Liverpool vs. Arsenal 13/12/09 (MOD NOTE: #119 and OP)

mayordenis

kingshankly wrote: »

And a Liverpool fan

That's a real pity.

Spiritoftheseventies

kingshankly wrote: »

And a Liverpool fan

Thats what Fergie claimed when they had the falling out a few years ago but was that proved.

adox

Well done arsenal. I'm delighted!

noodler

Absolute joke. One 17m player costing us two goals and a 20m player having nearly as ineffectual display as our crybaby captain.

If thats the way the team responds to a bit of bad luck then good luck to us.

That was pretty much our best team too - no real excuse there.

Jesus, I am all for giving a player time but Rafa needs to be criticised here.

Any chance of selling Aqualani back for 15m in January?

For the first time I am generally worried we won't even be in the top 4 reckoning come April/May, this is literally about as bad as it could have gone for top 4 club.

Unearthly

Good game. Class goal by Arshavin.

Liverpool have really hit rock bottom this season.

magma69

Congrats to Arsenal. Liverpool deserved a point from that game for their first half performance.

MagicMarker

Wenger was hilarious near the end, squirming around in his chair as if he needed to take an almighty shíte!

GLaDOS

noodler wrote: »

Absolute joke. One 17m player costing us two goals and a 20m player having nearly as ineffectual display as our crybaby captain.

If thats the way the team responds to a bit of bad luck then good luck to us.

That was pretty much our best team too - no real excuse there.

Jesus, I am all for giving a player time but Rafa needs to be criticised here.

Any chance of selling Aqualani back for 15m in January?

For the first time I am generally worried we won't even be in the top 4 reckoning come April/May, this is literally about as bad as it could have gone for top 4 club.

You're writing Aqualani off after 1 start?

OPENROAD

Fully desrved win for The Arsenal, great weekend

paul150

Delighted with the result wonder who liverpool will blame now when they had a full strength side today

Xavi6

noodler wrote: »

Any chance of selling Aqualani back for 15m in January?

Jaysus, I'm off to bed before anyone gets a chance to reply to that

citytillidie

Best person of the 23 on the pitch for arsenal

Mr.Nice Guy

The Muppet wrote: »

Wenger must have borrowed fergies hair dryer for half time, they were a different team second half or was it thet liverpool got so much worse than they were in the first?

Good call. Fabregas just said Wenger screamed at them like never before.

The Muppet

Fabergas confirms hairdryer treatment from wenger at half time:D

OPENROAD

Arsene shouting at the team at half time :eek:

ilovelamp2000

paul150 wrote: »

Delighted with the result wonder who liverpool will blame now when they had a full strength side today

There's only one man to blame.

Spiritoftheseventies

Alonso's departure apart, can anyone tell me how we have fallen back so badly. Is the central midfield partnership the problem. My theory is that we just dont have enough pace going forward. We need to employ more fast breaking tactics and hurt teams with out pace.

NukaCola

Quick everyone, to the Liverpool Team Thread and lets really get our digs in..

magma69

OPENROAD wrote: »

Fully desrved win for The Arsenal, great weekend

Bollocks. A draw would have been fair. Liverpool were much better in the first half and Arsenal were much better in the second.

wandatowell

Who do you think deserves the man of the match award???

Im thinking it has to go to Song, what a ball player. Cool out never ****s himself when on the ball. He's just getting better and better

OPENROAD

citytillidie wrote: »

Best person of the 23 on the pitch for arsenal

ah come on

Redzer7

citytillidie wrote: »

Best person of the 23 on the pitch for arsenal

No, just no.

OPENROAD

magma69 wrote: »

Bollocks. A draw would have been fair. Liverpool were much better in the first half and Arsenal were much better in the second.

Arsenal created more, more shots, more shots on target, fully deserved.

Joeyjoejoe43

nuxxx wrote: »

based on that performance i cant see liverpool making the top4

Dont be hasty, top 4 wont change this year, liverpool will put a run together after xmas..

mayordenis

ScienceNerd wrote: »

You're writing Aqualani off after 1 start?

are you surprised?
Yer mans post was a joke, a 17m player scored a unfortunate own goal, so ****ing what? It happens. You would swear the best players in the world never make mistakes, an 80m player got sent off last week, it happens.

