The difference between Arsenal and Liverpool

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
31 Mar	12:45 PM	P	Liverpool (A)	1	4	Lost

I watched Liverpool thrash PSV 3-0 after thrashing Arsenal 4-1 over the weekend. Arsenal are more fun to watch than Liverpool because Arsène Wenger likes to create all his goals.

Benitez on the other hand likes to exploit all his opportunities. One system is entertaining and the other is more productive but not necessarily better. As an Arsenal fan, I still prefer the way we play because it can also be as productive as it is entertaining.

The way we play is completely reliant on us having our full resources available. It breaks down without our full resources.

Manchester United create their goals just like Arsenal and they have Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes and Giggs to do it. When United have injuries, they suffered in those seasons.

Chelsea exploit opportunities like Liverpool. When both teams have injuries they can still survive. Chelsea could still win the league even though they suffered nearly as much as Arsenal from injuries.

I listened to Gary Neville saying that at 1-0 down against Blackburn, the manager just kept saying, "Keep doing what you are doing, keep passing, etc." It seems like something that would happen at Arsenal whereas Mourinho would most likely change the team.

When Arsenal beat Liverpool at the Emirates, I wrote here that even though we had beaten them, Liverpool had the best off-the-ball play in the Premiership. Liverpool's problem came when they got on the ball.

Everything just fell apart quickly. With Mascherano, Gerard and Alonso in midfield Liverpool are exploiting their positioning on the ball even better now and it shows.

Benitez knows that every team will make mistakes during the course of 90 minutes and the more times you have the ball in their box, the more likely it is that a mistake will be made in their box and the more likely that you will exploit one of those mistakes.

Exploiting a mistake in the opposition box is more likely going to lead to a goal whereas exploiting it in the half way line might only lead to an opportunity – not even a chance. So Benitez gets Liverpool to deliver the ball into the box as quickly as possible.

Riise, Finnan and Pennant are exceptional at good deliveries and Crouch jumps for everything. The most accurate parts of the Liverpool game are built around these players – that's why Benitez surprised everyone by buying Pennant.

Pennant can cross the ball accurately 9 out of 10 times and can get the yard he needs to cross that ball. He plays Gerard on the right because he can replace Gerard in the middle but nobody else can attack, defend, and cross from the right like Gerard. He will substitute him also when necessary. Benitez is one of the few managers that regularly substitutes his captain.

When the ball goes into the box, Kuyt or Alonso go into the box and Gerard goes outside the box. Crouch jumps for the ball. If he wins it and it falls into box, Kuyt will be on it.

If he wins it and it falls outside the box, Gerard or Alonso will be on it. Even if the opposition wins the ball, there will be Liverpool players inside and outside the box making sure that it is as difficult as it can be to clear that ball from the box.

The effect is that the ball stays in the danger area as long as possible and under pressure conditions, mistakes are made by defenders. This, of course, does not work so well if a good team can keep Liverpool full-backs pinned back and deprive Liverpool of the ball.

Liverpool cannot rush out in a good counter attacks like Arsenal or Manchester United so keeping them in their own half of the field is a good defence against this. Arsenal could not do that over the weekend and neither could PSV but there are teams left the Champions League that are able to.

Why all this talk about Liverpool? Well because Arsenal cannot create their own goals when Francesc Fabregas is tired, Thierry Henry or Robin van Persie are missing, etc. etc.

Yet we must qualify for the Champions League next year. So we must do more like Liverpool. We must set ourselves up to exploit the opposition's mistakes and force them to make them rather than try to create pieces of art.

Kolo Touré must try to play the ball long as he has been doing. Emmanuel Eboué and Gaël Clichy must cross more. Tomas Rosicky should play like Gerrard – defend tough and run to the middle, just outside the box when there is a ball in the air.

Fabregas or Rosicky should take the part of being in and out of the box everytime Emmanuel Adebayor jumps for the ball. We must have at least one person in the box and at least 2 people outside the box around the edges who can start defending high or shoot.

We must consider playing either Rosicky or Fabregas as a half striker – preferably Rosicky – with Adebayor who is very good and motivated. Julio Baptista should remain on the bench. We should have 5 in midfield with Gilberto and Abou Diaby in the middle instead of Denilson.

Denilson or Freddie Ljungberg can replace Rosicky on the right and Alexander Hleb on the left who must try to shoot. He shot on the 64th minute against Liverpool out of desperation and it was not a dumb shot. It was nearly on target and had good power.

