Liverpool 1 – 1 Arsenal: Outpassing and outclassing our rivals
Add comment October 29th, 2007
Do not believe what the patently biased English press have said about yesterday’s game: it was not about the heroism of Jamie Carragher or the Roy of the Rovers impersonator “Stevie G”. Yesterday was the day when Arsenal’s youngsters raised two proverbial fingers to Alan Hansen, Jamie Redknapp, and every other pundit whose wrongly claimed we’ll come unstuck when faced with the top teams.
Any Liverpool fan worth their salt will concede that they were lucky to escape with a draw yesterday. At their precious Anfield they were played off the park by a side whose passing and movement is only matched by Manchester United at their very very best. Next Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff should be enthralling to say the least.
Liverpool took an early lead when a Steven Gerrard free-kick powered through a shoddily erected wall. As Cesc Fabregas charged the shot down, Mathieu Flamini inexplicably left his post in the wall and the shot flew through the newly-formed gap and into the net.
From then on, we upped our game. Arsene called it “playing without the handbrake”, but it was far more precise than that. If it wasn’t for the wastefulness of Emmanuel Eboue on the right and one of Adebayor’s less convincing performances we could easily have levelled before half-time.
At no point in the game did I believe we were out of it. At no point did I think we would just have “one of those days” – not even when Eboue struck a post and Cesc Fabregas inexplicably skied the rebound. This Arsenal side is maturing now, and as part of that process has developed the key attribute of patience – they just keep plugging away.
So it was no surprise when we finally equalised in the eightieth minute. Aleksandr Hleb ignored the runs of Adebayor and substitute Bendtner and, as three defenders surrounded him, clipped a perfect ball into the path of Fabregas. After one glance up, the diminutive Spaniard poked the ball towards the near post, catching his countryman Reina off-guard and finding the bottom corner.
It could’ve and perhaps should’ve been three points – a long-range effort from Cesc struck the inside of the post and Nicklas Bendtner mirrored Fabregas’ earlier effort by casually knocking the rebound over the bar.
When the final whistle went, there was a sense of relief as Liverpool escaped with a point. Arsenal, meanwhile, had made their point. They were not intimidated by the venue or the opposition – in fact, we turned in one of our best performances this season. William Gallas and Kolo Toure were outstanding in front of an impressive Manuel Almunia, whilst the way in which Fabregas and Hleb are able to play off each other is almost telepathic. Cesc now has ten goals this season, and last week the Daily Mail described both he and Hleb as early contenders for the Footballer of the Year Award. With good reason.
Arsene was equally delighted, and whilst it does feel slightly like we’ve let two points slip, the quality of the performance is the bigger bonus going into the game with Man U on Saturday.
Before that it’s Sheffield United in the League Cup on Wednesday. Whilst it’s hardly a priority for our high-flying side, keeping the club’s momentum going could prove vital.
For now, though, just enjoy the craft of this goal.Â
