Post Arsenal match thread

[Shaggy]

I found it bizarre that we changed from a formation where we'd done well in recent weeks (bar United) and while I agree with the sentiment that Crouch didn't deserve to be dropped the formation should have taken precedent. We were completely over run in midfield in the first 30minutes, completely. In fact, I'd say we were shambolic. Gerrard drifting, Alonso not with the pace, Mascherano over compensating, and Kuyt showing why he isn't a true midfielder.

We were helped massively by grabbing an excellent goal, Arsenal tiring, Flamini going off, and the crowd. Plus we started to change things in the second half.

Keeping Babel in reserve was a great move, and probably should be his role in every game from now til the end of the season.

Still, we ****ing WON!

Ah, yeah I see where you’re coming from although I disagree. It was a game we had to attack, IMO, rather than concentrating on “being solid”. We ought to be able to go 4-4-2 without being overrun in midfield.

I agree that a lot of our problems were caused by Masher trying too hard, vacating his ‘screening area’, and Gerrard just completely abandoning his left-mid duties. That appalled me, frankly. Sometimes he plays like a school kid.

Aaaaaanyway…

Still buzzing but feeling like utter ****. Hangovers are ****ing ****.

[Morten_nogamst_Pedersen]

An Arses view of y'day

By Myles Palmer


Liverpool 4 Arsenal 2

Arsene Wenger is an attacking coach who plays stylish football with young players. No other Champions League coach does that.

But he doesn’t teach defence, so he is the architect of his own downfall. If you don’t teach defence, you have to buy defenders who know how to defend.

THE FOUR GOALS CONCEDED :

1-1 : Senderos mistake, Hyypia heads in.
2-1 Senderos mistake, Torres fires unstoppable shot
3-2 Toure’s clumsy challenge fells Babel in the box. Less of a clear-cut foul than the Kuyt tug on Hleb’s arm but the ref gives it.
4-2. Chasing the game with nine players forward, Babel breaks away from tired Fabregas and knocks in the fourth goal.

First 20 minutes, Arsenal were fantastic.

Their fast passing gave them flying start and Rafa had picked the wrong team, changing it to 4-4-2 with Crouch &Torres and Gerrard on the left. Rafa didn’t need to make that tactical change and it allowed Arsenal to swarm all over Liverpool and take the lead with a fine goal by Diaby in 13.

Good move, great finish. A helluva shot that went in off Reina’s knee. It’s dim to say Reina was beaten at his near post. It was a rocket shot from pointblank range that flashed into the net. Superb goal. If the rocket shot had hit Reina’s chest it would have been dim to say he made a great save.

For half an hour in their biggest game of the season, Arsenal were giving their best performance of the season.

On 30, they conceded. Senderos wasn’t even watching the ball when Hyypia conned him and headed a corner in off the post. A thunderous header from the six foot four inch Finn who is 34 and by far the best player Houllier ever bought.

This second leg was high-energy combat with passion, pace, skill, mistakes, near-misses - a proper football match, as vibrant as they come.

Flamini went off just before half-time, Gilberto came on. That suited Liverpool.

It was 1-1 in the third match of The Trilogy but it never looked like being 1-1 and extra time. Liverpool dominated in the second half as Arsenal created almost nothing, having lost a lot when Flamini went off. If he had not been injured, who knows?His exit created a perfect job for Lassana Diarra, I thought. But Diarra is in an FA Cup Final now with Portsmouth.

Torres’s movement was phenomenal but he did not threaten until 69. Route 1, Reina’s big boot again, Crouch and Gallas jumped, both missed it, ball bounced, Torres chested the ball and turned and scored a world class goal to make it 2-1. The lumbering Senderos never got anywhere near him. Fernando Torres left his beloved Atletico Madrid to play Champions League football and he has 29 goals so far in his first season for Liverpool. 29 in 40 games is good shooting. Worth £26 million? Absolutely !

Van Persie came on for Diaby, Walcott for Eboue.

Adebayor was suddenly beyond the defence when Hleb’s probing pass the ball came through but he lunged and stabbed the ball wide.Liverpool were finding their men with every pass now, looking good.

Then Gerrard tried a left foot volley in the D, missed the ball completely, Theo Walcott picked it up, zoomed past Alonso, then Kuyt, outpaced the chasing Mascherano, evaded Hyypia and placed a low pass-cross behind Skrtel to give Adebayor a tap-in past the advancing Reina for 2-2. A phenomenal 80-yard slalom. Arsenal had three players in scoring positions when the cross came in. The ball went straight to the first one and Ade slotted. At that moment the introduction of Walcott looked like the greatest substitution since Henrik Larsson in Paris.