Arsenal have few excuses now. Only van Persie and Henry are unavailable – they are huge players and constitute an entire section (attack) of the team, but there is no reason for the whole team to go into meltdown because two players are missing. As fans, we have been sympathetic with several injuries but the team is nearly all there now.

Wenger has said that he will not sign any more players in the summer apart from a super, super, class player (and that was not even a commitment). Wenger has played a dangerous hand.

If a team is improving and you say you will not sign anymore players, then the team gets confidence from that – from the fact that the manager trusts them. But Arsenal, let's face it, has been going backwards this season (although that doesn't take account of injuries).

When a team is going backwards and you say you are not going to sign any more players, then the players have to look around and think, "Can we fix this by ourselves?"

If all the players don't think so then you start having an unsettled team. If you have a few players thinking the team is not good enough then they have to believe they are on a sinking ship. Everyone on a sinking ship wants to get out.

I finished my last piece here by saying that Wenger has to convince certain players like Hleb, Rosicky, Touré and William Gallas to stay. That is his biggest task before the summer.

These players who are in their prime and who should be winning trophies now because they will be on the other side of the hill, have to be persuaded that they can win those trophies at the Emirates else they will be easily unsettled over the summer by other clubs.

As I said in my last piece too, when players leave suddenly, you cannot replace them suddenly and that throws big chaos into next year's planning. We saw that when José Antonio Reyes left, when Patrick Vieira left.

It's now time to be realistic or we will see a repeat next season.

User Comments

ADEE PATRICK - UGANDA

Posted on 3 Apr, 2008 at 10:32 AM - Reply

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Badrax

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 12:29 PM - Reply

Good article. I agree with your analysis.

I too enjoy watching Arsenal more than Liverpool. Even though Arsenal did not beat PSV I enjoyed watching Arsenal Vs PSV more than watching Psv Vs Liv. I think with Alonso and Maschareno in the middle, Liv are the team to beat now in the CL. But they are not very entertaining but very effective.

I do not want Arsene to change his ways. We all know now that Arsene is quite poor tactically but where he excels is with his genius in the transfer window. This has what let him down in the last 2-3 seasons. The players who have come in for the older players like Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp and even wiltord are just not good enough to replace them. Reyes did not work out and Baps is just not good enough. Hleb is an excellent dribbler but his passing is usually inaccurate . Also he delays too much before making the pass. Also I am not happy about Diaby. He just doesnt tackle or press like Vieira. He was very poor defensively against Everton and Liverpool. He may look like Vieira but is very different player to vieira. He, like Hleb takes too much time to make a simple pass and also is not very accurate . But his close control and dribbling is very good. Ade works very hard but his finishing is poorer than that of Wiltord or Kanu.

At this point of time not only are Arsenal poorer tactically than many other teams but also quality wise, we are poorer than the clubs above us esp. Chelsea and Man U. The only way to make up for the gap in quality is play more tactically but that is not going to happen under Wenger. Hopefully Wenger can pull out one or two rabbits out of the hat and get some terrific players for next season, as given the tactics he employs, the present players are only good enough for fighting for 4th spot .

Another Arsenal Fan...

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 11:05 AM - Reply

I agree with the first comment... Entertainment is not the priority... eventually scoring and winning is... At some point people WILL want to see goals rather than amazing football.. I'm not saying that we play shit. we're beautiful to watch... But eventually what DOES matter is the final score, tournament and leagues won and trophies...

Abhishek Bhattacharya

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 10:55 AM - Reply

very well written piece...nice thing you pointed out.....
Well Liverpool and Chelsea play lot of long balls and they are accurate too, so even if they r behind by one goal and its 70th minute, they r high chances that they wil win...gerrard will push more....or chelasea defenders wil play long balls...more..then lampard may just give it to drogba...and hes a nice finisher..so they have the goal....
Arsenal's game is short pass game.....Earlier we had a string counter attcak..when vieira was there...but we miss that no..now when henry and van persie on bench, even if we manage to have a strong counter attack in the last minutes, drogba is not a great finisher....and another thing, if drogba shoots, keeper just punches the ball away, their was always pires there to catch the all and deliver it into the nets...but im afraid after he has gone, we have not found a player who can do that

