Arsenal v Liverpool: the tactical analysis « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Arvind (sorry I missed the name out earlier – Tony)
We won. Didn’t play as well. But we won. I’ll take it. And before I start off I’d like to say…if we had the mental strength we have now; in the season where Dudu had his leg broken; we’d have won the title that year. A big if..but hey that’s my honest opinion of things. On to the game then..
I thought the back four weren’t great to be honest. Specially for the first 30 minutes or so. Why do I say so? 2 main reasons. You rate a fullback defensively on 3 main points:
1– The ability to cut crosses out; or let the winger cut in and shoot
2– The ability to get back; from the attacking third quick enough
3– Defend set pieces and diagonal balls
Yes there are others, but if you do those 3 well..there’s a big chance you’ll have a decent game. Now neither Gibbs nor Sagna did points 1 or 2 well for a large part of the first half.
There were two many simple passes and one twos in midfield; which ended up in the ball getting to the final third on either flank. The Pool midfield didn’t even have to think. Get Ball. One Two. Third pass onto the wing. That’s definitely something that needs to improve else we’ll have trouble.
And all this meant that we kept chasing the ball all the time; and but for Superman Szcz would have been out of the game by halftime. The other point was that Arteta (looked knackered) and Benayoun vanished today, Song didn’t have a great game bar that gorgeous chipped pass at the end. So the first half, frankly I was thrilled to be level.
Vermaelen and Kos are too gung ho again and Suarez was kind of playing with them at times. They did hang in there and Kos specially made a few really good tackles and showed strength to get over his terrible own goal. But really… I’d like the defence to settle down a little. Maybe it’ll come.. they haven’t played too much together.
Did you guys see the ‘super duper slow mo’ camera on Suarez? He won’t be in England much longer; they’ll hound him out just like they did to Eduardo. He dived yes. But how many times have you seen that ‘slow mo camera’? Not me…in India anyway. Oh and zero zero replays of the Henderson incident. What happened to that? Oh wait…it was too graphic and children are watching TV. Give me a break..please.
I though Diaby had a fabulous cameo and calmed things down in midfield. An instant upgrade over Mikel today and you saw Rosicky applauding his efforts too. He went a long way in carrying the ball, adding that aerial presence and passing the ball around in a slightly physical (not dirty) encounter away from home. Hope he was taken off as a precaution and he’s fit for the next league game…Arteta needs a rest.
Yossi didn’t do much today and the swap for Gervinho was the right one; to show that we wanted the 3 points; and while we didn’t see much from the Ivorian, he helped Gibbs out in the last 15.
Suarez’s diving all over the place was sickening and I’m not convinced its a penalty; he’s left his foot in there; Szcz has not tripped him. Talking of which, it was a big MOTM performance by Szcz. How many keepers that you see are so big and have that much agility to make a double save? If he keeps his head on the ground..he has a big big future. His overall command of the area and sweeping up so much was top top draw. He’d had a dip in the middle of Jan and Feb (did any one notice?) but is back now. Very happy.
Theo was again more central today as the game went on and less on the RW. More or less confirming what I said on the Spurs analysis thread. But lets see. Will we play 4-4-2 next season? Maybe. Or can we play either formation based on the opponent? Yummy : )
The AOC for Diaby sub was good too; in the sense that Pool could never attack full tilt as they were scared of Arsenal on the counter. RVP, Theo, Gervinho and AOC all on the pitch..means its big danger if the Liverpool fullbacks pushed forward too much; which is where they’d got most of their joy this game.
When Kelly missed an open goal and Bellamy came on, I was worried that we’d bottle it and surely concede. But credit to us for hanging in there mentally, for having a much better second half and nicking (yes that is the right word) the points at the death.
And RVP.. What. A. Player. What a huge amount of work he did today. And what a finish. And what a lovely touch with him kissing Alex Song’s boots at the end. I’m sure he truly appreciates what he has and that he will stay on at Arsenal. Yes, a little bit of that is me hoping…but I truly truly wish he does a Ryan Giggs here.
Overall it was a scrappy game and one we could have lost badly if Szcz hadn’t saved us. But its 3 points. And we’re closer to third and further away from 5th. Here’s hoping for a Spurs loss tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend guys : )