Within two minutes, sub Ryan Babel dribbled into the box from the left flank, Toure impeded him clumsily, and Babel went down. In some of these incidents, the attacker is looking for contact but Babel was trying to get away from Toure and stay on his feet. He was sprinting into the box with the ball and if anybody touches him he will be unbalanced because he is a six foot winger running at speed. You could say it was a "soft" penalty. But we've seen dozens softer. In a floodlit game at Anfield, you don't touch any Liverpool player who is sprinting inside the box. Simple as that. You say : OK, you’ve beaten me, now beat my keeper.

In 85, Stevie G slotted the pressure penalty for 3-2.

So Theo Walcott had made Arsenal heroes for two minutes before Kolo Toure made them dunces.

In 92, with Arsenal chasing the game at the other end, and with Fabregas last man, Babel broke away and fired past Almunia for a brutal 4-2 scoreline. This game can be cruel.

Arsene Wenger had a face like thunder. His rage was palpable. He whinged, of course, saying it was never a penalty.

In complete contrast, the likeable, candid, realistic skipper Stevie G said, “Arsenal are a fantastic team. At times they passed us off the pitch. That was possibly one of the worst performances I’ve ever put in in a Liverpool shirt.”

I really, really hope Liverpool beat the oligarch’s Chelski in the semi-final.

For Arsene Wenger, next season starts today.

Forget about Old Trafford on Sunday, it's irrelevant. This pulsating drama, these six goals, defined Arsenal’s season. In these 94 minutes we saw the best and worst of Arsenal 2007-2008. This 4-2 defeat told us everything we need to know about what has to be done to improve the Arsenal squad.

After the game I had several phone calls.

My Essex-based Gooner pal Kelvin was one of them.
“Haven’t I been saying for two years Senderos isn’t good enough?”
“It’s not just him. Which of these players would get into the Invincibles team of 2004?”
“Clichy?”
“Don’t be silly. He’s not a patch on Ashley Cole in his prime.”

Arsenal have won two of their last 12 games.

Apparently, Liam Brady was watching the game in RTE's Dublin studios when Eamonn Dunphy said Wenger was like John Cleese. Brady walked out of the studio.

Dunphy is a bright but bitter little man who would have loved to have the career Liam Brady had.

http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=946&cntnt01origid=30&cntnt01returnid=42

Not whinging like Wenger this guy.

[Gray]

Good unbiased review

[Kenneth]

I found it bizarre that we changed from a formation where we'd done well in recent weeks (bar United) and while I agree with the sentiment that Crouch didn't deserve to be dropped the formation should have taken precedent. We were completely over run in midfield in the first 30minutes, completely. In fact, I'd say we were shambolic. Gerrard drifting, Alonso not with the pace, Mascherano over compensating, and Kuyt showing why he isn't a true midfielder.

We were helped massively by grabbing an excellent goal, Arsenal tiring, Flamini going off, and the crowd. Plus we started to change things in the second half.

Keeping Babel in reserve was a great move, and probably should be his role in every game from now til the end of the season.

Still, we ****ing WON!

Very good assessment.

[Vermilion]

Arsenal i feel tried to win it in that first 20 mins, they paid for their efforts as the game went on. Already tired legs were now at wobbling point, could they have not paced themselves a bit better, knowing they were already a tired side coming into the game?.

[PTP]

I agree with Caco re the formation - i was shocked to see rafa change from a system which we have really settled with and played well over the last couple of months. But then again it's rafa - the crazy ******* loves playing with our emotions

The players were all over the place for 20 mins or so and arsenal ripped us to shreds. Alonso looekd very poor and has looked below average for a while now - worrying really, has he just struggled to get fully match fit following his injuries? id on't know whats up but he hasn't performed anywhere near his best for a while.

As a result mascher (bless his cotton socks) runs his bollocks off, as pointed out almost overcompensating. And Gerrard for all that he is ( a superstar) he never looks happy out on the left.

But anyway - we pulled ourselves through - found some shape and confidence and **** me sideways and call judy what a header from Sami. Unbelievable Scenes.

