A determined Liverpool failed to put away any of their 17 shots against the masters of anti-football Arsenal who made the most of a ref happy to blow the whistle every time they fell over. Andoni Iraola threw every attacking player at the game towards the end but unfortunately the Reds couldn’t break through the human wall of Arsenal players. So after all the frustration we better dig a little deeper into the match.
Winners and Losers
Lets start with the winners (not Arsenal obviously) who were wearing a Liverpool shirt.
Trey Nyoni: It was an incredible performance for his first start this season in the premier League and even though he was subbed for the returning Dominik Szoboszlai it wasn’t because Trey hadn’t given enough during the match. Among Trey’s match stats he won 100% of his tackles and 96% of his passes completed (53 out of 55) and that’s against last years champions in his first start with a lot of pressure on the occasion.
He is a joy to watch and for this writer Trey is becoming key to our best midfield setup, which leads to the substitution which shall be talked about later.
Jeremy Jacquet: There have been better performances from him but he also didn’t make any particular errors and this writer can’t get over how smooth he is with the ball, especially when turning from a challenge with the ball and making clear decisions on the following pass or run up the pitch.
As for losers, the ref Andy Madley is the main culprit for enabling the anti-football by blowing his whistle for every fall an Arsenal player decided to make yet not using the same whistle for a clear penalty or putting a stop to the time-wasting a lot sooner.
This is one reason why the Champions league is far more enjoyable because the refs are holding to the standards of the new rules. Rules designed to stop this type of football being rewarded and allowing the games to flow with fair physical contact yet also certainly not hesitating to award a penalty such as the one Liverpool were denied.
Talking Tactics
The tactics were clear for all to see as one team tried everything whilst playing actual football whereas the other team tried everything that was anti-football. The whole approach was to frustrate Liverpool once Arsenal got the lead with players falling over at the slightest touch, taking ages with throw-ins and goal kicks as well shirt pulling and grabbing players.
The bad moment of play that led to Arsenal getting their goal was the downfall and as much as this writer was willing the Reds on there was that feeling it was going to be an extremely frustrating game from then on because it was the key to unlock their anti-football tactics/antics.
After going behind the Reds went on full assault with an energy and determination that stopped Arsenal from creating much more in the way of chances but they happily dug in and defended and when around the 60 minute mark came Iraola made the first change bringing on Dominik Szoboszlai for Trey. It was the obvious choice yet maybe not the best one as the control and grit was lost a little from deeper in the midfield but this writer finds it hard to criticize Iraola because Dom is more attacking (plus his shot/free kicks) and a goal was desperately needed. Added to that was the fact the Reds were playing against a team who had no real intent to attack again unless gifted an opportunity.
Towards the end Iraola threw on all the attacking players at his disposal including replacing Ronald Araujo (Big Ron played well too) with Victor Munoz at right-back, that says it all, but the match was now a frantic and frustrating attempt by the Reds to at least salvage a point.
How The Players/Manager Reacted
After the game head coach Iraola share some words on the game and the penalty that wasn’t called for the shirt pull on Isak
“I think we definitely deserved to score today, no? Probably we haven’t started properly the game until we conceded the goal….but I loved the reaction.”
“Yeah I think Alex Isak penalty so clear, probably because he doesn’t dive and go to the floor, it’s the only explanation I can find, no?”
The issue of how well the players start is a big deal and as with the Brighton game we saw how those two goals really made the rest of the game far easier to navigate and that’s why that one bad passage of play by Liverpool today was so infuriating. The last thing the team needed to do was gift such a chance when it was so unnecessary yet it happened and even though the attitude was very good afterwards it was the downfall that was greatly helped by our forwards not putting away the chances when they came.
What Happens Next
So Liverpool are in fifth place after the weekend’s games are all finished and even though it doesn’t feel good losing today it’s quite impressive to be so close to the leaders all things considered. There isn’t long to dwell on it all as the next game for the Reds is Wednesday when they travel to face Fenerbahce Spor Kulubu in what should be a crazy atmosphere and entertaining game.