Redzer7

Everyone to the Arsenal team forum Partayyyy .

monkey9

noodler wrote: »

Absolute joke. One 17m player costing us two goals and a 20m player having nearly as ineffectual display as our crybaby captain.

If thats the way the team responds to a bit of bad luck then good luck to us.

That was pretty much our best team too - no real excuse there.

Jesus, I am all for giving a player time but Rafa needs to be criticised here.

Any chance of selling Aqualani back for 15m in January?

For the first time I am generally worried we won't even be in the top 4 reckoning come April/May, this is literally about as bad as it could have gone for top 4 club.

It was far from a captains display today. So annoying

And i've been worried for the past couple of months about not getting top four, and and i really don't think we will get it.

As for Aqualiani, he needs time. He didn't play well, alright. Gave the ball away a lot, but it's a bit harsh to criticise him so early in

noodler

ScienceNerd wrote: »

You're writing Aqualani off after 1 start?

Sigh, I think you missed the point. 20m spent on someone who hasn't even contributed by December. If we are that broke there has to be a better use of the money.

OPENROAD wrote: »

Fully desrved win for The Arsenal, great weekend

A draw would have been fair. Christ even 2-1 up Arsenal couldn't put chances together.

leninbenjamin

p.pete wrote: »

Make up your mind...

A tackle is an attempt to win a ball. There is no definition of tackle in the wording of the rules. :rolleyes:

OPENROAD

noodler wrote: »

.
A draw would have been fair. Christ even 2-1 up Arsenal couldn't put chances together.

Who cares, we have the three points

noodler

mayordenis wrote: »

are you surprised?
Yer mans post was a joke, a 17m player scored a unfortunate own goal, so ****ing what? It happens. You would swear the best players in the world never make mistakes, an 80m player got sent off last week, it happens.

Johnson's defensive frailities compared to Arbeloa's would be the point there.

Do try and keep up.

OPENROAD wrote: »

Who cares, we have the three points

Well, I don't think anyone denied that Arsenal have the points!

GLaDOS

noodler wrote: »

Sigh, I think you missed the point. 20m spent on someone who hasn't even contributed by December. If we are that broke there has to be a better use of the money.

I was more referring to your trying to sell him in January remark (and yes I do realise it's a reference to Keane)

Duiske

That was our best team out there. Not even xmas and it looks like a struggle to retain a top 4 place. Sickening

Spiritoftheseventies

noodler wrote: »

Absolute joke. One 17m player costing us two goals and a 20m player having nearly as ineffectual display as our crybaby captain.

If thats the way the team responds to a bit of bad luck then good luck to us.

That was pretty much our best team too - no real excuse there.

Jesus, I am all for giving a player time but Rafa needs to be criticised here.

Any chance of selling Aqualani back for 15m in January?

For the first time I am generally worried we won't even be in the top 4 reckoning come April/May, this is literally about as bad as it could have gone for top 4 club.

Way too early to be writing off aquilani. He needs a good run in the team. To talk of selling him in January is ludicrous. But then Rafa did it with Keane. But to do it for two seasons running would send out all the wrong signals.

ragg

Keys and rafa are starting to look quite alike aren't they :pac:

ilovelamp2000

bayviewclose wrote: »

Alonso's departure apart, can anyone tell me how we have fallen back so badly. Is the central midfield partnership the problem. My theory is that we just dont have enough pace going forward. We need to employ more fast breaking tactics and hurt teams with out pace.

There are numerous factors, even if we leave out the effect that Alonso's ability to control the rhythm of game and his ability to cut out attacks before they get going.

I would say our main problem is at the back, we've conceded 20 goals already in the league, we normally concede a little more than that in a whole season.

Reasons for that:

1. We've replaced solid full backs with more attacking ones that don't defend particularly well. Riise had his knockers but he defends much better than Dossena, Aurelio and Insua. Arbeloa is better defensively than Johnson.

2. Age is not being kind to Jamie Carragher.

3. Martin Skrtel doesn't look as assured as he did in his first six months with us.

4. Agger doesn't stay fit for long enough.


I think the problems run a lot deeper than that though, but that's our problem on the pitch for me.