Reina looked shaky (again) but i'm sure he will pull through it, sami skirtel jc and inparticular Fabio (i can actually defend too) Aurelio were outstanding

Torres is just on another planet - maybe this is the matrix and he is neo!?!? or maybe he is a jedi - **** knows but i'd shag him

Great bottle by STevie to stick the peno away and impressed he was brutally honest and admitted it was one of his worst perfomances for liverpool.

Babel is something else coming of the bench - He has the raw ability - but he is a rough diamond, he needs to be worked on and he could become somehing special - i pray we don't **** this one up too

Rafa - love you to!

As I said yesterday - THIS IS MADNESS, BUT THIS ISN'T SPARTA

[Roboklopp]

I agree with Caco re the formation - i was shocked to see rafa change from a system which we have really settled with and played well over the last couple of months. But then again it's rafa - the crazy ******* loves playing with our emotions

The players were all over the place for 20 mins or so and arsenal ripped us to shreds. Alonso looekd very poor and has looked below average for a while now - worrying really, has he just struggled to get fully match fit following his injuries? id on't know whats up but he hasn't performed anywhere near his best for a while.

As a result mascher (bless his cotton socks) runs his bollocks off, as pointed out almost overcompensating. And Gerrard for all that he is ( a superstar) he never looks happy out on the left.

But anyway - we pulled ourselves through - found some shape and confidence and **** me sideways and call judy what a header from Sami. Unbelievable Scenes.

Reina looked shaky (again) but i'm sure he will pull through it, sami skirtel jc and inparticular Fabio (i can actually defend too) Aurelio were outstanding

Torres is just on another planet - maybe this is the matrix and he is neo!?!? or maybe he is a jedi - **** knows but i'd shag him

Great bottle by STevie to stick the peno away and impressed he was brutally honest and admitted it was one of his worst perfomances for liverpool.

Babel is something else coming of the bench - He has the raw ability - but he is a rough diamond, he needs to be worked on and he could become somehing special - i pray we don't **** this one up too

Rafa - love you to!

As I said yesterday - THIS IS MADNESS, BUT THIS ISN'T SPARTA


http://www.pricerighthome.com/images...isisposter.jpg

ace post

[PTP]

good post - loved this line

Dunphy is a bright but bitter little man who would have loved to have the career Liam Brady had.

[BFG]

Good post but he's wrong about Gallas and Crouch missing the ball for Torres' goal. It definately got flicked on.

[AFII]

Good post but he's wrong about Gallas and Crouch missing the ball for Torres' goal. It definately got flicked on.

Crouch flicked it on.

[Shaggy]

NEVER mind the fight for fourth, any more nights like this and UEFA will have to give Liverpool an automatic place in the Champions League every year.

No other club has given Europe’s most glamorous competition such logic-defying drama on such a regular basis and no other club can boast such an outrageous back catalogue of glory nights.

The latest instalment of Liverpool’s ongoing love affair with the European Cup was perhaps the sweetest of the lot.

Not satisfied with coming back from a losing position once, they somehow managed to do it again as the clock ticked down to secure yet another semi-final meeting with Chelsea.

Whereas that clash will be a game of chess, this meeting with Arsenal was a toe-to-toe slugfest with both sides coming off the ropes at regular intervals.

Ultimately, it was Liverpool who delivered the knockout blow, but not before they had taken their fair share of punishment from an Arsenal side which can cut through even the most robust of defences.

This truly was an epic contest, the like of which should be stored in the memory banks and treasured for ever by all those who were lucky enough to witness it.

The action was unrelenting from the very first minute to the very last. It was as if both managers had decided to take the gloves off after a couple of warm-up bouts and let their teams batter the hell out of each other until only one of them was left standing.

Incredibly – possibly even miraculously – that team was Liverpool, and Arsenal’s only consolation was that their name will now be added to the ever lengthening list of clubs who have played a role in a wondrous European night at Anfield.

They join Inter Milan, Barcelona, Olympiakos, Juventus, Chelsea, St Etienne and Auxerre in the litany of the vanquished, while Liverpool can now look forward to adding yet more chapters to their glorious continental history.

Having derided Liverpool’s most recent European Cup success in Istanbul as “lucky”, Arsene Wenger will today be faced with the harsh reality that fortune favours the brave.

The Arsenal boss will also be regretting his description of the Anfield crowd earlier this season as “genteel”. Last night they were anything but as the stadium was rocked to its very foundations by an atmosphere the equal of pretty much anything that has gone before.

