Liverpool 4 – 4rshavin: A Star Is Born
2 comments April 22nd, 2009
After pondering a way to somehow go about reporting one of the most extraordinary games in our recent history, I’ve elected to discuss it first on a goal-by-goal basis. You’ll notice a reocurring pattern; dissection of goals against will focus on our defensive ineptitude, whilst discussion of goals for us will be dominated by the footballing genius of one man: Andrey Arshavin.
36 mins Liverpool 0 – 1 Arsenal (Andrey Arshavin)
Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri bullied Mascherano off the ball on the edge of his own box, the latter taking the initiative and driving towards goal, before shifting the ball back outside to Cesc, who’d made an intelligent (and, crucially, onside) run to the byline. The Catalan looked up and pulled the ball back to Andrey Arshavin, who opened his body up and fired left-footed in off the bar from seven yards.
48 mins Liverpool 1 – 1 Arsenal (Fernando Torres)
Arbeloa’s cross from the right should have been cleared by Sagna, but his volley skewed across the penalty area to Dirk Kuyt. The Dutchman’s first attempt at a cross was blocked by Silvestre, but his second effort found a relatively unmarked Fernando Torres, who expertly planted home the header.
56 mins Liverpool 2 – 1 Arsenal (Yossi Benayoun)
Just as against Chelsea on Saturday, a simple ball over the top of Mikael Silvestre was the root of our problems. Neither the defender nor Fabianski assumed control of the situation, and the Pole was eventually forced into a hurried clearance which Gibbs could only turn into the path of Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt’s floated cross was a good one and Benayoun met it with a brave header, but the Israeli only scored due to shocking footwork from Fabianski, who first came to meet the cross, then decided to retreat, ending up four yards over his own line.
67 mins Liverpool 2 – 2 Arsenal (Andrey Arshavin)
A long ball by Fabianski was flicked on by Arshavin towards Bendtner, but Carragher beat the Dane to the ball. His clearance however, was intercepted by the Russian, who nicked in ahead of Alvaro Arbeloa. With space suddenly opening up before him, Arshavin bent a twenty-yard effort with the outside of his boot away from Pepe Reina and into the corner.  Such power with so little backlift – a stunning goal. Sky paid it the ultimate compliment of a replay from their main camera view.
70 mins Liverpool 2 – 3 Arsenal (Andrey Arshavin)
Samir Nasri dribbled from right to left across the pitch, playing a one-two with Arshavin along the way, before crossing left-footed into the box. There seemed to be no danger, but Fabio Aurelio inexplicably knocked the ball straight to Arshavin, who was lurking on the penalty spot. The Russian took one touch to bring the ball under control, and another to fire it under Pepe Reina and into the net for his hatrick.
72 mins Liverpool 3 – 3 Arsenal (Fernando Torres)
Albert Riera’s cross from the left was beautifully brought under control by Torres, who swivelled, shifted it outside Mikael Silvestre, and fired past Fabianski. Silvestre (who resembled Philippe Senderos when Torres easily turned him in the Champions League last season), and Fabianski (who got a hand to Torres’ shot but could not keep it out) did not cover themselves in glory, but it ought to be said that this was a quite brilliant goal.
90 mins Liverpool 3 – 4 Arsenal (Andrey Arshavin)
A Liverpool corner was headed away by Kolo Toure, and substitute Theo Walcott took the ball on a fleet-footed dribble. The scene was eerily reminiscent of his stunning run at Anfield a year ago, and there was an audible intake of breath from the crowd as Theo accelerated into a fifty yard sprint down the pitch. With defenders closing in, he seemed to be alone, but then appeared Arshavin – in the ninetieth minute, making a lung-bursting charge up the field. Walcott passed, and the Russian took one touch, and blasted the ball with his left foot inside Reina’s near post.
92 mins Liverpool 4 – 4 Arsenal (Yossi Benayoun)
Samir Nasri’s stray pass found Xabi Alonso, who clipped a cross to the far post, where sub El Zhar rose above Gibbs to head back across goal. In the centre, the keeper seemed glued to his line, whilst both Toure and Silvestre challenged Ryan Babel for the ball. When none of the three made decent contact, Benayoun was left alone to score the final, and arguably scrappiest goal of the game.