Morzadec

Unearthly wrote: »

Good game. Class goal by Arshavin.

Liverpool have really hit rock bottom this season.

Really? I thought the 2nd half was absolutely poxy. Arsenal were average at best but Liverpool's performance in that 2nd half was awful. Maybe as a Liverpool fan it effects my view of it being a good game but I would've thought it was awful for a neutral. Neither team keeping the ball and neither team testing the goalkeepers (apart from the goals).

There seemed to be absolutley no belief in our team after going 2-1 down. That 2nd half was as bad as I've seen us play all season. We never threatened at all and just kept giving the ball away.

Anyone think a lot of players looked tired? There seemed to be absolutely no belief/desire/urgency in our play. No cohesion between our players.

Fair enough it was an unlucky own goal and another Arshavin wonderstrike that beat us, but I still feel that to not get any sort of result against an Arsenal team that was far from at its best is very very bad. Some bad luck in this game yes, but also one of the worst performances (in the second half) I've seen us put in for years.

From evidence of this game I don't think Arsenal will challenge for the title but will finish comfortably in the top 4. I thought they could've done it but with no RVP I don't think they have enough.

As for Liverpool, who knows? I keep hoping the tide will turn but that performance fills me a lot of doubt. I was always confident we would eventually make the top 4 but I'm really not so sure anymore. Question is are City/Spurs/Villa good enough to capitalise? We may just get away with it

ragg

Rosco1982 wrote: »

There are numerous factors, even if we leave out the effect that Alonso's ability to control the rhythm of game and his ability to cut out attacks before they get going.

2. Age is not being kind to Jamie Carragher.

THIS!!
Carra has always been a seat of his pants defender - he would regularly make amazing last ditch tackles, the type that won games for liverpool, but he used to put himslef in those positions quite a bit - the loss of pace means he isn't able to bail himself out quite as much as before - shame to see his decline this year. I always enjoyed watching him play

Quandary

Id be disgusted if i was a Pool fan after that 2nd half performance. Gerrard had a nightmare & had more successful moans than passes. Fair enough, the Johnson og was a sucker punch but a full strength liverpool team shouldnt have gone to pieces like they did at Anfield.

Im disappointed Liverpool didnt win, thats Arsenal right up Utds arse now with a game in hand.

Oh and for the love of God leave Aquilani out of the criticism - his match fitness is nowhere near up to par, he will be a classy player if Benitez unwraps the cotton wool and gives the lad a string of starts.

Hard luck Pool fans - not ye'r year

rossie1977

lets be honest here, two very poor teams that are really so off the pace at the top

arsenal had only one serious shot on goal all match (and scored), liverpool were awful in the second and again gifted a team back into a game after scoring first

noodler

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I was more referring to your trying to sell him in January remark (and yes I do realise it's a reference to Keane)

Its what Rafa does - you sell players 6 months after you buy them. Then use excuses like we had to get the value back or he didn't fit the system.

bayviewclose wrote: »

Way too early to be writing off aquilani. He needs a good run in the team. To talk of selling him in January is ludicrous. But then Rafa did it with Keane. But to do it for two seasons running would send out all the wrong signals.

The point is spending 19 Million on one player who contributed a fair bit and then selling him. Next up is buying another one for 20m who won't even get a chance to impact until January. If Aquaman turns out to be god then fair enough but can't help but think 20m could have been spent on something that would have helped us throughout the first half of the season - it could be far too late by the time he does start to do it.

Spiritoftheseventies

Morzadec wrote: »

Really? I thought the 2nd half was an absolutely poxy. Arsenal were average at best but Liverpool's performance in that 2nd half was awful. Maybe as a Liverpool fan it effects my view of it being a good game but I would've thought it was awful for a neutral. Neither team keeping the ball and neither team testing the goalkeepers (apart from the goals).

There seemed to be absolutley no belief in our team after going 2-1 down. That 2nd half was as bad as I've seen us play all season. We never threatened at all and just kept giving the ball away.

Anyone think a lot of players looked tired? There seemed to be absolutely no belief/desire/urgency in our play. No cohesion between our players.

