The nerves didn’t kick in until the 24th minute. I was sat on an uncomfortable fuchsia couch on the 4th floor of the Seattle Center, the I-5 traffic below blazing wet paths, rain clouds heavy over the apartments in front of me, watching on my phone. My son was doing a panel with some other kids at Sakuracon and this was the only way I could watch the game live, and as you know us football fans we watch where we can.
But throughout the day I hadn’t been at all nervous. I generally don’t get nervous before games (I’ve never really had stage fright and try to take things as they come so that might explain it) and while I understand why so many people get sick, I just don’t. My nerves kick in much later, typically, when the game is on the line. And when they do, it’s just as bad as what you all feel.
And so there I was, Arsenal 1-0 up, I glanced at the time, and thought “well, fuck, there’s a lot of this game left.” But Arsenal were playing well. As well as I’ve seen them play. And the Anfield crowd was quiet. And Liverpool were playing shocking football. They couldn’t get out of their half. Their attacks petered out mostly, though Robertson reminded them of what they could do in the 19th minute when he missed badly from an open chance. But it was a rare moment in a big away game that I felt like Arsenal were really going to do it this year.
And when we scored the second goal, I rolled on my back and kicked my legs like a dying cockroach. It was involuntary and in retrospect I hope that none of the kids who were dressed like anime characters saw me because that would have been embarrassing. That second goal, Martinelli’s perfectly played cross and Gabriel Jesus’ perfectly timed header, calmed my nerves for a few minutes.
Until I started to think “this is it, this is the season where we win the League”.
You surely understand my temporary insanity. Arsenal were 2-0 up, at Anfield, the toughest away game in the League according to the cognoscenti. And Arsenal were manhandling them. Salah hadn’t a sniff. Their midfield was being bypassed. Trent Alexander-Arnold was being left in the dust time and again by Martinelli and Jesus and Saka were dominating the larger, more forceful opponents up top. If Man City had sent a message to us earlier in the weekend by sweeping aside the worst club in the League, Arsenal were answering back with a complete smashing of their most recent title rivals (the 2nd best club in the League, recent European champions) – in an away game!
I think you can understand my irrational enthusiasm and maybe understand why the nerves kicked in at that point. That’s when I started to believe that we could win the League.
It didn’t last long.
Klopp made a tactical change and told Trent he no longer needed to play defense. Instead he put Konate on everyone and Konate decided that meant he could run around kicking everyone. And the referee decided “this is ok, I have spoken” and let Konate kick everyone.
Granit Xhaka got mad at this and after being fouled by Konate and not getting a call, ran over and elbowed Trent in the head. Those of us watching at home missed the action live, but when NBC replayed it, it looked astonishingly stupid. If the roles were reversed there, if Trent ran over and elbowed Granit in the head, off the ball, for no reason other than frustration that the ref didn’t give him a call? I want a straight red card. I still to this very day hate Henderson for doing THIS EXACT THING to Arteta (with much more force, which sent Arteta to the hospital) back in 2012.
So, to say that I thought it was stupid on Xhaka’s part is an understatement. It was monumentally stupid and I think it changed the game. Trent retaliated, elbowing Granit in the back and it all popped off for a few minutes.
Suddenly the Anfield crowd woke up. Suddenly, the Liverpool players woke up. And literally with the next action, they ran down the field and Salah scored. From that point on, Liverpool was a cauldron and the Liverpool players were up for the game.
To beat Liverpool at Anfield, you either have to have a great deal of luck or you have to out pass their press, control the ball, weather their inevitable physicality (which the referees will let them get away with), and ultimately, you have to bore them to death. If you take the crowd out of the game they are just a team – yes, an expensive team, with a great coach, a great system, and by-and-large the players to execute that system – but they aren’t invincible. Judging by the way that Arsenal played around them for the first 40 minutes, I’d say they are very vincible.
But from that point on, it was largely their contest to win or lose and the xG backs that up: from the 40th minute onward, Liverpool had an xG of ~4 and Arsenal had an xG of ~0.2. They created 7 big chances in that time (one was a penalty with an xG of 0.76) and if not for the absolute heroics of Aaron Ramsdale (who saved at least 1 full goal’s worth of xG) they could have won that game 4 or 5 to 2.
Arsenal did have a few half-chances which they squandered (Liverpool can say the same in the first half as well, when more than one chance went begging, and Salah had an awful shot). The most notable chance for Arsenal was at the end of the match when Martinelli could have played Saka or Trossard in on a 3-v-1 counter and instead passed the ball to Alisson. But it wasn’t to be.