It didn’t look set to be a night to live long in the memory during the opening half hour, when Arsenal’s quicksilver passing left Liverpool looking laboured in comparison.

Chasing shadows was the order of the day for Rafa Benitez’s men at that stage as the visitors worked the ball between themselves at a speed which possibly no other side in Europe can match.

They took the lead when Abou Diaby took advantage of some slack marking to hammer home a strike which Pepe Reina should, perhaps, have done better with.

At that stage it looked like the Londoners could go on and win the game at a canter as Liverpool simply were not in the contest.

But there is something innate in this Liverpool team which does not allow them to accept their fate when things go against them in European combat, and they somehow manage to turn the form book and logic on its head.

The irony of their equalising goal – a magnificent towering header by Sami Hyypia from a Steven Gerrard corner – will not have been lost on anyone who has seen Liverpool’s own problems at set pieces in recent weeks.

From that point on, Liverpool seized the initiative thanks to lung-busting commitment from pretty much every single player and Arsenal visibly wilted.

Not every Reds star was at his best and some were far from it. Steven Gerrard was honest enough to admit that this performance was not his finest, but what the captain for once lacked in inspiration he more than made up for with perspiration, and his lead was followed by every single one of his team mates.

None more so than Fernando Torres, who followed a quiet opening period by his own standards with a goal so magnificent in its power and accuracy that it caused the kind of celebrations in the stands that can only ever be produced when fans have witnessed something truly magical.

It could also have been decisive as it gave Liverpool a crucial lead which was left in tact when Emmanuel Adebayor took the Eidur Gudjohnsen award for services to Liverpool European Cup runs with a horror miss when everyone expected him to score.

Despite holding such a precious but fragile lead, Liverpool continued to pour forward and their over ambition was punished when substitute Theo Walcott produced one of the most wonderfully penetrating runs you will ever see to set up the previously profligate Adebayor for the equaliser.

Suddenly, it was like 1989 all over again as Anfield looked set to play host to a dramatic smash and grab raid by the Gunners.

But unlike that May day 19 years ago, on this occasion Liverpool still had time to come back. It may only have been five minutes, but having scored three goals in Istanbul in just 60 seconds more no-one should have been giving up on them this time around.

Ryan Babel had only been on the pitch for less than ten minutes when he tormented Kolo Toure so much that the auxiliary right back pulled him down as he entered the area.

Referee Peter Frojdfeldt – who was born in Sweden, not Babel’s native Holland in case anyone from Sky is interested – had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and as Anfield held its collective breath, Gerrard somehow managed to hold his nerve before smashing the penalty into the top corner of the Kop goal, becoming the first Liverpool player to score in four consecutive home games in Europe in the process.

Still Liverpool were not done as Babel applied the coup de grace with a wonderful run and finish which would only have been improved had a TV commentator accompanied it with the immortal words “It’s up for grabs now”.

That goal settled an old score stretching right back to 1989 and it also settled a few more recent ones, none more so than the one stemming from Wenger’s mealy mouthed assessment of their heroics of three years ago.

Liverpool have delivered yet another truly magical performance in Europe. They will need another couple if they are to make a date with destiny in Moscow.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Hyypia, Aurelio, Kuyt (Arbeloa, 92), Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard, Crouch (Babel, 77), Torres (Riise, 87).

ARSENAL: Almunia, Toure, Gallas, Senderos, Clichy, Eboue (Walcott, 72), Flamini (Gilberto, 41), Fabregas, Diaby (Van Persie, 72), Hleb, Adebayor.

ATTENDANCE: 41,985.

REFEREE: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden).

[Tee]

A refreshingly unbiased summary of the game. Nice one.

[lfcruleus]

Really good read, smacks of the begrudging respect between Liverpool and Arsenal fans, I for one dont hate Arsenal, yes they gave me on of the worst nights of my life, but they play the right way, dont sing certain songs the scum and blue****e do, have a heritage which is genuine and not "purchased". They are a good club.

[dom9]

Fab article

[Tee]

Really good read, smacks of the begrudging respect between Liverpool and Arsenal fans, I for one dont hate Arsenal, yes they gave me on of the worst nights of my life, but they play the right way, dont sing certain songs the scum and blue****e do, have a heritage which is genuine and not "purchased". They are a good club.

I despise them purely for the 'hoof' chants which show a complete lack of respect for us IMO.

I grew up watching Arsenal play pretty ****e football and it pains me to hear their ****** fans chant 'Liverpool hoof the ball'. Cunts.