Liverpool vs Arsenal (will contain scores)

mike65

Liverpool fans say - "Thanks Mike"

Mike.

Hobart

mike65 wrote:

Liverpool fans say - "Thanks Mike"

Mike.

Thanks Mike (for what btw??)

eyerer

why? did you tell garcia to score?

happy with the win, though disappointed it took so long and took so many chances
for some reason the joker had one of his best games i'd say

on another note, i hate **** in pubs that always ruin the enjoyment of watching a football match

wheres me jumpa

What an awful game of football.

Liverpool at full strength were up against a shambolic Arsenal team. I have felt sorry for the gooners at times this year because of their injuries. But they had their strongest midfield out tonight and they were non existent. I heard Pires was coming off in the 80th minute and I honestly didnt realise he was playing. Very bad all over the field. A good attack would have destroyed them tonight.

As for the Pool, midfield created little, attack was awful. Why oh why is Gerrard on the right wing? Surely his ability in the centre is far greater than his crossing ability?

I cannot believe how bad Morientes is. Fowler showed signs of potenial, but just not sharp enough at the moment. Cisse should not be playing in the Premierhsp never mind Liverpool.

Garcia.....Im not getting into an argument about this as he does keep popping up with goals, but it baffles me how he does keep doing it. Its like a lada that keeps winning formula one races.

mike65

For what??

When all else fails, invoke football fan law #23 which reads "When in desperate need of a goal, leave the room and make space for a goal"

I usually works a treat.

Mike.

eyerer

well, as long as he keeps knocking them in

Hobart

I think the incredable number of Games Liverpool have played so far this season are beginning to show. They might have been at full strenght, but they are obviously tired. Still won tonight though, still in the FA cup, Champs League and most of all still European Champions!!!

mike65

Gerrard is on the right cos we don't have a winger and anyone who thinks Cisse is better needs thier head checking. As for the attack clearly its pants. That Rafa has just signed yet another defender is slightly worrying. I can only belive thats he last such purchase and from now on its the attack he'll concentrate on. ie sell Mori (oh well) and Cisse (good bye to poor buy)

Mike.

eyerer

mike65 wrote:

For what??

When all else fails, invoke football fan law #23 which reads "When in desperate need of a goal, leave the room and make space for a goal"

I usually works a treat.

Mike.

in that case, thank me for a number of goals last year....they love to score before i get down to watch the game

Guy:Incognito

mike65 wrote:

For what??

When all else fails, invoke football fan law #23 which reads "When in desperate need of a goal, leave the room and make space for a goal"

I usually works a treat.

Mike.

I tried it too, with about 10 mins to go.It was on you this time though. My day will come.

Hobart

mike65 wrote:

For what??

When all else fails, invoke football fan law #23 which reads "When in desperate need of a goal, leave the room and make space for a goal"

I usually works a treat.

Mike.

And here's me thinking you were a Henrik Pedersen fan

MonkeyTennis

I dont see any problem with Rafa signing a 20 year old defender for next year. Sami while still playing great is on the way out and central defence needs cover. I dont want to talk about our strikers.


OK ...Robbie played well.

mike65

This off RAWK match review it sums things up nicely

1) Massive performances from midfield and defence - thought Riise owned Freddie for large portions of the game. Never would have done this to Arse last year, an not all of that is Arse going backwards
2) Strikers couldn't hit a barn door from 6 paces - Robbie possibly excepted.
3) Stevie shouldn't take penalties
4) Hamman so much deserves more playing time
5) When Luis isn't on the pitch, we rely too much on Stevie for goals

Hamman must start more games though Sissoko was better tonight, Alonso could miss the Cup game.

Mike.

dudara

Phew, I can finally unclench my fists and ass-cheeks now!

Go garcia!

Jimi-Spandex

Thought liverpool deserved to win that. No way on earth was that a penalty, but really a moot point I suppose. Morientes looked terrible. Fowler was alright, if he manages to get fit he could be reasonably good. Certainly head and shoulders above the rest of pool's front line.

Arsenal were pretty dire though. I wouldn't really blame the youngsters, it's the more senior players who are really letting them down. The likes of Pires and Ljungberg especially hardly seem interested, not even to mention the whole Sol thing. I still reckon they'll pull things together before the end of the season though.

Chucky the tree

Same old problem with the strikers. Still confident that if we can get fowler fully fit he will do a very good job.

Midfield was excellent. Defense was good, still a few moments when i was a bit worried about Arsenal. I still think we need a left back though. Pires was shocking. Should of been off at half-time.

Sissoko was excellent tonight i felt. Was up and down the pitch, tackled very well, didnt lunge in stupidly like he has a tendancy to do, laid off the ball well. Excellent prospect for the future i think.

