Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
So here we are again then. Exactly where we were after the win over Spurs, wondering how this same group of players can play like THIS, so soon after playing like THAT. For Hull, see Leicester. For Spurs, read Arsenal. For all the talk of inconsistency, they’re actually very consistent in their own, soul crushing way.
Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this. I say surprisingly because I didn’t think I would. I did though, a lot. Such was my level of disgust and disillusionment after the Leicester game that I’d convinced myself I wasn’t even going to stand up if we scored against Arsenal. “Fuck em, what’s the point? Beating Arsenal doesn’t mean shit when we keep losing to teams in the bottom half”. That was my feeling felt prior to the game, but once it kicked off it was different. For ninety minutes, the previous couple of months were forgotten and I just wanted to see us play well and beat Arsenal, which we did.
It changes nothing in terms of how I view the team (it merely offers further confirmation of what we already knew) but it was still a lot of fun to watch and ultimately, it’s much better to have this than for them to play shit and lose again. It doesn’t change who they are or make the frequent shithouse performances any less irritating - if anything it makes them more infuriating - but it was still highly enjoyable.
So rather than go over old ground and bitch about how we’ll probably drop points to Burnley next week, I’ll just take this game in isolation and enjoy it for what it was.
Like most of you reading this, I wasn’t surprised that we played well and won, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a nagging doubt that maybe we were due a bad day against one of the big boys. The absence of Henderson added to that, but after about five minutes I knew we’d win. It was clear even at that early stage that we were more up for it than Arsenal, and Wenger leaving Sanchez on the bench almost felt like giving us a 1-0 lead even before kick off.
Picking Welbeck and Oxlade-Chamberlain over Sanchez and Walcott played right into our hands and who can blame the Arsenal fans for being pissed off about it? Imagine how we’d have felt if Rodgers had dropped Suarez and Sterling for a big game when we were chasing the title. Or if Klopp had left out Mané and Lallana for this game.
No doubt Arsenal wished he had, as those two were phenomenal in this game. They all were to be fair. As so often seems to happen when we play the big boys, the whole team were close to their best level. Coutinho isn’t there yet, but he was pretty good and it was probably his best display since November.
Wenger claimed he picked Giroud and Welbeck to try and go more direct, presumably to avoid our high press. Maybe he should have informed his players, as aside from Cech kicking long all the time, I didn’t see too many others looking to go direct. Time and again they got caught trying to play in midfield, and Lallana was all over them like a wasp at a picnic.
The goals we scored were excellently worked and there were other chances too, most notably when Cech tipped over a Coutinho shot. Mané created the first and scored the second. Firmino scored the first and created the second. Those two were too much for Arsenal to handle, just as they were too much for Tottenham to handle.
We didn’t even miss Henderson as Can produced his best performance since Dortmund last season. He battled with Giroud for every long Cech clearance and he seemed to relish the physical battle, not just with Giroud but with everybody. In fairness to him, he was probably the least shit outfield player at Leicester the other night. That got lost in the aftermath as we were all so pissed off at how bad the whole team were. He didn’t play well by any means, but he wasn’t as bad as the rest and he’s certainly better in that deeper position than he is in the box to box role.
I said to my dad after the first goal that "it wouldn’t surprise me if we put four or five past them here" as it looked like the type of game where Arsenal were ripe for one of those bummings. They’ve had a few of them in recent years, and I could have seen it happening again if Sanchez hadn’t come on and made it more of a contest. He made an immediate difference and it was his perfectly timed and weighted through ball that allowed Welbeck to pull one back and have us fearing the worst.
The warning signs had been there as Mignolet had earlier made a brilliant stop to turn Giroud’s header onto the bar and we were no longer looking as threatening going forward. In some respects it was like the Tottenham game, as we were brilliant going forward in the first half of that and then defended well to close the game out in the second.
Despite conceding, we defended well in this one too. The goal was avoidable as Clyne didn’t track the run of Welbeck as he held the line instead, hoping for an offside. Had it been a lesser mortal playing the pass then he’d have gotten away with it, but Sanchez did superbly to play it at precisely the right moment. Initially I thought Mignolet might have been a little quicker off his line, but having seen it again I don’t think that’s the case.
At 2-1 the game was right in the balance but there were not too many scares after that. Arsenal got into some good positions, especially through the overlapping Bellerin, but any time it looked like a shooting opportunity was there, either Klavan or Matip seemed to get in a block. They were both excellent and this was the 2016 Matip at last.
