By 1970’s Gooner
The referee made a mess of his decisions and by sending Adebayor off destroyed the game as a spectacle.
None of Adebayor’s two challenges merited a yellow card especially the second one where he was first to the ball and therefore had every right to shield it.
Arbeloa’s acting fooled the referee which goes to show how naïve he was.
How Adebayor gets a yellow card in the first (debatable in my opinion) foul he commits and Lucas gets his first booking after five fouls of which anyone of them could have been a yellow is beyond me.
Nevertheless I have to say that I doubt it if the result would have been any different if Adebayor had stayed on. Arsenal were not playing their beautiful football, started nervously and Fabregas was once again way below his best.
Still a wonderful individual goal by van Persie gave us the lead and probably would have won us the game but a positioning error by Djourou and Gallas’s inability to guide him resulted in a typical goal conceded.
It reminds me of when Toure was learning his trade. This was a common mistake he would make. If the ball was on the other side of the pitch he would switch off and the long ball would catch him out of position. It was then a race to get to the ball first.
The positive to come out of the game is the spirit shown by the players after the unfair dismissal of Adebayor.
They really fought for each other and Liverpool looked more vulnerable during the last 35 minutes than before. I hope the Arsenal players can maintain that for the games that are coming up in the festive period.
Almunia
I feel safer now with Almunia than ever before. He is not really disputed by anyone now is he? He didn’t have much to do (as expected Liverpool did not create much anyway) but when he had to make the odd save he was right there. 7
Sagna
Was the more attacking of the two full backs and put some decent crosses in. He also was resolute in his defending. 7
Clichy
I was surprised that we did not see more of him in the opponents half. He was more concerned in keeping Kuyt quiet rather than going forward. 6
Gallas
Did not do much wrong. But I would have expected him to guide the more inexperienced Djourou to take more prudent positions, behind and close to the forwards when the ball is far away. It was the third occasion that the two of them got caught out…6
Djourou
I like Djourou. I think he will be Arsenal’s centre half for a long time. He has the height, heading ability and is a very good distributor of the ball. Pity he made the one mistake that cost us. 5
Fabregas
I am very disappointed with Fabregas. He is no way near his last season’s best.
One reason may be that he drops back a little bit more this season to cover for Denilson who is not a defensive midfielder.
Another reason maybe that Arsenal’s lack of width and with van Persie sometimes dropping back into the midfield the middle gets more congested thus not allowing him the room to play.
Or his head may be otherwise occupied with Barcelona circling around. Who knows? 5
Song
He had a good game. He came more into the fore and took more responsibility when Fabregas had to go off. I think he has a great future in midfield. 7
Denilson
He is not a right winger is he? He tries his best and defensively he is much more effective. But going forward? No not for me Mr Wenger. 5
Nasri
Played well especially when you take into account that he has been out of action recently. He kept the ball well and tried to be creative which was important when you consider that Fabregas was not creative enough. 7
Van Persie
What a wonderful goal. This boy is dangerous in that he creates his own space with his trickery and his goal scoring ability is phenomenal. He did not however connect much with Adebayor. They need to keep close to each other and feed balls between them more. 8
Adebayor
He has been looking sharper recently after his recent absence and led the line well. However he perhaps should not have repeated the same “foul” after getting booked for a similar block. If it's one thing that referees like to brag about it is consistency. 6
Diaby
It’s obvious why Wenger does not play him in the centre of midfield. He looses possession easily, is frivolous with the ball and thinks that he can beat all comers with his build.
However when he learns to be more conservative, win the ball and then lay it off to one of his own players he will be a great central midfielder. Will he learn though? 5
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12 comments:
Harsh of Cesc. Had a solid 45 before going off. Was fairly sharp and worked hard.
Clichy took a knock early on from Keane's poor challenge - that had a lot to do with not getting forward. And Liverpool intelligently hit the ball over his head given his weakness in the air.
Nasri drifts in and out of even his best matches. Good ball to van Persie for the goal, but drifts in and out of matches. Cannot beat his man down the line. Offers little protection to Clichy. Sure, he's our best wide player, but he has been good in fits and starts at best.