Arsenal are really a team on the slide. Pires will be gone iin the summer, so will henry. They wont make the champions league, unless they win it.

mada999

good play by lfc.......mori needs to leave....not doing the business at all..
Robbie looked decent enough unlucky with the chance...

Sissoko played ok....Hamann should play instead of him for the bigger games tho..Gerrard pretty ineffective on the right.....

Pool definitely deserved the 3 points tho my heart was in my mouth when that ball dropped to Henry (soon to be a Barca player imho)

Ardent

super_furry wrote:

Thank **** for Garcia.

Ashton Kutcher should leave now, I'm sure he has enough footage for his next series of Punk'd, and maybe we can have Morientes back.

LOL. He wasn't that bad. Was unlucky not to score.

PiE

Hobart wrote:

Lehmann is having his game of the Season. Another great save.

Hear that far too often in Liverpool threads. A keeper can only make the save if the striker gives him the opportunity... which unfortunately is all that our strikers seem to do.

Good win in the end. Agree with whoever said that Hamann and Garcia (when fully fit) need to start more games, though I do feel that Garcia is a great "impact" player. Hamann does all that Sissoko can; better.

Fowler would have taken the peno had it been at the Kop end I suspect. But I still feel (again as already said) that he's our best striker at the moment.

Happy, but not overly confident for the weekend.

Ardent wrote:

LOL. He wasn't that bad. Was unlucky not to score.

Pah, balls to that. Can only blame "luck" for so long and he's definately overplayed that hand.

fade2black

Arsenal are a team in decline. They've given their captaincy to Henry in the hope he'll stay on, but he won't. He's the quietest captain in the premiership and simply looks like a player going through the motions. Arsenal looked like a team who felt like they couldn't win at anfield tonight.

Jivin Turkey

Deserved three points for Liverpool.

For all those calling for Gerrard to be played in the centre wake up and smell the coffee. Who could play RW? Garcia is only coming back from injury, I'm sure once he is fit we will see plenty more of Gerrard in the centre. Garcia isn't really a RW, and there is no one else. And anyway hasn't Gerrard hit 17 goals (mostly) from the wing? How many perfect crosses has he put in? He put in about two tonight alone.

He is being played there out of necessity, and he is playing very very well there. Alonso and Sissoko have done very well in the centre, although Alonso definitely needs a rest as he has been out of sorts the last few weeks.

Jivin Turkey

fade2black wrote:

Arsenal are a team in decline. They've given their captaincy to Henry in the hope he'll stay on, but he won't. He's the quietest captain in the premiership and simply looks like a player going through the motions. Arsenal looked like a team who felt like they couldn't win at anfield tonight.

Arsenal are not a team in decline, they are a team short of one or two experienced heads that is all. They are a team that has been ravaged by injuries. A team that has fielded 8 left backs (or something like that) this year. A team that has been missing its entire first choice defence at times, and 3/4 regularly. A team that has lost his influential captain, without replacement (one of Wengers few errors of judgement in the market).

The league is a write off. They are far from out of the running for the CL places. They are still in the CL. They still have a lot to play for.

And as for Henry going through the motions. 15 goals in 20 league starts says it all about the man. I'd hate to see him on form and without injuries.

fade2black

At the moment you have to say they're a team in decline. Look at tonight, Henry looked like a man who's mind was elsewhere. They do, of course, still have a lot to play for, but man would I be worried if I were an Arsenal fan.

el rabitos

wheres PHB? i thought arsenal were finishing 3rd this season, no?

they were piss poor. bottom line. 25 shots to 1 or something, 12 corners to 1.

jaysus, if liverpool played like that and had a couple of strikers that knew the general direction of the net they'd be a machine. the only criticism i have of pool is the tendancy to give away the ball. arsenal are so poor right now that they couldnt exploit it, but giving away the ball cheaply will cost us in the champions league

why sissoko is playing so often ahead of hamman is anyones guess, he has no business on the pitch when hamman is fit, he contributes so much more to the attack.

anywho, 3 points will do nicely.

BrookieD

I thought the game was great and not boring as posted on here earlier?
LFC were good for the win. Fowler was very good despite being 80& fit, his moevment was good, made some very good moves away from defenders to create space and deliverd a perfect cross onto Mori's head which Mori should have finished.
Mori seems to be placing to much pressure on himself to score at the moment. when a ball is fizzed into him he seems to be thinking about the shot and instead of just cracking a shot in. Gerrard and Kewell plyed well in moving about the park.
Sissoko was good playing a def/midfield role. Made some important challenges and showed some steel ala Viera.

Dudek was not really needed until the 53rd min. entire defense was again solid and only had a worry very early on with a header from Arsenal.

MOTM Lehman played a blinder and was by far the best player on the pitch.
T Henry did not look interested, i can see him off in the summer

Hightlight of the game for me, hearing Andy Gray spout "If i was Rafa i would not bring on Hamann", how silent he was as Hamann's shot leads to the Garcia goal, so nice NOT to hear that twat.

