Little Joe saves point for LFC in a thrilling draw with Gunners

Blog by dedlfc (David Douglas)

Liverpool 3 Arsenal 3

Pre-match: This was a highly anticipated game for all who love both clubs with banter both at home and at work being the norm. I think I pulled a hamstring rushing home to make the match. The LFC team news was very interesting seeing Captain Hendo in the line-up gives me much more hope of getting a result from the game. I'm sure the rest of the team feel the same with our midfield dynamo out there badgering all around. 

Early penalty claim as Lallana goes to ground at the top of the box. Didn't look like much to be honest, and Lallana didn't really make a meal of it. Either way good start early on.

Emre Can picks up the ball at the top of the box, and fires a low driving shot at Peter Cech. The Arsenal keeper can only palm it into the path of Roberto Firmino, who bangs in the rebound with a left-footed shot through the legs of Koscielny. This is a deserved lead with our pressing tempo causing Arsenal no end of concern defensively.

We were creating all the pressure early, and were justly rewarded. Firmino picks up a yellow for the unforgivable sin of removing his shirt in celebration.

Ramsey is played through on goal by a neat reverse pass by Campbell which bamboozles our defence, and beats Mignolet unforgivably at his near post with a clinical first-time finish. 1-1 at Anfield. Poor keeping so soon after we had taken the lead.

Firmino bangs in his second, this time a brilliant curling shot from the top of the box. It was going to take something special to beat Cech from there, and special it was. Reds back in front, 2-1.

Moments later, another big chance as Moreno nearly beats the offside trap, but the flag was (rightfully) up. Also, he hit the crossbar. So.we were looking like we were causing Arsenal all sorts of trouble.

We are attacking in waves now, with especially our midfield absolutely buzzing around the pitch.

Arsenal equalize again. Giroud claims the goal off the corner, but the defending was inexcusable (if totally predictable). Both goals for the Gunners have come against the run of play, but they've looked dangerous just about every time they've made their way forward. 

Lallana did not focus on his job and let the Arsenal players run across him to get the vital first flick on which deceived our keeper Mignolet – whose reaction was very poor.

After a fantastic opening spell by us, the Gunners have had the best of it since their second equalizer. It appears that we have thrown our best punch, and the current league leaders took it on the chin and hit back hard. 

Halftime thoughts: A wonderful half for the neutral observer. But I'm not neutral, and I'd have to rank this half more along the lines of "frustrating." Going forward, the game plan and execution has been fantastic. 

This is arguably the best half we've seen from Firmino, with two excellent goals, and several other half-chances created in and around the box. Unfortunately, we had to work exceptionally hard for our two goals, and Arsenal's came exceptionally easy. Game could go either way. Firmino hat trick for the win? Pretty please? 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ibe comes off in a few minutes. Already in this half he's killed several attacks by dribbling either to nowhere or directly into a defender, not looking like he is ready for this level in my opinion. Then again, the options are the static Benteke and the untested at this level Teixeira, so maybe our manager sees the benefit of keeping him on the pitch for now.

Arsenal take the lead for the first time with a fantastic finish by Giroud (and a great deal of further sloppy defending by the Reds).

Our pressing game is now looking to be more on the risk than the reward side of the ledger. We increasingly don't look likely to produce an equalizer at this rate.

Benteke comes on for Milner. It would be great for him to score in a big game when we really need a goal.

Now that we need a goal, our players look completely out of ideas. Benteke standing around and demanding the ball whilst completely unconcerned with what other players are doing around him isn't helping. 

Joe Allen comes on for Emre Can. Hopefully Little Joe can put in a few minutes like his last performance against Stoke City. 

Caulker comes on for Lallana, which is, um, weird, right  (I assume Caulker is on the pitch to provide a further threat in the air especially attacking corners). Especially when untested attacking midfielder Teixiera is on the bench as an option.

GOAL!!!  LITTLE JOE SCORES ALL IMPORTANT EQUALISER!!!! Following up from a late Liverpool attack Allen calls for a volley coming out to him and finishes with calmness under intensive pressure to earn us a well-deserved draw 3-3. Well done Joe !!!!