Diaby is horrible. Selfish, naive and lazy.
Denilson worked hard. Lightweight, but put in a good shift.
Song was very solid and deserves credit. We are much more secure with him shielding the defense. Liverpool created very little in possession.
One of van Persie's best matches.
Nasri was our man of the match in that second half.
I cba talking about the ref etc, as talented as Adebayor is, he is not 100% committed to every cause, now and again he will chase back or close down, but only now and again. Some might say he is a Lazy player.
As for Nasri, sporadic at times, but I think it was confirmed today he plays so much better on the right wing than the left.
I DONT KNOW WHY EVERYONES NOT BLAMING ALMUNIA FOR THE LIVERPOOL GOAL. I BELIEVE HE SHOULDA COME OUT FOR THAT BALL. HE HAD A BETTER HEAD START AHEAD OF ROBBIE KEANE AND THE TWO ARSENAL DEFENDERS.
ALMUNIA'S JUDGEMENT OF COMING OUT OF GOAL TO CLEAR DANGER BALLS WORRIES ME AT TIMES. HE GETS IT RIGHT MOST TIMES, BUT THEN WHEN HE CHOOSES TO STAY HE GOAL, HE GETS PUNISHED
Nasri showed us today that he's a better player when playing on the right. Mr Wenger needs to address this situation and maybe consider playing Nasri on the right and Vela on the left. That would be a natural balance and give us natural width that we are lacking!!
not a red, but done us a favour.... liverpool cant attack, when we had 11 we were struggling,..... leave us with 10 and we defend and liverpool are clueless...
Overall fair comments but I don't see how you can argus that they weren't 2 yellow cards - both tackles were foot over the ball. What is a player supposed to do if he sees another player put their foot studs showing over the top of the ball - he can't challenge or risk a broken leg. It is dangerous irregardless of any intent or lack of. Wenger let himself down in my opinion today; he finally sees an incident and then he says Keane should have been sent off. Its bad enough complaining about how your own team is treated but calling for opposition players to be booked and worse sent off is bad form and small minded. The sending off didn't help Liverpool as it only served galvanise and to wake Arsenal up. Liverpool yet again showed they don't have the killer instinct to finish off teams. It's as if they went there for a draw and even if Arsenal wen down to 8 men they still would have settled for a draw. Some of their passing after Arsenal went to 10 was awful. I can't see them winning the league either.
You lose all credibility with your comments on Denilson. I don't believe you even watched the match.
Will u stop writing bullshit about cesc.How can one blame the media when us fans itself dnt trust our players.Cesc will go one day to barcelona.But maybe in 4-5 years.He wants to win trophies with arsenal more than anything else.Even maradona will look ordinary if he has a partner like alex song.
i realy dont think fab is going be that bigger miss lest face it he has not been playing that wel this season the facr arsenal need wingers both diaby and delinson are better in central role,i realy ramsey should play if you handle the championship then he can handle the prem easy,arsenal for me need wingers are there misiing width
I agree that Almunia should have came out on that ball but I also don't understand why Wenger is keen on playing the backline so damn HIGH. Also the passing for the most of the game was sub par. not arsenal standard at all
I was really pissed with Webb - but I am biased immediately because I have always been annoyed with his whole arrogant approach. (just like that little fat red haired ref who retired 3/4 years ago) I have always felt that he thinks the applause, when the teams come out, is for him!
If I had been AW I would have said something like - 'I was surprised when I saw Webb's continued presence with the elite referees after his poor performances in recent years capped by the European Championships. Indeed I was even more surprised that they thought he was capable of controlling a top match'
On another thought - no-one mentions it but isn't anyone worried by VP's 'tackles' - they are nearly always lunges and pretty dangerous and on the late side. I know he gets rough treatment and takes a lot of stick but he needs to moderate the red mist otherwise he is going to get us into trouble. Be spikey and combative but cut out the reckless challenge. We have enough issues without him adding to them.
Great goal though - and as he has smacked two beauties recently with his right foot I do not want to see any more of this shuffling to get it on his left. Pull the trigger VP more often - you have two fantastic (powerful) feet!
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