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Just reliving those goals again has been somewhat exhausting. And there could have been more: we twice cleared off the line; a Nicklas Bendtner goal appeared to be wrongly disallowed; Cesc Fabregas was ruled offside in similarly controversial circumstances; and Lukasz Fabianski made a string of good saves in the first half before imploding somewhat in the second. It was an extraoardinary game, and one on which I might not gain the neccessary perspective to summarise it accurately for a few days yet. A friend called it a game in which “we deserved to lose, and yet should have won”, and given that we led on three separate occasions, that’s perhaps accurate.
There’s no place to start really other than the remarkable Andrey Arshavin, who scored all four of our goals. Julio Baptista matched the feat on the same ground a couple of years back, but his goals came against a weakened side in the Carling Cup. Arshavin’s tally was achieved against one of the league’s best defences on a night when they needed to win to preserve their title ambitions.
Funnily enough, with the exception of his goal he barely got a kick in the first half. But a player of Arshavin’s quality does not need many opportunities to influence the game. Every time he receieved the ball, he tore at Liverpool’s Championship ambitions: four shots, four attempts on target, four goals.
Two with his left foot, two with his right. His second was arguably the most spectacular, but for me the truly remarkable goal was his fourth. After working hard throughout the ninety minutes, he found the reserves to sprint the length of the pitch – keeping pace with Theo Walcott, mind – and at the end of that was still able to finish expertly.
Whilst Arsenal fans have been enamoured with Arshavin’s performances since his arrival, this was his first real chance to strut his stuff on a grander stage – and what a way to announce yourself to English football. Everyone will sit up and take notice now – this isn’t just a good player we’ve got, it’s a special one.
There are those (myself included) who argue that Arshavin’s chance to show the nation what he’s made of ought to have come on Saturday in the FA Cup. He wasn’t the only one to make a case for their retrospective inclusion: Samir Nasri and Alex Song, who both came back into the side last night, were excellent. Song grew throughout the game in a performance which entirely overshadowed the diastrous showing of Denilson, whilst Nasri was everywhere, playing the last half-an-hour as an auxillary defensive midfielder, breaking up play and starting counter-attacks from deep.
The bad news? Well, we can’t defend at all. And with the Champions League semi-final with United looming on the horizon, it’s worth noting that on those occasions we won’t have Arshavin to bail us out. People will point to the fact that we fielded some reserve players, but this is not an isolated incident – it’s not even our first 4-4 draw this season! The way in which we twice allowed Liverpool to equalise within minutes of taking the lead is not acceptable from a team with trophy-winning aspirations, and despite the value of the point we gained, one can empthaise with the frustration captain Cesc Fabregas clearly felt at the end of the game.
Admittedly, Bacary Sagna looked only half-fit, whilst the promising but raw Kieran Gibbs’s performance seemed to be dragged down by the mire around him. Whilst Fabianski did pull off some decent saves, a lack of confidence and communication meant that chaos ruled at the heart of our defence. Ahead of him, Mikael Silvestre looks very vulnerable indeed against anyone with pace. I would be absolutely terrified fielding either of the latter pair against Silvestre’s old pals at United, and the quicker Manuel Almunia and Johan Djourou can return the better.
In midfield, Denilson was ostenisbly playing as a protecting midfielder, but was invisible for the hour he was on the pitch, appearing only intermittently to gift possession back to Liverpool. He looks like a spent force, and I think using him sparingly between now and the end of the season is the safest option available.
It was an epic encounter, and worth remembering at the end of it all that we came away from it with our unbeaten record intact, which not many people expected us to do. We were without Almunia, Gallas, Djourou, Clichy, Van Persie and Adebayor, and facing a Liverpool side for whom victory was paramount. Yet we’re now nineteen league games unbeaten – that’s half a Premiership season. That stat really does underline what a hash we made of the first half of the season.
After a series of patchy draws, the true turning point, I suppose, arrived on the 2nd of February.
When we signed Andrey Arshavin.
