It’s hard to know what to say after what was an extraordinary game of football. Despite the fact that Liverpool had more chances, more possession and might have scored more goals than us, the overriding feeling I have is of disappointment that we couldn’t hang on given the position we got ourselves in. Or, I might say, the position Andrei Arshavin got us in.
Liverpool might have scored in the first half, Fabianski making a couple of good saves, but we went ahead in the 36th minute when Nasri and Cesc combined to play in Arshavin whose left footed finish went in off the bar. Liverpool were looking for offside, to me the linesman got it right and kept his flag down.
The Mugsmashers obviously got a good talking to at half-time because they came out fired up and took full advantage of our defensive frailties. Bacary Sagna, who didn’t look fully recovered from his illness, made a poor clearance which fell to Dirk Kuyt. His first cross was blocked but his second found Fernando Torres who out-jumped Sagna and scored.
Their second came from more poor play at the back. Sylvester made a soft backpass to Fabianski who was unable to clear it long so played it to Kieran Gibbs who got caught on the ball. Again it was Kuyt who crossed and Benayoun headed in despite Sagna’s attempts to clear it/kick Benayoun’s head off his shoulders.
We were under severe pressure as Liverpool looked to kill things off. They had a series of dangerous free kicks and corners which we just about dealt with. Something had to change and Theo Walcott came on for Denilson who had another poor game last night. To me it looks as if he’s all out of gas, as you might say. He’s played a lot of football this season, he looks physically and mentally jaded, and to be honest it’d probably be best if he was rested unless his presence was absolutely necessary.
Then the madness really started. Arshavin robbed Arbeloa about 30 yards from goal, drove forward, and unleashed an incredible shot which fizzed past Reina. It reminded me of a goal Henry scored against Man City a few seasons back. You knew it was in from the moment it left his boot. A fantastic goal from a fantastic player.
The Russian then got his hat-trick when a Nasri cross was poorly cleared by Aurelio and he gratefully slammed it home to make it 3-2 to Arsenal. However, as dynamic and inspirational Arshavin was up front, the Arsenal defence was quite the opposite. They often trot out that cliché about how you’re at your most vulnerable just after you’ve scored but with this Arsenal team it’s sadly true.
We had barely been ahead two minutes when Torres twisted and turned away from Sylvester way too easily and fired a shot which Fabianski reached but couldn’t keep out. He nearly put Liverpool ahead from a corner but Kieran Gibbs headed off the line. He’s making a habit of that, the young man, and it’s a good habit to have.
With Liverpool pressing to score the goal that would keep them in the title race we went ahead again. The ball broke from a corner at our end to Theo Walcott. He took it on with no support. That was until Arshavin came racing forward. In the 89th minute, after a hard-fought game, he busted his balls to get forward. Theo played him in and did anyone, after the night he’d had, doubt him for a second? He lashed home a left-footed shot to make it 4-3 and that goal should have won the game for us.
Again the defence let us down. We seemed to have any number of chances to put our foot through it and clear it but it didn’t happen. Just two minutes after Arshavin’s goal the ball was played into our box, it went to the far post, was headed back into the middle where two unmarked Liverpool players were waiting. Benayoun couldn’t miss from there and made it 4-4. It was all too reminiscent of last season when we failed to hold onto a lead and really, to have two men unmarked in our box like that, at that stage of the game, is just unforgivable.
To be involved in one 4-4 in a season might be considered a fluke. To throw away a leading position, in injury time, in two 4-4 draws in one season smacks of carelessness and negligence and requires close examination by the manager.
Even then there was time for something else. Cesc was given offside after a flowing Arsenal move and I’d like to see that again. Sky didn’t show any replays at all and his finish through Reina’s legs didn’t count. I’m suspicious about that offside. Add to that Bendtner’s perfectly legitimate and smartly taken goal disallowed at 3-3 and maybe we didn’t get the decisions tonight.
Afterwards Arsene said:
We are half-happy because we scored four goals but we are half-unhappy because we conceded four. As well, to be 4-3 up with two minutes to go, the team is disappointed.
And the fans too Arsene. On the face of it a draw is a good result but you can’t help thinking that you shouldn’t just draw when you go to Anfield and score four goals. On the other hand you don’t expect to get anything from a game when you go to Anfield and concede four either, so there is that side of it.
The bottom line though is that it’s a game that we should have won. Not because we dominated or created dozens of chances, but because we scored the kind of goal that should have killed the game with just a couple of minutes to go. I don’t want to dwell on the negative because there’s a big positive to come to, but the manager needs to take a long, hard look at the options at the centre of our defence.
There’s a reason United let Silvestre go, it’s because he’s not good enough for them. And if he’s not good enough for them then he’s not good enough for us. I know he’s only playing because of injury but we concede a lot of goals when he plays and frankly I fail to see the logic in loaning Senderos out and buying an inferior player. Look at the summer, the teams interested in him were Sunderland and Man City, which says it all really.
Anyway, there’s little we can do only hope that Djourou gets fit ASAP and in the meantime Toure and Silvestre use their experience to try and improve things back there. Because if we defend like that in the CL against United we’re going to have big problems.
And there’ll be no Arshavin to bail us out this time. What can you say about the little Russian? Four goals at Anfield is not an uncommon sight to Arsenal fans but the importance and quality of Arshavin’s four does make Baptista’s Carling Cup haul look second rate. Arsene Wenger said:
I have been in this job a long time and not many players get four goals in a top game like that. I didn’t expect him to do that – he has scored seven in seven games.
He’s just made himself an instant legend and his signing has done so much for this team. Despite what you might read elsewhere this is a Wenger signing. Fiszman didn’t sign him, nor did Ivan Gazidis who had only been in his new job since January 1st. Suggestions otherwise are disingenuous, at best, and outright lies at worst, designed to provide the author with ammunition against a man from whom he’s tried to make money peddling his book.
We all know how Arsene operates – without boardroom interference when it comes to footballing matters. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, clearly at times it isn’t, but to say that he was forced to buy Arshavin, insinuating it was against his will, is just ridiculous.
I did say yesterday that Arshavin might put in the kind of performance that would say ‘Next time, Arsene, pick me’, but I didn’t expect anything quite like that. Last week the manager said ‘Experience is overrated’, Andrei showed last night that experience is vital. It’s not everything and you can talk about quality and consistency but both of those tend to improve as players get more experienced.
It was a phenomenal evening for him and as gutted as I was not to see us win the game I have to say I felt a bit sorry for him as well. To score four at Anfield and not have the joy of winning, to have it snatched away from you with a late equaliser, must be hard to take. Still, he showed the world he’s not another Rebrov, not another Shevchenko, a Russian an eastern European who can’t hack it in England.
He’s a special player and he’s one of the men who our team should be built around. His professionalism as apparent as his disappointment that his goals didn’t mean victory for the team. It’s such a shame he can’t play in Europe but you can’t help thinking he’s got plenty more to offer between now and the end of the season. There’s no need to mention Chelsea other than to say he’s a big game player who needs to play in our big games from now on. No exceptions.
With so much already written let’s leave it there for today and try and focus on some positives. The cold light of day will tell us that a point at Anfield is a decent result, even if the way it came about hurt. It will tell us that we played a Liverpool team fighting to stay in the title race having had the whole weekend off while we played in the FA Cup. It will tell us that defending by both teams was poor (although I couldn’t care less about how Liverpool defend – and I’m not quite sure how this is a positive for us but never mind), and it will tell us that Andrei Arshavin announced himself, well and truly, as a world class Arsenal player.
Till tomorrow.
