This has been a horrid week with “Sterlingate” being played out on the BBC and then Arsenal gaining sweet revenge after last season’s mauling by handing out a thrashing at the Emirates Stadium.
Without the suspended Skrtel, Brendan Rodgers looked to the experience Kolo Toure to lead the defence in the knowledge he was missing the talents of Gerrard (suspension), Lallana and Ibe (injured) and the returning Daniel Sturridge not fully fit in a must win game. The Ivorian looked every one of his 34 years, hesitant and slothful against an Arsenal side starting with a pace and fluency reminiscent of so many of Liverpool’s performances under Rodgers.
Let’s make no mistake, but for the brilliance of Mignolet
Arsenal could have had the game wrapped up in the first four minutes with the
keeper saving brilliantly from Santi Cazorla and then saving well Ramsey with
Toure atoning for his mistake by nipping in as Cazorla looked odds-on to score.
Liverpool began to get a foothold in the game on the
quarter-hour with decent possession and Sterling screwed a good opportunity
wide after being put through. With
momentum on the turn the key moment of the match for Liverpool came and went
with Markovic put clean through as Sterling waiting for a simple pass to put
Liverpool one-up, the midfielder unbelievably overcooked his pass out of the
reach of the striker’s sliding boot.
After getting back into the game an 8 minute period before half-time
saw our season unravel without any warning.
Bellerin was allowed to gallop onto the ball down the left before
cutting inside past Moreno who offered a token gesture, to curl a superb
controlled finish past the despairing Mignolet.
Minutes later Arsenal went two-nil up. Ozil running away from goal was unnecessarily
fouled just outside the area and the German World Cup winner left Mignolet
flailing as he tucked the free-kick away with a sumptuous curled shot. Liverpool looked dead and buried and a heavy
beating was definitely on the cards.
Any chance of Liverpool coming back into the game was to get
to half-time without conceding another goal.
It was not be as yet again we gave the ball away in a critical area and
after receiving a pass Sanchez cut inside from the right leaving Toure
floundering before unleashing a pile driver which tore past Mignolet into the
roof of the net.
Two weeks ago we dreamt of second place and now at half-time
there was the ignominy of possible finishing the weekend seventh in the league. After the embarrassment of his first-half performance
Markovic was replaced by Sturridge. It
could just have easily been Toure or Allen or even Coutinho had there been an
alternative.
The second-half was an exercise in how to canter through a
half protecting a lead as Arsenal refused to over commit as they have so often
in the past. Liverpool struggled to find
Daniel Sturridge with any decent service throughout and it was Arsenal who had
the first real attempt with Mignolet flipping over a powerful Giroud header.
Emre Can in a bid to add power and drive to Liverpool in the
final third attempted to get further up the field saw his shot pushed round the
corner by Ospina.
Liverpool gained a penalty with 14 minutes to go as Bellerin
brought down Sterling and was lucky to stay on the pitch having been booked moments
earlier for manhandling the same player.
Henderson dispatched the penalty which crept under the hands of the
diving Ospina.
Any remaining hope disappeared when Emre Can’s scissor
tackled Welbeck out of frustration which sees the German unavailable for the
Wednesday’s FA Cup Quarter-Final replay at Blackburn.
Liverpool’s week of implosion was completed in injury-time
as Sanchez found Giroud who skipped inside Toure which had been the standard
for the day before shooting home a scorching drive inside Mignolet’s far post
to leave Liverpool in no-man’s land in terms of where our future lies without
Champions League football, “Sterlingate” and the lack of top class success in
the transfer market.
Man of the Match: Simon Mignolet – Head and shoulders above any
Liverpool player on the pitch. Defied
Arsenal twice early on to keep Liverpool in the game and just after half-time
clawing over a Giroud header. He also
blocked a Danny Welbeck one on one.
Critcal-eye: The formation which served us so well through
the magnificent run in between the two defeats by Man United was worked out
partially by Swansea and conclusively by first Man United and today at the
Emirates. It was surprising not to see
Daniel Sturridge start with a win the only real alternative in the quest for a
Champions League Place.
Toure struggled from the start and his frailty was shared by
Lucas, Allen and Coutinho who time and time and again gave away the ball in
crucial areas.
The miss was vital and would have changed the momentum of
the game.
