Still TOTL. But not for long. It was nice while it lasted.
A game of two halves. Well nearly. Pre Xhaka yellow and post. Domination and then defending. Prior to that White – who could not place a pass the entire game – got a yellow. With Paul Tierney referring you would have bet that one of them would have got sent off. Instead he decided to give them a soft penalty.
BTW, have you noticed how Partey does not get yellows or reds any more? Let’s hope I did not jus jinx him.
Poor old Zinny, literally on the bench nearly in tears after making the mistake leading to their second goal. But it was coming. Somehow Sala missed a penalty. This was a crazy, intense game. Liverpool at home is a different proposition. Even though we dropped two points, we still had chances for the third goal. We could have stolen something. But I suppose we should be grateful for Aaron and one point.
Even after these dropped two points, I have a little more faith that away against City could be interesting. Not that I’m blaming Holding for any part of today – not even the penalty – but by then we’ll need our Willie back. We were largely outplayed from the 35th minute onwards. Arsenal of old would have found a way to lose this one. As Liverpool got more physical, we were put under extreme pressure. City, aside from the thug Rodi, are not as physical. They play more open football. And if the version of the first 35 minutes turn up then I think we can get a point. That’s all we need.
That first 35 minutes was classic new Arsenal. All rhythm, control and possession. We made them look ordinary. We exploited the space around Trent Arnold and dominated the midfield. Xhaka with Zinny were excellent. And Martinelli shredded TA on multiple occasions. White’s only accurate pass of the game open up Saka to have them running backwards. Then care of a deflection Martinelli was there to grab the deserved first goal. In complete control and without any crowd momentum, we dominated. They had the odd breakaway. We had a classic Tierney yellow card on White. And then Xhaka perfectly released Martinelii. TA out of position again resulted in Konate coming out wide. And the perfect cross was there to Jesus to put us two nil up.
Maybe it was inevitable Liverpool would come back into the game. They could not be this poor for the entire match. However, we were not helped by Tierney. For me the turning point was when Xhaka had the ball on the left hand side of the pitch and Konate took two swipes at Xhaka. Kicking him twice. Tierney, being the complete tosspot that he is, could not see a foul there. But Xhaka could, and everyone else could on replay. And thereafter, with injustice running through his veins, Xhaka allowed himself to get tied up with TA. Which both brought the mandatory yellow card and the crowd back into the game. From this point on Liverpool were fired up. Last year it was the clash between Arteta and Klopp and this year it was TA and Xhaka. But if Tierney could actually ref a game fairly this situation would never have developed.
Odegaard was pretty quiet thereafter and we could not get Saka back into the game. White, who I’m sure is less confident with Holding alongside him had his hands-full and could not release Saka. Gabriel was having to stick tight to Sala as Zinny continued to wander the pitch.
This game won’t define our season. However, if we’d lost it might have. This was such an intense, competitive game riddled with tension and fear. There were so many times when we came close to losing all three points. So, I suppose we should be grateful for a point. But having gone two up, it still feels like a lost opportunity. Maybe it’s the youth of the team. The lack of familiarity competing in the cauldron of Anfield heat. Maybe it will be a good lesson for what we’ll have to face at both City and Newcastle. And maybe the memory of last years abject performance at St. James Park will provide the experience and motivation to propel us through these games.
Jesus is so important to this team. Not just his goals and link up play. And as impressive as Trossard has been, he just does not work as hard as Jesus. Well, no-one does to be fair. And when he was withdrawn their defense just had a little more time on the ball. This is not a criticism of Trossard but more the realization of the impact of Jesus.
Martinelli continued to be the inspiration for most of our attacks. He destroyed them on the wing. But it was not Saka’s day today. Aside from not receiving any protection from the overly physical Robertson – who only got a yellow for his fracas with the linesman – Saka was not able to finish off a couple of breakaways. We were not able to press in the second half. We went into our shell.
And then we brought on our subs. One could question why Arteta replaced Zinny with Kiwior. That’s a tough introduction for someone who’s only played 10 minutes for us this season. Tierney would have been the obvious replacement. Kiwior’s first action was to clatter into a player leading to a break that Ramsey managed to repel.
Its hard to be critical of Zinny as he’s been so pivotal to our success this year. But he was skinned by TA who then tee’d up their equalizer. And even then Ramsdale will have time for two world class saves.
So it’s hard not to think this was a point gained rather than two lost. And hopefully we will channel the frustration into our next game. There is no margin for error now. And, hopefully, there is no more Paul Tierney on the radar for us either.
This is what happens when you take the Big Willie out of Arsenal. Unlike City we don’t have that strength in depth. As much as we like Rob’s hair he’s just not at the same level. We know. And I think he knows it. And I’m sure Arteta knows it. This was too reminiscent of that disaster at WHL last year. And yet again Paul Tierney was involved. He really is an unqualified Counterpunching Unadulterated Nummuts Twat. How do we end up with him refereeing our games?
But then how do most of them. I watched the Brighton game yesterday and was stunned by the ineptitude of the VAR referee. Michael Salisbury. I’ve never seen him referee but it would scare me shitless based on this performance. He disallowed 2 legitimate Brighton goals and then completely whiffed on a stone cold penalty for Brighton. How is that even possible? We could all see what he saw. It does not take a PhD in football to see that foul.
So, what was he looking at? And it’s not VARs fault. It’s the VAR referee. We saw Lee Mason and Mike Dean screwing up. But we knew them from screwing up as actual refs. This is befuddling. How can someone, whose sole job it is, to watch the game and then take 30+ seconds to re-review decide – after 3 minutes to disallow a clear Brighton goal and then within 3 seconds ignore an unambiguous foul on a Brighton player?
This is not a technology issue – this is a people issue. And the lack of ability. The VAR refs must be mic’d up so we can hear their deliberations. And they must have a timer to make their decision. The first instance where Mitoma had a goal disallowed took over 3 minutes. And then the Welbeck disallowed goal took another 3 minutes. Neither was clear and obvious. Unlike the missed penalty. That was beyond doubt fucking obvious.
Something needs to be done to acknowledge and then change the lack of quality in the VAR decisions. There are more instances of fucked up VAR decisions than there are of actual referee ones – aside from Paul Tierney. How is that possible? The refs operate under the watchful eye of 50,000 screaming fans and 24 baying players let along the managers and their coaches. Whereas these refs operate in the secluded, relaxed, luxurious surrounding of Stokley Park completely devoid of pressure. And yet they continue to mis-use the VAR technology and made endless mistakes. Make the VAR team be at each game. And put them on camera. And give them a timer to work through. The actual referee has a split second so they should not need more than 30 seconds.
This game was as intense as I can remember. More so than when we destroyed Sp*rs or when we beat, at home United and Liverpool. This was a different level of intensity. This is what can happen at Anfield. So, I think I’m coming round to accepting the one point even though we, technically, let them back into the game.
Now we have another week to hope that more City players might get injured midweek. Their fixture is against the wandering, lost, Roger-less Leicester team. So there’s not risk there to City. We have to gather ourselves for the trip to the Hammers and just pray that we can see the return of Saliba. For us to persevere, we must find our Big Willie.
-LB7