Fair enough it was an unlucky own goal and another Arshavin wonderstrike that beat us, but I still feel that to not get any sort of result against an Arsenal team that was far from at its best is very very bad. Some bad luck in this game yes, but also one of the worst performances (in the second half) I've seen us put in for years.

From evidence of this game I don't think Arsenal will challenge for the title but will finish comfortably in the top 4. I thought they could've done it but with no RVP I don't think they have enough.

As for Liverpool, who knows? I keep hoping the tide will turn but that performance fills me a lot of doubt. I was always confident we would eventually make the top 4 but I'm really not so sure anymore. Question is are City/Spurs/Villa good enough to capitalise? We may just get away with it

God they must be taking this badly on one half of Merseyside. A moment for our scouse brothers. Pubs will do well though!

KevIRL

Ian St John getting emotional on SS1

OPENROAD

rossie1977 wrote: »

lets be honest here, two very poor teams that are really so off the pace at the top
arsenal had only one serious shot on goal all match (and scored), liverpool were awful in the second and again gifted a team back into a game after scoring first

Priceless


Win our game in hand three points off the top, we are well off the pace

wandatowell

Jesus Ian St. John is gutted there,

Ardent

Liverpool never going to the win the league while Kuyt is an ever-present in the team.

leninbenjamin

Morzadec wrote: »

Really? I thought the 2nd half was an absolutely poxy. Arsenal were average at best but Liverpool's performance in that 2nd half was awful. Maybe as a Liverpool fan it effects my view of it being a good game but I would've thought it was awful for a neutral. Neither team keeping the ball and neither team testing the goalkeepers (apart from the goals).

There seemed to be absolutley no belief in our team after going 2-1 down. That 2nd half was as bad as I've seen us play all season. We never threatened at all and just kept giving the ball away.

Anyone think a lot of players looked tired? There seemed to be absolutely no belief/desire/urgency in our play. No cohesion between our players.

Fair enough it was an unlucky own goal and another Arshavin wonderstrike that beat us, but I still feel that to not get any sort of result against an Arsenal team that was far from at its best is very very bad. Some bad luck in this game yes, but also one of the worst performances (in the second half) I've seen us put in for years.

From evidence of this game I don't think Arsenal will challenge for the title but will finish comfortably in the top 4. I thought they could've done it but with no RVP I don't think they have enough.

As for Liverpool, who knows? I keep hoping the tide will turn but that performance fills me a lot of doubt. I was always confident we would eventually make the top 4 but I'm really not so sure anymore. Question is are City/Spurs/Villa good enough to capitalise? We may just get away with it

That's a pretty fair summary actually. Both teams were pretty poor by their own standards over the 90 mins. The difference was Arsenal only conceded 1 in their awful spell, thanks to Torres being off the pace more than anything.

As for Pool's prospects, i'm pretty sure ye'll make 4th. What people always forget is that Villa and City always fall off in the second half of the season. They are where they are due to wins against teams in the bottom half of the table, that becomes much more difficult though as the relegation battle heats up. Pool should be fine for 4th.

Spiritoftheseventies

noodler wrote: »

Its what Rafa does - you sell players 6 months after you buy them. Then use excuses like we had to get the value back or he didn't fit the system.



The point is spending 19 Million on one player who contributed a fair bit and then selling him. Next up is buying another one for 20m who won't even get a chance to impact until January. If Aquaman turns out to be god then fair enough but can't help but think 20m could have been spent on something that would have helped us throughout the first half of the season - it could be far too late by the time he does start to do it.

Yes the aqualani situation was very messy. But no point selling him. Would rather see him prove himself than give up on him that early. I really dont know where the team is going to go from here. They are suffocating at the moment.

curry-muff

Alonso must have been looking on thinking 'Thank God i got out of that sinking ship'

ROCKMAN

Congrats Frisbee and co ,
good result and totally deserved for that second half performance , Some strike for the winner ,real cracker.

Liverpool fans must be pulling their hair out after that ,Thought they where very good in the first half and just completely dominated. To go from that to a second half where they could not get near or live with Arsenal passing and movement is just confusing.