It seemed a strange decision to start Jordan Henderson at
wing-back when he has been vital creative force throughout the season and we
missed his drive and bite in the midfield areas with Allen even with the assurance
of Lucas behind him unable to assert any control and looked decidedly
lightweight in amongst the movement and speed of the Arsenal midfield.
Sterling watch: In a team performance which was not much to
write home about, he did as well as any.
On another day he could easily have scored two, pulling his shot wide
and seeing Markovic’s potential assist over hit with the goal gaping at his
mercy. His very clever footwork lulled
Bellerin into a rash tackle to gain Liverpool’s penalty.
Arsenal:
Formation: 4-4-2
Team: 13 David
Ospina, 39 Hector Bellerin, 4 Per Mertesacker, 6 Laurent Koscielny (Gabriel
Paulista – 48 mins), 18 Nascho Monreal, 34 Francis Coquelin, 19 Santi Cazorla,
16 Aaron Ramsey (Mathieu Flamini – 61 mins), 11 Mesut Ozil (Danny Welbeck – 72 mins),
17 Alexis Sanchez, 12 Olivier Giroud
Substitutes: 3 Kieran
Gibbs, 5 Gabriel Paulista, 7 Tomas Rosicky, 14 Theo Walcott, 20 Mattieu
Flamini, 23 Danny Welbeck, 49 Matt Macey
Liverpool
Formation:
4-1-4-1
Team: 22 Simon
Mignolet, 23 Emre Can (sent off 84 mins), 4 Kolo Toure, 17 Mamadou Sakho, 14
Jordan Henderson, 21 Lucas, 24 Joe Allen, 18 Alberto Moreno, 50 Lazar Markovic
(Daniel Sturddige – 45 mins), 10 Philippe Coutinho, 31 Raheem Sterling
Substitutes: 1,
Brad Jones, 2 Glen Johnson, 6 Dejan Lovren, 15 Daniel Sturridge, 19 Javier
Manquillo, 29 Fabio Borini, 32 Cameron Brannagan
Referee: Anthony
Taylor
Attendance: 60081
Not sure about this manager. Got no tactical nous to adapt when up against it. First LVG and now Wenger. 3 players sent off in 2 games and players going off and having un-sanctioned interviews with major media outlets. Contracts not getting sorted. He's losing control of the ship. Next season is his last to get control & deliver or else he'll be out.
ReplyDeleteFBJ
FBJ, against Swansea we changed it at half time because it wasn’t working. Against Man United we changed at half-time because it wasn’t working. Teams have worked as out, pressurising us at the back and overwhelming us in midfield – he had/has to work on a plan b. Whether it was bringing on Lovren and releasing Can into the middle, just something different. Another season without Champions League football is a bitter pill to swallow with the Europa League to look forward too.
ReplyDeleteThree strikers Lambert, Borini and Balotelli (ruled himself out according to Brendan with a knock on the knee) and not one of them took part yesterday.
Wednesday against Blackburn is massive. No Skrtel, no Gerrard, No Can, no Lallana it’s a must win game and quite simply we have to get to the final and win. I agree that next season, especially if we don’t win the Cup puts him in the last chance saloon and I don’t think that’s an over- reaction. Brendan said we are a ‘Super Power’ well next season has to be stellar with Champions League qualification at the very least or we’ll be moving into a lean period away from the top table.
And if this game proved anything in a week when contract negotiations have been to the fore is that Kolo Toure should not be returning next season. Under pressure his lack of pace was evident and but for Mignolet we would have been made to pay even further. For two of the goals he did a superb impression of a statue.
Basically we have now to win all our games till end of season, there is no more "this game is massive" they all are, but still does not mean we will get 4spot, it was yesterdays Arsenal game which was the turning key. Rest of the top 4 teams look massively strong, and we players thinking about signing a new contract, that just shows says it all. Our injuries and red cards have come at a wrong time of the season, and we back to square 1 no quality to come of the bench and cover.
DeleteSeason is gone mate. It's about the summer now and getting the new players properly fit and gelled in the system.
DeleteThe fat lady is singing. I wasn't that impressed with Brendan on Saturday either. No plan B, but also the plan A involved playing Henderson at wing back rather than in the position where he has been flourishing this season. I'm probably the lone ranger that thought Johnson should have been given a go at right wing back. Square pegs into round holes works often when there's weaker opposition but when you're playing top four teams, you need the right players in their positions.
