Liverpool let down by wastefulness and Webb (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

It's often said that a week is a long time in football, and Liverpool and Arsenal certainly proved it at the Emirates on Sunday.

Last Saturday, the Gunners were humiliated by the rampant Reds at Anfield, but fast forward eight days and it was Arsene Wenger's men who were celebrating following a controversial, hard-fought 2-1 win that deprived Liverpool of a mouthwatering all-Merseyside FA Cup quarter-final clash against Everton.

It could so easily have been different though as, unlike last weekend, the best team was not victorious on this occasion.

Whilst never hitting the heights they had in that 5-1 demolition, Liverpool were nevertheless the more impressive side at the Emirates and can point to two reasons why they failed to get something from the game; poor finishing and Howard Webb.

Profligacy in front of goal is not something that has been associated with the Reds of late, but being on the wrong end of Webb's decisions is a well-established trend that will have surprised few Liverpool fans.

It was going to take something special from Webb to top what he did at Stamford Bridge in December, when he failed to send off Samuel Eto'o and then denied Luis Suarez the most blatant of penalties after a foul by the Cameroonian, but his incredible decision to not award a spot-kick when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain clattered the Uruguayan may have done just that.

It was truly staggering. Webb had given a penalty just minutes before when Lukas Podolski had clumsily tripped Suarez, and that was perhaps on his mind when he failed to give a second for what was an even more obvious foul (and the first one was pretty obvious).

It's rare for an official to have to give two penalties to the same team in such a short space of time, but a foul is a foul irrespective of the circumstances of the game and there is simply no excuse for Webb not doing so.

At that point in the game, Liverpool were playing superbly and Arsenal were under intense pressure. That non-decision took the wind out of their sails, however, and Brendan Rodgers’ side never really regained the momentum.

I'm not going to say too much more about Webb's performance except that other referees have been banished to the lower leagues for much less obvious mistakes. They, though, are not the FA's World Cup representative. Above all, if this is England's best referee, then what does that say about the rest of them?

Whilst it's more than fair to point to Webb's performance as a significant factor in Liverpool losing the game, the Reds also need to look at themselves as they played no small part in their own downfall.

An ongoing inability to keep clean sheets is incredibly disconcerting. I wrote a few days ago how it seems like Liverpool need to score twice away from home just to get anything from a game and here was another case in point.

At least this time the goals were not gift wrapped with a pretty bow on top and a card marked "Best wishes, love Kolo x" but, still, they were both avoidable.

Read he rest of the article here.