All in all a great game and very happy with 3 points.

Well thats my 2cents.

Come on LFC for the weekend. "Although i have a nasty little feeling we may lose this one"

Villain

IMO Liverpool are one player short of been real title contenders, they have a solid defence and very creative passing midfield, they just lack the edge up front. I mean if you look at the games against United, Charlton and Birmingham they should have killed each game off but just couldn't finish off the chances.

As for Arsenal, well they missed Reyes, Van Persie, Bergkamp and Cole very badly, they will have a nice new stadium next year but will the have Henry??

redspider

Sorry, dont have the time to coment on the match, or read your comments, and I didnt see it to comple an analysis.

From the reports that I've read however, a fully deserved win for Liverpool. Also a crucial win, just when Liverpool were having a bad series of results, they neede this and it now puts us 10 pts clear of 5th place Arsenal. With only 12 games to go, that is a commanding position and should see us through to CL qualification. It will also boost confidence, something that was flagging in recent games.

Last night was a 6 pt game, and it remains to be seen whether Arsenal have the capability to get 4th place. If they dont, Henry is gone, and for him, he cant extend his contract until it is clear that Arsenal have the 4th place.

Well done Liverpool ....

redspider

Villain

I have to say I was a little surprised by one of the facts Martin Tyler gave before the game, i.e. Liverpool haven't finished higher than Aresnal in the league for TEN YEARS!!!

The Rooster

Rafa picked the team I wanted apart from Hamann instead of Sissoko. In fairness to Sissoko that was his best performance in quite some time. Himself and Xabi ruled midfield, albeit they along with most of the Liverpool players did waste possession too often. Hamann was very good when he came on.

I could not believe Morientes was taken off before Fowler. That was an awful decision and very nearly cost us two points. No doubt that Fowler would have scored with the sitter Moro missed from Gerrard's cross from the left.

Fowler rarely wastes the ball. His turn and shot for his only chance was excellent, something Morientes can only dream about - and he must have been dreaming at the time, as if he'd been any way awake he would have had a simple tap-in from the rebound. Fowler will never be the player he was of old, he's a long way from his peak ability, but he's still a long ways better than Morientes and Cisse.

I think Fowler would work better either alongside Crouch or playing just behind Cisse. Fowler-Morientes does not work.

TheMonster

irish1 wrote:

I have to say I was a little surprised by one of the facts Martin Tyler gave before the game, i.e. Liverpool haven't finished higher than Aresnal in the league for TEN YEARS!!!

I wasn't:

gracehopper

irish1 wrote:

IMO Liverpool are one player short of been real title contenders

No there not. They need a 20 goal a year striker, a centre half to replace hypia (maybe palleta) and a right winger. Even then they wouldnt have the squad that chelsea have.

dbnavan

Anyone else miss the game due to Valentines commitments I was at dinner with the wife, couldnt even get text alerts promised her phone would be turned off!

Come on the pool!


**edit** ah but she is worth it!

BlackWizard

I wouldnt blame the front line on that one. How many touches did the two
strikers get? Maybe a few headers in here and there but that was it.

The got little or no supply from the center mids and little or no supply
from the wings.

I think Id like a more creative driving force in midfield to really see what
those two strikers could really do. Its unfair to judge them on recent games
since the midfield is really lacking someone to run with the ball and make
openings and thread the ball through etc to the strikers.

Id like to see Gerrard moved back into a central role.

Roddy23

Fairplay to Liverpool they deserved their win. I still think Arsenal will finish ahead of Spurs, they have to fight for it. To many times last night Arsenal bottled it. Tackles were not made, players watched as Liverpool players ran by, and there was no pressing, or tracking (Hleb, I'm looking at you for the goal). Its a joke how players with as much experience as Gilberto, Pires, Henry can be so anonymous. All three went missing for large parts of the game last night. When we needed these players to stand up and be counted they were no-where. I hope Henry will sign, because at the moment he looks a little distracted (like Gerrard last year).
I felt the young players did well, Eboue, Toure, fabregas, Adebayor they all looked to take the game to Liverpool, and every opportunity they had they could be seen harrying the opposition, and making runs into Liverpools half. Lehmann was brilliant if only the other "senior" players could have taken a leaf from his book. Still we have a lot of games to come in the Premiership, most importantly we still have spurs at home. Dark horses as somebody else pointed out will be Bolton, 2 games in hand over Arsenal and Spurs, and oly 2 points behind Arsenal.

jesus_thats_gre

TheMonster wrote:

I wasn't:

As a club, Liverpool have been a more successful club than Man United this century..

If you want to include last century, we are still a more successful club...

