factor for me, is that NO-ONE wants to play against Crouch. Defenders hate him, especially the continental ones. That’s why he should be our number one striker for the rest of the season, and it’s also why in my eyes he’s our least expendible when it comes to selling this summer. I’d say Dirk is safe from the axe, as Rafa was chasing him for so long he isn’t going to give up on him after one season. But with Voronin on his way, and the probability of at least one more, it stands to reason either Crouch or Bellamy – or even both – may be sacrificed.

The way I see, players like Craig Bellamy are not exactly difficult to find, but there is no-one out there like Peter Crouch and he would be impossible to replace. Crouchy joked afterwards that he ‘still looks like a million dollars’, but he played like a 'fifty million dollar striker' in this game. Selling a player that other teams are shit scared of would be madness. Crouchamania has been subdued in recent months, but its running wild again now and will hopefully be running all the way to Athens next month.

Team: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio; Pennant, Mascherano (Riise), Alonso, Gonzalez (Zenden); Gerrard (Kuyt); Crouch: