SAME OLD ANFIELD STORY
It’s a new season and a fresh pair of glasses for this blog. The lens I’m looking through won’t be as gooner-tinted as it has been over the past 6 years of this Arteta project. This season, the only thing that matters is output.
Arsenal lost match 3 of the season with a familiar set of copium-filled airbags to cushion the pain of hitting the Premier League crash barriers against our biggest rival so early on.
We didn’t give them much…
The xG was favorable…
The goal was crazy, like, a 2%er of a chance.
‘If we play this game 10 times more in the same fashion then I think it’s eight times a draw, we win it one time and Arsenal wins it one time because it was an uneventful game, which is something sometimes positive as well because both teams were really good in rest defence and in defending.‘ (Arne Slot)
All of the above are valid, but none of them matter right now. In a season where every point counts, an expected draw turning into a loss is not good news and it doesn’t help us get to where we need to go.
Professional people who work in sport will tell you ‘that’s just how it goes sometimes’ and they will point to the freak of a goal… but I can’t have that this season because I’ve seen it happen too many times to Arteta. I want us to be more emotional about those sorts of losses, because at this point, we are on the end of other teams’ magic too often.
Where was our magic moment? Where were our heroes yesterday? Why do Liverpool have more of those moments than Arsenal on a consistent basis?
You make your own luck and my view is that Arsenal did not set up to make luck. The thinking was more focused on how to prevent Liverpool moments than it was on how to create something special of our own. The starting 11 was negative. We kept Eze and Odegaard on the bench and opted for an industrious group built to defend, keep the margins low, and try and catch Liverpool on the break.
Mikel Merino, Zubimendi, and Declan Rice was a solid midfield for making things really difficult. But it just didn’t have the spark needed to get much out of our attackers. Viktor Gyokeres didn’t get involved in the game at all until the 38th minute. Madueke, who was in great form, wasn’t put in enough situations to rattle Kerkez. Martinelli, outside defending, was a disaster… man looked like he’d seen an Arabic text on Berta’s phone that he wished he hadn’t.
Now, let’s be absolutely clear here… Liverpool were no more ambitious than Arsenal. This was two teams with deep respect for one another desperately trying to keep things respectable. The first half finished and Arsenal had played 166 passes to Liverpool’s 167. Arsenal had 6 attacks to Liverpool’s two. We were better than Liverpool and we looked more dangerous.
But Arteta kept the handbrake on. If we were going to win, it was going to be smash and grab, vs putting a reducer on Liverpool in the second half by savaging them with our attacking players. We didn’t introduce our first unforced subs until 70 minutes, Odegaard and Eze entering the field of play for Martinelli and Merino. They didn’t really change the game, but Eze looked lively, and you felt that if he’d been given more time, he might have had a bigger impact.
Then the 83rd minute arrived. Liverpool landed a freekick 30 yards out, Szoboszlai stepped up, and he absolutely fucking WALLOPED it into the top corner. An unstoppable masterpiece. You couldn’t even get angry about it. A world class moment for a world class matchup. It was disgusting.
Arsenal didn’t have the momentum to make a comeback, Liverpool looked more likely to get a second, the lateness of the strike took us out of the game. A painful loss and an absolutely beastly shift in momentum to them.
So… does it matter?
It matters to the fans. That one stung. We wanted more because we all think we know better. Our view was attack, attack, attack… Arteta AND Slot decided that wasn’t going to be the direction they wanted to take the day. Those two are better than me and you… I think. So we should take a bit of solace there.
My main issue is that Arteta always talks about bravery and I’m not sure that line-up spoke to it. He wants players to be brave, but puts 3 midfielders on the pitch who can’t create. The boss starts a winger who doesn’t really score goals, but he’s good at tracking back. We created next to nothing for our new striker all game long because there was no one to feed him. If you want bravery, shouldn’t your actions speak to that?