Yoink

fade2black

Yeah, and Ireland were once a part of the British Empire. I don't think you always want to live in the past do ya?

jesus_thats_gre

fade2black wrote:

Yeah, and Ireland were once a part of the British Empire. I don't think you always want to live in the past do ya?

Nor do I. Purely in response to the statistic about Liverpool not finishing ahead of Arsenal for the past 10 years to which the United supporter made a smart remark..

That is my response.. This century, last 6 years, is not delving to deeply into past.. It is recent history that I thought was considered relevent??

emc2

Can anyone tell me the story behind garcia's thumb sucking celebration?

Bacchus

gracehopper wrote:

No there not. They need a 20 goal a year striker, a centre half to replace hypia (maybe palleta) and a right winger. Even then they wouldnt have the squad that chelsea have.

Don't want to get into a big arguement about this but Rafa has brought 3 defenders Agger, KromKamp and Palleta. The replacement for Hyypia is there. That's the defence sorted.
Gerard is doing a good job at RW as has been said already and Gonzalez is on his way next season. So in my opinion Liverpool (who are contending strongly for 2nd this year as it is) are only 1 player, a striker, away from being title contenders.

fade2black

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Nor do I. Purely in response to the statistic about Liverpool not finishing ahead of Arsenal for the past 10 years to which the United supporter made a smart remark..

That is my response.. This century, last 6 years, is not delving to deeply into past.. It is recent history that I thought was considered relevent??

Nah not really, considering the point made was about Arsenal and Liverpool, nothing to do with Man Utd.

dbnavan

fade2black wrote:

Yeah, and Ireland were once a part of the British Empire. I don't think you always want to live in the past do ya?

Sorry who is current champions of europe, and the only team to win 5 trophys in 1 year, and yes this century!

mike65

Can anyone tell me the story behind garcia's thumb sucking celebration?

I've read of two explanations - 1) he's a big baby 2) he did it first just after becoming a dad.

Mike.

dbnavan

His favourite form of celebration is sucking his thumb. This is said to commemorate his first-born son, Joel, or to silence fans who had called him a 'baby'.


from wikipedia

TheMonster

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Nor do I. Purely in response to the statistic about Liverpool not finishing ahead of Arsenal for the past 10 years to which the United supporter made a smart remark..

That is my response.. This century, last 6 years, is not delving to deeply into past.. It is recent history that I thought was considered relevent??

whats was smart about it? I am not surprised that they have finished ahead of Arsenal. Were you surprised at this? Surely you realise how impressive Arsenal have been in the last 10 years and how crap Liverpool have been. Its not rocket science :rolleyes:

mike65

Just looking at the table I just noticed that Pool are still on target to average 2 points a game this season so thats 76-ish to finish with and I'd be well pleased with that - a 20 point improvment in a season.

Mike.

Hobart

TheMonster wrote:

whats was smart about it? I am not surprised that they have finished ahead of Arsenal. Were you surprised at this? Surely you realise how impressive Arsenal have been in the last 10 years and how crap Liverpool have been. Its not rocket science :rolleyes:

I'm not that surprised either. I'm not surprised it took Manu a few decades to win another European Cup, I'm not surprised that Liverpool have finished ahead of Hamilton Ack the last 10 years, I'm not surprised at the amount of ridiculous stats vomited out everytime a Manu supporter has to converse with a Liverpool one or vis-a-vis. In fact I'm totally under-surpried.

TheMonster

Hobart wrote:

I'm not that surprised either. I'm not surprised it took Manu a few decades to win another European Cup, I'm not surprised that Liverpool have finished ahead of Hamilton Ack the last 10 years, I'm not surprised at the amount of ridiculous stats vomited out everytime a Manu supporter has to converse with a Liverpool one or vis-a-vis. In fact I'm totally under-surpried.

Where did I once mention United. Any football fan would not have been surprised at that stat.

blastman

In fact, I think we should stop that sort of thing altogether (Manu fans conversing with Pool fans). It contributes nothing to society as a whole. :rolleyes:

Hobart

TheMonster wrote:

Where did I once mention United. Any football fan would not have been surprised at that stat.

I thought this was a stats thread? Do I have to wait for you to mention Manu before anybody else can? :rolleyes: . You just carry on missing my point, why don't you.

TheMonster

Hobart wrote:

I thought this was a stats thread? Do I have to wait for you to mention Manu before anybody else can? :rolleyes: . You just carry on missing my point, why don't you.

I am not sure even you know what your point is. I made a simple comment that I wasn't surprised to find out Liverpool had not finished ahead of Arsenal in the last 10 years. I am sure a lot of other people regardless who they support(nothing to do with my comment - but apparently Utd fans cannot make any comment on Liverpool without being barracked and facts about Utd dragged being into it.)

This thread has gone off-topic so I am going to leave it at that.