The third goal actually came from a superb block by Matip that looped out to Lallana. Everyone expected he’d just help it on his way and knock it forward first time, as that’s what everyone else had been doing for the previous ten minutes as it had become backs to the wall stuff, but Lallana fooled everyone by knocking it past his man instead. What he did next was just fantastic and probably won’t get anywhere near the coverage it should. It was arguably the best bit of play of the entire weekend.
Origi was struggling to stay onside as the Arsenal defence held the halfway line, and having seen that Lallana kept hold of the ball instead, turned away from a defender and held it just long enough for Origi to get back onside before releasing him with a perfect ball with the outside of his foot. Absolute class.
Origi (who had earlier hit the post and looked livelier than he has in months) did well to get his head up and see Wijnaldum haring through the centre and rolled the ball in to him, but it wasn’t an easy finish and I half expected to see the ball end up in the back row of the Kop. It’s not easy hitting a fast moving ball when you’re running at full speed, but he controlled his finish beautifully and stroked it into the bottom corner.
The perfect way to kill the game and no more than we deserved. As for what it means for the rest of the season, fuck knows. It was just nice to see us win and play such thrilling football again. It is fucking mystifying though isn’t it?
Obviously we find it easier playing against the footballing sides rather than the shut up shop ones, but does that fully explain the night and day performances from Hull to Spurs and Leicester to Arsenal of the likes of Firmino and Wijnaldum to name but two? I don’t think it does. Obviously it’s more difficult against teams who don’t want to play, but it shouldn’t cause that much of a discrepancy in their performances. Firmino couldn’t even trap a ball the other night, yet here he is plucking the ball out of the sky and turning the arse off a defender all in one movement against Arsenal. It’s utterly baffling.
Mané too, he was garbage against Leicester but totally unplayable in this one. His touch, movement, balance and strength were breathtaking at times. The bit when he passed the ball five yards into space and then appeared on the end of it was like something out of a cartoon. Like the road runner playing tennis against himself or some shit. Utterly ridiculous, poor Monreal was stood there wondering what just happened.
Goals aside, that was the best moment of the game, although I also liked Can’s cynical thing out of Sanchez on halfway. We don’t do enough of that. He was booked for it and could have been sent off for a foul on Walcott, but Matip flying in and taking them both out muddied the waters a bit and I don’t think the ref knew exactly what happened or who committed the foul. Can rolling around and playing the “I’m hurt, you can’t book me” routine may have helped too. Again, we don’t do enough of that, we’re not streetwise enough and that’s one of the things we have to learn.
Taking nothing away from how our lads played, but Arsenal were a fucking spineless shambles. That first half was like watching us away to a bottom half team. There’s a lot of similarities between us and Arsenal, and they might be the one set of players in the league who have less balls than ours. One obvious difference is that Klopp doesn’t have any trouble against the other top sides whereas Wenger’s record against them - away from home especially - is dreadful.
They have less problems beating the dregs than we do but they’re still prone to those random, inexplicable losses when they get bullied out of it. Like us, they’ve also got owners who aren’t arsed about winning anything and the only real difference is that we’ve got a manager we’re happy with and still harbour some hope that he can make us challengers. Their fans have given up the ghost on Wenger, and frankly who can blame them?
As much as I have a good laugh at Arsenal Fan TV, a lot of what they’re complaining about resonates with me as I feel the same about our club, blud. You get me, fam? Our owners aspire to be Arsenal, that’s the depressing thing. Imagine wanting to be Arsenal? Their fans are at an all time breaking point with their club and the lack of ambition and direction, whereas John Henry looks at them and sees all the corporate dough the Emirates brings in, and all the Champions League cash that their annual 2nd/3rd/4th placed finish gets them, and he thinks “I’ll have a bit of that”.
I don’t want to be Arsenal. I don’t want to be Chelsea either, or City or Spurs, and I sure as hell don’t want to be United. I just want us to be the best Liverpool we can be, and right now we’re not doing that. We won’t be winning any trophies this season and unless we buck our ideas up we won’t be finishing in the top four either. We absolutely must beat Burnley next week though, if we fail to do that then what’s the point in any of it anymore?
Final point is on the the crowd, who were absolutely fantastic all things considered. To be as up for the game as they were was commendable, considering what has been going on for the last couple of months. That won't last indefinitely if they keep shitting the bed against crap teams though, and Klopp and the players should be thankful for it.
Star man is Mané but it could have been five or six others, and everybody played well.
Team: Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Klavan, Milner; Can, Lallana (Lucas), Wijnaldum; Mané (Alexander-Arnold), Firmino, Coutinho (Origi):
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