Lucas Leiva must have gone to the Dirk Kuyt School of self-belief. Time and again over the last three years he has been ridiculed by supporters and critics alike, but this season with Mascherano and Benayoun having moved on and Steven Gerrard’s appearances being curtailed by injuries, he has led by example, producing performances against the top teams to make him one of the first names on the team sheet. He delivered timely interceptions and broke up multiple Arsenal moves; so much so that his nickname should be ‘The Pest’ as both he and Spearing gave the Arsenal play makers Fabregas and Nasri no time to settle on the ball.
Liverpool started the match applying pressure to Arsenal to disrupt their quick stylistic game without being ultra-defensive. Pass and move seemed the doctrine in the opening fifteen minutes and with Carroll looking dangerous from set pieces and swift counter-attacks the intent was obviously a positive one. Walcott on an Arsenal foray unleashed an angled drive which caused Pepe Reina some consternation as the ball swerved late on causing him to palm the ball out with Flanagan as has become is wont arriving on queue to head the ball to safety. With Arsenal in the ascendancy, Koscielny almost put the home team ahead rising like the proverbial salmon to beat Reina’s flailing punch to head against the bar.
Aurelio starting in an unchanged Liverpool line-up after an impressive performance against Adam Johnson was left hamstrung yet again, in a career littered with muscular injuries. But, sadly, even as one door closed another open with Jack Robinson coming on in the left back position. Suddenly, Liverpool had young three Scousers in Spearing, Flanagan and Robinson on the pitch at the same time as the man for all seasons Jamie Carragher. Flanagan and Robinson proceeded to play against Nasri and Walcott with the fearlessness of youthful exuberance, in addition to the sensible governorship of Carragher and the steely resilience of Skrtel.
In Kelly, Spearing, Robinson and Flanagan, Liverpool, specifically Dalglish, has managed to blood youngsters which has provided the club with a foundation for the future. The recent new contracts for Lucas and Kuyt and with Suarez, Meireles and Carroll coming to the fore it gives the club’s supporters more than a little optimism. Both full-backs as with many of Liverpool youngsters are very comfortable on the ball and seem to play the easy ball out of defence rather than the long ball pumped up field aiming for the cheap get out of jail ball to Carroll.
The hard work of Liverpool’s defence and midfield paid dividends as after Arsenal’s early chances, Reina was hardly troubled in the rest of the first half. Sauarez and Carroll, where on Monday against Man City they seemed like a heaven sent strike-force, suddenly seemed as if they were meeting on the pitch for the first time and Arsenal had found a way of blocking their stealth like radar interchange.
Liverpool had early opportunities in the second-half as both Suarez and Meireles had long range pot shots from afar. Liverpool then suffered unfortunate injuries when Carroll seemed to suffer a hyper-extension to his knee on landing and Carragher and Flanagan collided in mid-air leaving the Liverpool captain left prostrate on the ground. Carragher was carried off to a resounding round of applause full of respect as one would expect for a player who has given everything for the club and is a credit to the profession. Andy Carroll was taken off as a precautionary measure.
Once again, the intensity of the Liverpool midfield reduced Arsenal to looking clueless in attempts to create chances. Fabregas, who had a poor game, showed his class with two through balls, the first which Van Persie scooped over the bar and the second, which Reina did brilliantly to stand tall and block. Liverpool had their own chances and the most glaring fell at the feet of Luis Suarez who had his worst game in a Liverpool shirt, who found himself in angled position to the goal decided to go for goal rather than cut the ball back to the marauding Meireles and Shelvey waiting to pass the ball into the net. In saying that, Suarez always offers himself as an outlet which makes it easy for colleagues under pressure.
That Arsenal penalty came from a tackle from Spearing on Fabregas, was unfortunate because the little man had run himself into the ground, and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. But the fact that Liverpool would get a stonewall penalty resulting from the Suarez taken free-kick, with a foul on Lucas, seemed only fair as we didn’t just arrive at the Emirates with two banks of four, we were positive enough to create enough chances to sneak a win on another day. King Kenny has instilled self-belief in a side which is limited in terms of its lack of match winners, but has a never say die attitude which no amount of money can buy.
KOP POST MAN OF THE MATCH: JAY SPEARING
I totally agree with the blog - Lucas has stepped his game up especially in Gerrard's absence. His midfield performances have shown maturity and the extra responsibility of having to guide younger players like Spearing has given him the confidence to show others that he can be relied upon.
ReplyDeleteFlanagan & Robinson both showed that we as a team will be fine defensively if we show faith in our local talent.
We still need to add a couple of players to improve the depth of the squad but with the right choice of players such as a creative midfielder and a couple of wingers we will be ready to challenge for the Premiership especially as there is a great likelihood that we will not have any European distractions.
Yet again the whole team worked their socks off and the mental strength shone through to the credit of the team and the manager King Kenny.
The boys delivered. We need to add 4 players to the squad and the journeymen need to leave. We need players and cover in all departments except at right back where we already have 4 capable playerd.
ReplyDeleteLivi
A fair result, and happy with the performance especially Flanagan, Robinson, Spearing. Dalglish will be looking at theses boys more closely and strengthening them, into the team. I always said we need some homegrown pedigree players to give that extra something, and we got it.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I did not like Wenger kicking off with Dalglish, it was nothing to do with Dalglish, and he should have vented his frustration at his players for not keeping the ball after scoring!