Sunday’s game was an emotional, roller coaster ride. It was a game of 2 contrasting halves. The first half started with Arsenal dominating the game with 2 early goals that exposed how fragile Liverpool defense looked this year. During this time, Liverpool looked like the team that deserved to be in the position that they are in – struggling in mid-table, quite a distance from a Champions League spot. And Arsenal looked like the team that is challenging for the title. However, football is a funny game, and what started with Liverpool’s first goal, and the second half that Liverpool dominated showed why they are still formidable at home. There was a continuous onslaught from Pool, and all we could do was sit back and try to absorb the pressure. There were many close chances and a missed penalty, and I think we were lucky to escape with the point. Ramsdale came to the rescue with some spectacular saves. But our clearance left much to be desired. Liverpool back-line played almost from the midfield line, with Allison playing quite a bit ahead from his box, almost like a CB/CDM because of the lack of attacking threat from our side. Zinchenko looked exposed a number of times. Saka, Jesus, and even Martinelli who scored and assisted for the first 2 goals seemed isolated and hardly got any chance to make a run at their box.
All said and done, if we were only playing for the top 4, this would have been a great result. However, projecting Arsenal as title challenger, this game did expose some gaps. Holding as the 3rd CB makes sense when we have 2 ball-playing CBs in Gabriel and Saliba. Kiwior was brought on in one of the most difficult situations in one of the most hostile away stadiums. Ramsdale was playing long balls all game long, which might be due to the lack of confidence in Holding for playing from the back, or due to some strategy, which didn’t work partly because of the height advantage of their defenders, and because we were too busy defending to try to control the game in the midfield. Liverpool were busy making attacking substitutions, and we didn’t try to counter with any change in the gameplay or formation. We were trying just to soak up the pressure. Considering our strength is in our attacking front 4, while our defensive part is quite good at full strength without Zinchenko having an off day and barely decent in the absence of Saliba and Tomiyasu, we are not Stoke City or park the bus to win CL Chelsea – we definitely didn’t play to our strengths and lost the points in the transition from defense to attack in the second half.
Arteta has been simply brilliant. But I still don’t understand his reluctance to substitute in the middle of the second half. Someone like Jorginho might have helped to slow the game down. Maybe an early substitution of Zinchenko for Tierney would have halted the Trent-Salah onslaught. Trossard could have been brought a bit earlier, and if he managed to make a couple of runs to the box, even without scoring, it might have forced them to sit back a bit more and give us some breathing space in the midfield. In hindsight, everyone can be a master FIFA manager, but Arteta knows what is best, and I still trust him to do his best for the rest of the games.
We know City will be champions if they win all the games, but they have to face Arsenal. And we are still 6 points ahead, albeit with 1 more game played. The final champion might be decided at the Etihad, but the league will go to the very end and like us, they can’t slip up as well. I hope we have learned the lessons here, and take it forward for the bigger tests ahead. The pressure of leading the title race must be gnawing at our heels. But for me, this team has achieved more than I expected this season. And I would love to see the free-flowing, attacking football that has brought us here so far. I hope we don’t get fazed by the away games in City and Newcastle, especially if we fall behind because we are more than capable of scoring goals or defending a lead. The Anfield draw was more due to a defeat in mentality rather than a difference in talent. I hope the players remember that during times when they are down and out. If I may speak for most of the Gooners I know, we are happy with what the team has achieved this year. Finally, if I were the manager, my team talk would be to take it easy, enjoy your football, don’t be too afraid to fail, and finally give your best. Because this season we have proven that our best is good enough.