DeleteI was glad that Lucas was in the starting line up but forgot that it does usually take him a few games to settle in after he's returned from injury.
Just goes to show, three out and out international strikers at the club, excluding Sturridge, but not one of them involved in the game because the manager doesn't trust them (or they pretend to be injured)!. Whether that's right or wrong, it backs up what some of us have said for some time - the squad is extremely thin in certain areas, despite appearing to have sufficient numbers.
I was quite disappointed with BR's remarks after the game. He basically seemed to throw the towel in on the Premiership to focus on the FA cup. But what if we lose on Wednesday? We still need to be aiming for a top 5 finish. Thankfully Spurs and Southampton didn't win otherwise we could have been languishing in 7th.
She’s been gargling for a while. We haven’t played well since the Burnley game, we struggled against Blackburn and looking back they were the first team to deny us space.
DeleteBrendan did brilliantly to brink us back from the bring from December onwards, but at the end of the day the holes in the squad have come back to haunt us and he has to take a lot of the blame. Lovren, Moreno, Manquillo, Markovic, Lambert, Ballotelli and Can all brought in before the start of the season with only Can a qualified success. Manquillo and Lambert don’t play because Brendan does think they suit the formation… and he obviously doesn’t rate Balotelli and Borini. Until Saturday Markovic had returned to the back burner.
A part from Chan the only other qualified successes in the transfer under Brendan has been Coutinho and Sturridge and Chan is not even playing in the position he was brought into play. There are too many players in the squad who Brendan just kicks to the curb, most of them he actually bought.
I’m not a fan of the Director of Football model, but the trust in Brendan’s abilities and moreover the transfer committee in the transfer market must be wearing thin. It might be an idea to get someone in who can entice players to Anfield with Brendan openly admitting it’s going to be difficult to bring players in for next season… not like it was easy before!
Now Henderson has jumped on the contract bandwagon
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3027342/Jordan-Henderson-seeking-100-000-week-contract-committing-Liverpool.html
Shame it ain't Brendan Rodger's contract that's up.
Pardon the puns but the election season is truly upon us. Never a truer word than "a week is a long time in politics - so too - at least metaphorically for football too. It's obviously going to be up to the Board to vote on May 7th or the final day of the league or FA cup. Freddy I'm not going to jump on the "out" referendum on Brendan, at this stage.
DeleteI'm expecting another timed leak from Rafa's camp too about his wish to return to pick up his mayoral duties of some description on these shores once again. We seem to hear something every time we lose.
If,we lose to Blackburn and finish 20 in say 7th, maybe 15-20 points off the top I reckon he'll be under very close scrutiny indeed and he'd have nobody to blame for that. Personally I think he's probably got some areas for development in terms of games against top Opposition in the Premiership, Champions league and Europa. I think you guys probably already know my feelings about the EU although whether we enter it or not remains in our hands.
Well Brendan is moving into unchartered territory.
DeleteI said last week that offering Sterling x amount would opened the door to Coutinho and Henderson banging on the door for more. Dangerous times for the club, either we change the pay scale and the modus operandi behind the transfer strategy or we are going to be moving into our very own winter of discontent.
They may have to go down the Chelsea route of a few years ago, that is no top player could earn more than Lampard and Terry and if they did both would get a pay hike.
Chelski would have been nothing without Frank Lampard.and the other one. Arguably, they still are nothing but they've achieved. They were both critical to Chelski's success. Just begs the question of whether Jordan and Raheem as critical? Interesting.
DeleteWell right now they are very important players to the club, not saying we should give should give what they want, but we need to come to a fair an mutual agreement, a balanced pay scale for the club not the player.
DeleteVery important players now and for the future but the agents are dictating the salaries. What's also sad about all this is the fact that at the end of the day it's the supporters who pay for it - just got notification of an increase in my Sky Sports subscription.
DeleteFormer Bernabeu player Zidane, who now manages Real Madrid's Castilla B-Team, told the Daily Mail: “We know who Raheem Sterling is, and of course we are monitoring him as a player."
ReplyDeleteHe said there are "very few players in the world who can improve the Real Madrid squad", and reasoned it "make[s] sense we monitor the progress of the best young players in the world."