Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0
An alternative match report on the fortunes and fates of football
An alternative match report on the fortunes and fates of football
For nearly half an hour of tonight’s encounter it was clear that Thomas would not be “charging through the midfield”, Ian Wright would not be conducting a celebratory dance in front of the away end and nor would God be scoring a 4 and a half minute hat-trick at the Anfield Road End. For 30 minutes the game was dour, unexciting, formulaic and rigid, and very much in the making of the current Arsenal team. This Arsenal team are a decade away from challenging for the game’s highest honours and that may seem like a ridiculous statement to make but I’ve made it, and made it with first hand knowledge of the trials and tribulations that Arsenal have suffered for a few years and will continue to do so for some time to come. I watched a lot of games under Graeme Souness as he struggled under the weight of the King’s departure and an aging squad, and signings such as Torben Piechik, Julian Dicks, Paul Stewart and Istvan Kozma were never going to propel the Reds to the League Title. The famed “boot room” was dismantled and Souness changed too much too soon by his own admission but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The problem was following The King.
For “Kenny Dalglish Syndrome” at Liverpool for a champagne Charlie, read “Arsene Wenger Syndrome” for the current Arsenal Manager and, judging on yet another poor result for Manchester United this afternoon, read “Alex Ferguson Syndrome” for the troubles at Old Trafford. Ole may be at the wheel, but he has an albatross of a legend on his goal scoring shoulders.
The game itself was broken open in a 4/5 minute spell either side of the half an hour mark as an impressive (if occasionally sloppy) Thiago forced a brilliant double save from Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale who then repeated the double save trick from Mo Salah four minutes later. As the game transpired, the Gunners were thankful for another handful of saves from their goalkeeper otherwise the score could have climbed to 6 or 7 for the Reds. But in between this 240 second spell of actual football came the strange sight of both Managers being yellow carded as they danced around their technical area handbags and pontificated as they asked everyone around them to hold them back! But the game ignited from here as Ramsdale made another fine save from Trent Alexander-Arnold before a downward header from Sadio Mane gave Liverpool a deserved lead on 39 minutes. Considering the saves made all night from an impressive Ramsdale, he must surely be critical of himself for the opening goal as although it was brilliantly headed downward and into the corner by Mane, the keeper still flapped at it as it passed him and into his net. As the first half drew to a close, Sadio Mane made one of his regular “eccentric” tackles (I have long contended that dear old Sadio enjoys starting a conversation in empty houses) and should have been sent off rather than yellow carded for his touchline tackle as the tackle itself was clearly outside of the field of play and he was incredibly lucky to escape this clear breach of sporting conduct. Clearly labelled under the category of “he was lucky this happened at Anfield and not away from home”, Sadio and the Reds enjoyed a 1–0 half-time lead.
The second half started as we’d all imagined the first half would do, with Liverpool pressing high, hunting in packs and finally adopting the gegenpressing so beloved of Manager Jurgen Klopp. Arsenal started the half dreadfully, Nuno Tavares even worse, and within 7 minutes of the resumption the game was over after a cool finish from Diogo Jota gave the Reds a 2–0 lead. This was the culmination of intense Liverpool pressure, a mistake from Tavares and a calm, assured goal from Jota, but it was a team goal of pressure, pressing and when the precious ball had been reclaimed, quick, incisive passing, movement and goal scoring. Whilst Alisson Becker watched from the other end (he was forced into two late game saves all evening), his counterpart in the Arsenal goal made another couple of key saves to keep the score at 2–0 but yet more pressure from the Reds saw a buckling and struggling Arsenal finally bend to Mo Salah’s obligatory goal on 73 minutes and Minamino’s immediate impact and goal after just 48 seconds after coming on a substitute firmly ended the contest with 13 minutes to go.
We are 12 games into the league season and the Reds sit second with only the blemish at West Ham United preventing an unbeaten start to the season, and are 5 points behind leaders Chelsea. Arsenal are only a further 5 points behind the Reds, but a decade away of really consistently challenging the current league leaders, or for that matter the Blues of Manchester or the Reds of Merseyside. They have a spine of an exciting team in Ramsdale, Partey, Smith-Rowe and Aubameyang but the ghosts of Torben Piechnik and Istvan Kozma surround so many of their other current players. Talking of ghostly apparitions, Mikel Arteta may be a fine Manager but it’s difficult dealing with a virus on the scale that takes hold under “Arsene Wenger Syndrome”. Just ask Graeme Souness, Roy Evans or Gerard Houllier. Ghosts of the past can haunt the present, especially if they’re legendary ghosts, or Kings, or albatrosses, Knights of the Realm, or Knights of the Kop. It takes both a leap of faith (over a chasm) and time, that precious commodity not afforded football Manager’s, time, to clear the ghosts of the past. Just ask Manchester United’s current bus driver.
