For as devastating as Liverpool have been on the attack, we have been positively anemic on offense. We didn’t even register a shot on target in the first 45 minutes, and when three minutes of stoppage time were added, it seemed more like a misguided attempt at pity from referee Michael Oliver, who’s earned some ire from Gooners in the past, but there’s not much to complain to him about. Sure, Skrtel looked to be offsides on the first goal, breaking into the box before the set-piece delivery from Gerrard, but the finger-pointing will have to stop there as the the other three goals came from some poor marking, failure to track back, and getting caught too high up the pitch.
On the second goal from Skrtel, he managed to elude Koscielny to head home a corner, and the best Kos could do was to stick out a foot that never had a chance of finding the ball. Sterling’s goal came as he was able to run into the box unmarked to latch on to a cross from Suarez and poke it home from about 5 yards out. On Sturridge’s goal, an excellent through-ball from Coutinho sent him running in behind anyone in Arsenal yellow and all he had to was put it past Szczesny.
For long stretches of the first half, Liverpool have been quicker, more energetic, and more organized, and clearly look hungrier to win than we have. We’ve looked, to be honest, disorganized, disinterested, and, now, overwhelmed. It’ll take an epic, epic comeback if we’re to find a point from or even restore some dignity to this match. Here’s hoping that the halftime pep-talk is the stuff of legend, as is the second half performance…
Hehe! Wenger didn't bother to strengthen the team. Bought an injured old midfielder instead.
The big german maybe able to read the game but he is ponderous and true enough his foul led to the avalanche.Some seasons back in the league cup Arsnal were swept by both MU and Spurs.Wenger is naive if he thinks teams like Pool and other s will let Arsenal have time to pass and create scoring chances.When Pool scored the last three goals the gaps in the Arsenal defence reminded me of the games against Chelsea and Mu when Ronaldo and Drogba were scoring for fun.The gunners as usual try to pass and pass and try to thread the ball through the Pool packed defence. Is it any wonder they can't score? If Wenger were to leave on his own ,I hope the board will appoint their one man and not someone who is recommended by the Fm.I am afraid his styl e is too straight forward.Anybody can see it.Wenger has beaten only Pool of the top 4 teams.
Evan a “draw” in the second half does nothing to ease the fears and feed the doubts of Gunner supporters. What this game and quite possibly the next month, may prove are several points:1) Arsenal is not equal to either Chelsea or MC as of now. Hopefully that are better than Liverpool and Everton (despite today's debacle)2) Wenger has quickly been proven wrong as to his egotistical estimation that he had sufficient quality and talent to make no changes to the squad during the January transfer period3) Wenger, as has been pointed out already, is predictable in his style and teams are capable of preparing for his team. Whether his style is based on his players or his players have been chosen to play his style, may not matter4) Other teams have been improving more than Arsenal has and we cannot attribute displays such as today, the MC match or even the Chelsea draw to injuries alone. I doubt that the addition of one or two of the players that were rumored during the transfer period would have altered today's outcome. A healthy Kim would have done little since I suspect he would not have started. Klos, Bergatov, or any other added striker would also have been a bench-warmer for no less than one half. Draxler would not yet be playing in midfield due to injury. Would a Ramsey have made a difference if playing?This was a team (lack of) effort that, in borrowing from any number of adages, began at the top. If you want the best analogy: Arsenal were the Denver Broncos and Liverpool were the Seattle SeahawksAll one can now do is pray for a better result on Wednesday and next Saturday, let alone beyond. I stress “pray” versus “hope”. This assumes that God, who Einstein indicated does not play dice with the universe, cares about English football, let alone Arsenal football club.
I don't normally bother with halftime check-ins, but I didn't see us turning things around and didn't look forward to rehashing such a poor performance. I'm currently resisting the urge to draw deeper lessons from this debacle, but you raise valid points. However, Liverpool were very fortunate on the Skrtel goals (the first of which should have been disallowed, but what can you do?). As to improvements, I don't think any of us saw first place as realistic at the start of the season even before Ozil signed. Summer would have been the time to add other players because, as you point out, no one we were looking at in January would have done much to change things today (other than in that cosmic sense of setting off some other chain of events that completely and fundamentally alters the fabric of the space-time continuum, in other words, not on the pitch itself).I still think we have it in us to rebound against Man U. We'll have an extra day's rest to lick the wounds and restore some pride. we knew that going into Anfield would be difficult, but don't let the margin draw you down into despair. if anything, I think we'll see a galvanizing effect going forward.