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EPL: Liverpool vs. Arsenal- 13/1/16- KO: 8.00pm- BT Sport

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redwhiteAustrian

Tu Felix Austria
Administrator
Van Pricks' winner was scored in added time (in 2012, way before we signed Özil), but that's about it, as far as you consider the most recent ties.
 

pikey2000

Well-Known Member
I'm disappointed, not because it was a last minute goal but because we drew and its always disappointing but...............there are reasons to be optimistic, years gone by the team would have capitulated under the early pressure Pool put on us and the game would have been lost, now whilst there was an element of luck that we didn't concede more in that opening 20 minutes the team stood up, clawed themselves back into the game TWICE and then took the lead!

I'm encouraged by the performance in a strange way - bring back Sanchez, Welbeck, Wilshere, Coquelin and Cazorla and make no mistake we are in with a real shot.

Special praise goes out to Giroud who was awesome last night despite the miss of the season, and Campbell wow that kid is really taking his chance by the scruff of the neck!
 

General

Established Member
Just finished re-watching the first half. When you take away the emotional investment we actually didn't play too bad. First goal could've easily been a foul on Theo(I thought he was slightly clipped in the initial dribble) and the second goal must've come off ten Arsenal shin pads before Firminho scored the goal of his career. The ref made some bizarre calls including the clear barge on Özil after which the he decided it was a drop ball. WTF really!!

Even with our poor quality midfield I thought we fought hard. Bit careless in possession at times which turned over the ball too easily to Liverpool but once we gained a foothold in the game we had them on the ropes once or twice when we should've scored a third.

Poor ball retention was the main thing that stuck out for me but a lot of it was down to Liverpoool's fierce pressing which they were never going to sustain for 90minutes. Can't fault the first half performance for effort considering we were away from home with a depleted midfield. I honestly didn't see any bad individual performance and everybody's favourite stress ball Flamini was actually ok. I'll review the second half shortly.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Think the reason we look so shaky at the end of tight games is because of how poor our substitutes are. We brought on Arteta, Gibbs and Chamberlain ffs, it's a surprise we managed to get a point in hindsight.
 

Gooner_girl14

Active Member
Think the reason we look so shaky at the end of tight games is because of how poor our substitutes are. We brought on Arteta, Gibbs and Chamberlain ffs, it's a surprise we managed to get a point in hindsight.

I think we'be been better recently with closing out tight matches, and really gutted they nicked the draw at the death. I agree that Wenger got the subs wrong; of the three I only have faith in Gibbs to be some sort of steadying influence. Arteta is finished don't know why Wenger can't see that, and Ox is in very poor form.

Still, a draw at Afield is never a bad result and it was one of the best games of the season.
 

Sweggeh

Active Member
Well, its been over 24 hours and I have had time to think about this. Lets remember Chelsea last year under Mourinho, a guy who almost never lets points slip when he has a commanding lead in a title race (obviously ignoring this current season).

They were 1-0 up at Old Trafford, and 1-0 up at the Etihad. They had chances to close out both wins but ended up wasting them and conceding right at the death in both games.

These things happen. Chelsea of last season were much better defensively than we are. But even they couldn't avoid conceding late. When you are facing a strong team, sometimes you just have to admit they played very well. Liverpool were carving us open at will at times, and the goal was always coming. It is a notoriously difficult place for the top teams to play at, even our better teams under Wenger had bad experiences there with conceding late goals against them.

The game as a whole was very positive. When we conceded the first I thought we would crumble again and it would be a long night. But we showed amazing fight to bring it to 2-2. The fight of champions, dare I say. City certainly didn't show anything close to that when Liverpool smashed them 4-1 in their own backyard.

The important thing now is to accept it and try to do better next time. Remember, we were pegged back to 2-2 last season and were all very disappointed, but the team went on a very strong run afterwards and started 2015 very well. We need to do the same here.

Onwards and upwards.
 

redanddread

The stone that the builders refuse
Good analysis of the match.. The guy argues that Wenger should have brought a defender, Gabriel to deal with the added aerial threat of caulker and benteke. Chamberland continued to frustrate.

http://arsenalanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/victory-at-anfield-doddle-if-not-for.html?m=1
I disagree about Özil & Campbell - Özil has greater speed on the break and whilst not as defensively vigorous as Campbell is a greater threat in the final 3rd on the break & we were playing on the break by then. The Ox's decision making is woeful but his speed on the break should have been better utilised. Campbell looked shot too.

The Gabriel & Arteta debate is also questionable as in theory Arteta should have helped clog up the area in front the CB's and provide some much needed calmness on the ball & experience in the final few minutes-ultimately Allen ran off Arteta, the Spaniards lack of match practice evident in not tracking the run early enough. Benteke was always likely to win a header in the box, it was not covering the knock down that cost us.

What he does eventually get around to is the main problem - the Ramsey/Flamini midfield which cannot control a big game away from home.
 

Jaywood Mac

Active Member
Walcott should have went off for Gabriel. Chambers shouldve come on for Özil. Hard to see where a third sub could be made. Maybe Chamberlain for the counter attacking outlet for Campbell. But Campbell was excellent and amazing defensive work rate.

Cech
Bellerin Kos Per Gab Nacho
Ramsey chambers Flamini
Ox
Giroud
 
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Jazz

Active Member
IMO us holding on for dear life while we just hand them the ball is a poor strategy. It was only a matter of time we got punished for it. There have been many close calls. Cech has single handedly saved us on quite a few of those occasion. Of course don't push forward for more goals but retain possession (something you'd think shouldn't be hard for us to do), don't just go all out defensive.
 

pikey2000

Well-Known Member
For me the only puzzling sub was Arteta, the guys legs are shot, he's coming back from injury and offers almost zero defensive contribution these days - ill agree that one was a strange one.

I would have left Özil on and still used Gibbs and Ox for fresh legs to catch them on the counter.

It's all easy to say after the matter though, Wenger has closed games out successfully in other games this season using defensive substitutions so you can see why he thought it would work again on the night, in my opinion seeing games out is 50% tactical 50% luck - teams always get chances late on and sometimes they are taken sometimes they aren't!
 
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