One final thing, lots of complaints about the refs yesterday and especially the inconsistent treatment for Konate and Benjamin White. I get it: we wish we could get that sort of home treatment, maybe? But overall, I have a bit of a hard time saying that Paul Tierney (who I don’t like) got a lot wrong AGAINST Arsenal. He kinda let that Xhaka elbow go and he didn’t award Salah a second penalty for a pretty blatant shirt pull by Kieran Tierney.
Arsenal are still top of the League. Draws like yesterday’s DO NOT kill our title hopes. Man City are going to play Bayern twice in a crucial Champions League fixture, plus an FA Cup semi-final (sure it’s Sheffield United but hopefully they give them hell) before we go there to play them. Arsenal play West Ham and South Ham in the next two weeks. We should be fully fit, rested, and hopefully firing on all cylinders. Any result at all in Manchester puts the title squarely in our hands.
The Premier League title is almost always a matter of tiny differences. Wenger puts the Invincibles’ win down to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s missed penalty at Old Trafford. Maybe Salah’s miss at Anfield will turn out to be similar? We don’t know yet. But the point is that it was always going to come down to small margins and that no matter how small they are, as long as we edge them, that’s what wins us the League.
One thing relative to the xG numbers and the actual game balance. I don’t think the xG matches up well to what I saw as the actual balance.
First, I think Konate’s attempt near the end is being counted in to their xG, and probably as a pretty big chance. But he was pretty clearly offside, and had it gone in, it should have been chalked off by VAR.
Second, both Saka chances later in the second half were pretty good chances. Great defending by Robertson/Allison prevented one, and a bad pass from Martinelli messed up the other. So I think neither counted towards xG, but both were significant opportunities.
Finally, I’m not sure how our xG could be as low as 0.2. Both of the Gabriels had headed opportunities that were pretty big chances. Gabriel Jesus scored his, and Gabriel(defender) headed his straight to Allison, when slightly to either side would have been a goal. Surely just those two opportunities would add up to >0.5.
I don’t really have too many complaints. I was watching with my Liverpool supporting friend. I think both of us ended up seeing it as an opportunity missed, which probably means a draw was a fair result.
I think Tim is adding xG from 40th minute onwards which would exclude Jesus’ goal.
Great display by the lads in the first half and lm grateful for getting a point at Anfield after some fabulous saves by Ramsdale. He is a brilliant keeper that has kept us still in the race but there’s a single issue l have with him , how he deals with crosses. Maybe it’s his height or poor judgement of the ball’s flight but he doesn’t cut it for me in that area and with Newcastle, Halaand away in our title charge that might be the only cause for concern.
That point is potentially massive. City’s schedule has a couple of banana skins but isn’t especially difficult. Fulham, Brentford, Brighton, all away. Everton too. But they’ll probably win them. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they win all their games (leave our game aside for now).
We have a reasonably straightforward schedule too. Brighton at home worries me, but apart from that the big one is Newcastle away.
Let’s say City win all their games, and we win all ours but we draw at Newcastle.
In that case, if we draw with City… We finish one point above them.
Do you see why this result against Pool was absolutely massive? Admittedly it’s one permutation, but it’s a fairly likely one. Lose against poop and we’re downed on goal difference.
There is literally no room to breathe, but we’re not under quite yet.
So much this. There is much football yet to be played. Most of it by City. Need to keep our heads. Players, fans, manager, pundits, everyone. Keep us sane, Tim!
Trying!
Xhaka’s stupidity aside (as well as Pool’s missed chances), we still could’ve won the game. For me, personally, Kiwior for Odegaard substitution was the most head scratching (or if I call things as I see them, dumbest) decision from Arteta that I can remember him make. Not only it disrupted the formation but he literally threw in the guy with a few minutes of competitive football under his belt into the den of lions. Tierney for Zinchenko also came in a bit late. Yes, I know it’s easy to say that now knowing what happened but he clearly struggled defensively against TAA, especially in the second half. This one is on Mikel. Yes, a point away at Anfield is better than nothing but it still feels like a lost opportunity.
Lots of folks I respect are making similar points. One went so far as to say that in-game subs are Arteta’s biggest weakness. It’s all part of the new coach tax we have been paying for three years, which it turns out is a pretty good tax to pay. lol
I think he’s gotten a lot better with subs. Which is what you hope from a young coach. But that Kiwior one looked bad right from the start.
Taking off Odegaard means losing creativity. Ok, then why not lose the creativity from LB. Perhaps Odegaard wasn’t getting into the game while Zinch was still influential? Maybe, but it really wasn’t his finest moment.