Back to the question, 6 points from our opening three games is very good. We said 5 or more at the start of the season, so we can’t harp on too much. Liverpool are Champions, they are about to take their summer spending to over £400m. They are favorites, and they have the magic. We were also missing 3 of our best players… again.
This result won’t kill our season. I doubt it’ll rattle the dressing room. It’s just another frustrating afternoon at a place we don’t do well at… and it broke our incredible top 6 record. The only positive I can truly take from today is I think Liverpool are weaker than many believe and Arsenal will prove stronger.
So… some concluding thoughts.
Gyokeres The Anonymous
I honestly don’t care if it upsets you, I’m going to point out the things you won’t even say in your group chats… Gyokeres did not look very good. I don’t care about Sesko, Ekitike, Woltemade, or Callum Wilson. I care about Gyokeres. He didn’t look good in a serviceless game. His touch was heavy, he’s not particularly fast, and worryingly… he was getting shoved around all game by Liverpool's collection of centre-backs… and don’t pretend you weren’t wondering if players are choosing not to pass to him.
We missed Kai Havertz against Liverpool. Someone who can hold the ball up, turn into space, jostle with big defenders… the German would have started today if he was fit. That’s a problem for me. Bergkamp and Thierry started slow, I’ll give you that, but the touch and the class was there. I am really struggling with what I’m seeing right now. 2 touches in their box, zero shots on or off target, 17 touches… that is grim reading. Kai averages 40.2 touches per game in the Premier League, Viktor is 23 so far. He needs to do better.
Madueke The GREAT
Come on, that was something… right? Direct running, aggressive and decisive in one vs one situations, 3 shots, and a much better defensive performance than we’ve seen so far. There was still no output, but I think we saw enough to know he’s going to be value add this season. His speed is absolutely outrageous. Not quite Saka, but an option you don’t want to cry about if you have to see him for 20 games over the course of a season.
Mosquera Dreamy Debut
Bill Saliba went off with an injury after about 5 minutes. A nightmare moment. He’d rolled his ankle in the warmup and couldn’t recover. He was walking without a boot after the game, which was promising. BUT… Mosquera coming on was scary. But we needn’t have worried. He was BRILLIANT. His start was very shaky. Bad passes, a little too much excitement… but he rode it out, showed bravery, and saw out the game with next to no drama. A brilliant game from someone who is only 21 years old!
Open Play Attacking Issues
Arsenal have created 1.57 xG in open play over the opening 3 games. The context is Liverpool and United away, two games we don’t like. But it’s still a concern because what we’re watching feels very similar to what we were put through last season. United lost to Grimsby, Liverpool were battered by 10 man Newcastle in the week, I don’t want to be making excuses for our attack this season, because we’ve spent an awful lot of money trying to fix it this summer.
It has to get better, more aggressive, direct, magical… someone made a great point online earlier that Arsenal are far more likely to take massive risks playing the ball out the back than they are in the final third. I don’t want Arsenal bringing in new players to put them through the same journey Jack Grealish went through when he left Villa a free-scoring hero, to end up as a bland control merchant at City.
We have seen free-spirited Arsenal sides under Arteta. I want to get back to that. Trying to squeeze games and be a low margin Mourinho team all year isn’t what the doctor ordered. We’re not lucky enough to be that group, we concede too many freak goals. I want to see Joga Bonito Arsenal. I want to see street baller Eze, street balling us to glory. I don’t want to see Merino in big games so we can duel our way to draws. Can’t we look at the precedent Liverpool set last season and yesterday? Dream of entertaining. Take a chance. Force the magic.
Ok, that’s me done, let me know how you felt about that game. Also, sign up to our membership if you want a piece of that On The Whistle action.
Podcast## LIVERPOOL VS ARSENAL | ON THE WHISTLE | MEMBERS LIVE PODCAST
Pedro
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Aug 31
LIVERPOOL VS ARSENAL | ON THE WHISTLE | MEMBERS LIVE PODCAST
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