Femi

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 08:58 AM - Reply

Some major differences are that Thierry Henry is overestimated and underachieveing. When the stakes are VERY high, he does not deliver (last years champions league-Arsenal would have closed the game down 2-0 if he made good use of the pass from Hleb). Also Ashley Cole's words are beginning to show elements of truth in them. Arsene Wenger and most especially Henry are TOO BIG for the team.
In Liverpool's case Steven Gerrard works for the progress of the whole team. He is an outstanding star, but in the field of play, he shows great respect for the other players. This is not seen in Arsenal. If TH goes (he has been great no doubt), it will give room for the others to express themselves. The game Arsenal played against Bolton in the replay of the FA cup is proof of that.
Another difference is that Wenger is plain stubborn and does not take advice or correction. When TH told him to get a few players in January, he should have listened. The plain fact is that the team is demoralised, fatigued and totally disgruntled.
No matter how highly he Wenger speaks (he should learn from Benitez and perform more in the game than with his mouth) this will just continue and it will be clear that the man who did a lot for Arsenal (but did not wil any European cup) also contibuted to its downfall). God forbid!!!
I wish them the best next season.

rd.leo23

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 07:45 AM - Reply

yeah, u hv many good points xcept about liverpool counter attacking..they r good also in that part. we hv many talented players.. all we need is confidence n be more understanding in between players .. if the team can cope with these, im sure we will get the trophy nxt season. (of course Henry n Persie are the major spirit of them)

Naviin

Posted on 6 Apr, 2007 at 04:10 AM - Reply

i totally agree with joel.... we hv not been playing well recently. we seem to be moving backwards. players like rosicky, gilberto, adebayor and gallas should step up and lead the team in the absense of henry and persie. baptista is rubbish and should be left on the bench. we should use a 5 man midfield with diaby in the center. diaby is playing very well and reminds me of vieira with his work rate. give him the chance in the center...not on the left....

Arsenal fan...

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 10:24 PM - Reply

bullocks...

tom

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 06:55 PM - Reply

if this was written well i might actually have enjoyed this article! Some good points but terrible writing style my friend!

kirabira ceasar

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 06:04 PM - Reply

we have good young & talented stars and every one can see that, but our maneger should buy 3 more experienced players;Babatov[forward],Ribbery[midfielder]& Abidal[left back].

thekop

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 03:44 PM - Reply

no offence. but i feel that sometimes its hard to figure if there is any tactical instructions to arsenal. it seems the team is really great. but well tactically arsenal just seem lost?

Runar

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 02:54 PM - Reply

Did you see Liverpool vs Barcelona. I thought Liverpool were very good on the counter attack.

Diz

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 02:29 PM - Reply

I'm a pool fan and think there is a lot of truth in what you're saying as regards to Liverpool. Arsenals current problems are also in a big part down to the psychological consequences of a horrible couple of weeks, leaving the team with very little to play for. I for one would be gutted if the Arse changed their style of play because on their day they play the best football in the league and as a football fan thats something I would not like to see change. When Arsenal last won the league they played the best football ever seen in the premiership and that should be their benchmark for the future, not a style of play employed by other teams managers. Good luck.

Phil442

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 02:18 PM - Reply

Well, good analysis, but I believe Arsenal would not be consistently effective against repeated counter attacks from intercepted crosses.
We need confidence.

badgone

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 10:39 AM - Reply

Hi as a Liverpool fan, I must admit that your analysis is spot on except for the counter attack bit. I do believe that Liverpool is very fast an count attacking

Cheers

Darren

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 10:16 AM - Reply

Spot on, we need to sign players not because we need them but it also brings belief.

Gerry Beckett

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 10:02 AM - Reply

You really underestimate Liverpool, at your peril too.

frank

Posted on 5 Apr, 2007 at 09:40 AM - Reply

An interesting view on things.

I agree to a certain point regarding the difference between Arsenal and Liverpool. While its true Rafa is the type of manager who would want to have maximum number of possibilities combined with as many tactical options as possible, this creates unpredictable football as LFC has played in differing styles since his arrival. He changes systems and personal constantly and therefore I would say he plays each game and treats it as though it’s a unique event.

While Wenger seems to get his players paying in a certain way and then hopes that their undoubted talent would be sufficient to get the win. Without any grit or teeth on Saturday, Arsenal were controlled by Rafa’s tactics and his team’s discipline. It’s the lack of changeability that Arsenal seem to be suffering form while there were times when Liverpool were suffering from too much flexibility.

Liverpool can and do play beautiful football but only when they can afford it, Arsenal need to learn when and where to play their pretty football and when to get stuck in and how!

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