I have been Arteta’s biggest critic in his first two seasons but I’ve had very little to complain about this one. Yesterday’s Kiwior for Odegaard substitution left me speechless though. As other people already said, I hope MA learns from it.
Yeah, if Ode needed to be subbed, it probably should have been Jorginho to give us an experienced head and ball control.
And while Zinch is probably better at giving us options to break down defenses, Tierney is a better defender, faster, and more of a threat in counters. He should have been on earlier.
Arteta’s earned some leeway here, and I’d like to think he learns from this.
Hear hear… I thought the exact same thing. Not sure why Odegaard needed to be subbed off to begin with but Jorginho seemed like the most logical option. Not to mention that it came 10 minutes too late.
For me, this match killed our title bid. Say what you want about our substitutions and their record at home, we were up 2-0 and the stuff of champions rarely lose the advantage.
Guardiola’s City will be ruthless now and will win lopsided games to ensure superiority in goal difference just case.
Also I expect that they will absolutely destroy us at their place.
We still have the tougher run-in.
If you asked me last year at this point if I will take 2nd or 3rd place in 2023?
It’s been a great season, though, it really has.
I don’t think it killed it, I really don’t. But I think we don’t have any breathing room at all. We do have the harder run-in, on paper. While city have 3 tough away games to Fulham, Brentford and Brighton, I think they win those.
We have fewer tough away games, but they’re to City and Newcastle!
I still think key for us is not lose those, win the rest. But those are mighty margins.
From your lips to the ears of the football gods…
Same fears here….
Is it you Mr Ferrero ?
It’s fine. It’s a very good point. I think we’ll win all our remaining games except City and Newcastle but I’m certain City will drop points too as their schedule is ridiculous.
Yes we were winning 2-0 but no one has even scored at Anfield this year let alone won. At home this is still the same Liverpool it’s just their away form which is appalling.
I must say though that I’m quite amused at all the negative press I’m seeing about Arsenal’s title chances. I definitely don’t remember headlines like ‘city wilt under pressure in title race’ or ‘city fluff lines and drop points; could prove decisive’ when they drew at Forest after beating us. It’s almost as if the whole world has been waiting for us to fall.
Let’s hope they scrape through Bayern then, would be funny to see them schedule all these games in.
The guardian said that after the City draw to Forest
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/18/nottingham-forest-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report
[insert laughing emoji]
Been a while since I last commented. I think it’s my first comment all season? I’ve been lurking the whole time though.
Not even a Jesus goal from a cross on Easter Sunday was enough for us to win at Anfield… On one hand we managed to get a point where our rivals lost (and United thrashed), but on the other hand we squandered a 2-goal lead. Anfield is just… Impossible.
I don’t think the title’s gone, far from it, but now I honestly think it’s advantage City the moment they win their game in hand. Assuming they win that game, they’ll have the easier fixture, they have a winning record against us, and are far ahead in terms of goals despite us having a 3-point cushion and them having significantly more (and more important) games.
While I’ll be very disappointed to lose the title (funny since I was hoping we would scrape a CL place at the start of the season), I don’t think we’ll have bottled the title unless we beat City but still lose the title.
Not that I think it will happen, but if we beat City at the Etihad, it will be one of the great coming of age stories in football. It will be the stuff of poetry:
“Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
-Ulysses, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Not much to add, other than to say that the back 3 of 4 from pool and Fab in mid were on yellows, and that was a foul on Xhaka-period, enough said.
The Ode substitution was peculiar, and maybe he picked up a knock, Kiwior is a physical specimen, and can move around very well, Mikel probably liked was he sees in practice, and thought his mobility would help in midfield more than Jorg.
We missed Saliba, clear to see.
The futbol gods need to get Saliba healed back up and AFC might just get it over the line.
Just win the next game!
A couple of things to add… First of, I hate time wasting, and that goes both ways. I hate it when other teams/players do it, and I hate it when Arsenal do it as well. Both White, and Ramsdale were on yellows, yet they were taking their sweet time with throw ins and goal kicks respectively on every occasion. To be fair, both would have very little to complain about if the ref decided to give them another yellow. If that’s what it takes to “fix” that part of the game, so be it. And secondly, not even a mention about the linesman elbowing Robertson in the face at halftime? I thought that was hilarious. Again, stop surrounding and grabbing referees or that is what you get (in addition to yellow cards).
I didn’t see it and I don’t watch half-time shows, post-match coverage, read blogs, read reports, follow Arsenal folks on twitter, or listen to any Arsenal-related content. I didn’t learn about it until today.
And before you call bullshit, I’m being very serious. I rarely listen to my fellow Arsenal supporters when they talk about Arsenal. It’s all so incredibly repetitive.