Full time: To be honest, I didn't see that equalizer coming. If you say nothing else about Klopp, he has this team playing to the bitter end. What a moment for Joe Allen, who is starting to give some reasons why he should be a more integral part of this team. Another fantastic goal celebration by Klopp – he lives every moment as a LFC fan when we score.

LIVERPOOL (4-1-4-1): Mignolet; Clyne, Toure, Sakho, Moreno; Can(Allen, 82); Ibe, Lallana(Caulker, 88), Henderson, Milner(Benteke, 66); Firmino. Subs not used: Lucas, Smith, Ward, Teixeira.

Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini ; Campbell(Oxlade-Chamberlain, 75), Ozil(Arteta, 87), Walcott(Gibbs, 79); Giroud  

Referee: Mike Jones

Att: 44,109

Man of the match – Firmino – for his fantastic performance for us in the first half. Will the real Firmino please stand up!! His movement between the lines  dropping off Arsenal’s defence– dovetailing with Lallana who makes unselfish runs creating space for Firmino shows why he is a dangerous proposition as an alternative to Benteke.

The Firmino that played so well against Man City certainly turned up versus Arsenal but we need him to do this on a more consistent basis as he will not be playing sides that give him the space that Arsenal afforded him. 

Critical analysis

The defensive side of our game continues to cost us points with both Toure and Sakho not covering themselves in glory with Giroud giving his fellow countryman Sakho a torrid time up front winning the majority of headers and coming out of the game with two goals and a miscue away from a hat-trick. Sakho always seems to take a game or so to settle back into the side, just a shame that his settling back game was against the league leaders, Toure should only come in for one or two games and is not good enough to play for a sustained run of games so hopefully Caulker will come in for the Man United game.

We do not have a keeper in our squad that we can rely on with Mignolet and Bogdan both not being up to the standard with high profile mistakes for us this season. Another mistake by Mignolet in this game lost us the momentum and gave Arsenal back the initiative. The sad thing is that Mignolet has now signed a new 5 year contract for us and has not done enough in my opinion to justify the reward of a 5 year contract.

Benteke – again came on and we never looked a threat with Benteke losing his aerial battles with the Arsenal defence and he also got into the way when balls were played upto the attacking midfielders rather than ensuring he was in the area anticipating a cross or a chance to score from a pass in the area. He in my opinion is flattering to deceive – a one in two record is not to be sniffed at but when it is all said and done the manager does not seem to trust him in the big games as he seems to be left out of the starting line-up for them.

Poor levels of concentration and not knowing how to utilise game management was vital in this game as we conceded goals on both occasions when we were ahead within 5 minutes of taking the lead which is extremely poor.

Jordon Ibe – he may go onto be a fantastic player for us but his distribution was again very disappointing and knowledge of when to dribble and when to pass or cross has to improve as the Arsenal game was another prime example of why he is still not ready for the very top level games yet.

Positive analysis

The first positive was having the determination and never say die attitude to secure a point after going behind in the second half.

The midfield engine room of Henderson and Can bossed the midfield with and without the ball for large periods of the game, with Can driving us on in his box to box role typified in his role in the first goal for us – his shot after joining his team mates in the box was parried with Firmino following up to stroke home. With their technique, power and bundles of energy this midfield duo if kept fit could dominate midfields for a good while. It was a very good start versus Arsenal.

Our midfield as a whole in the first half pressed well and helped put enough pressure on Arsenal to make them lose the ball high up in their half of the pitch which enabled us to create several chances – our midfielders didn’t track back for Ramsey’s blind side run for Arsenal’s first and Lallana didn’t prevent the corner getting across for the second.

Manager’s views

“It was a great football game and ultimately we will talk about this game maybe not too long because Sunday is Manchester United but it is not easy to forget,” he said.
“The beginning was really good, not perfect but not too far away from it.
“Set-plays we have to defend better. We have to work on it, will work on it. We will analyse it and work it better.
“The second goal, the set-play, he (Mignolet) needs help from all the players.
“At half time we came back in the game and again I think it is brilliant from Giroud but in the beginning we have to defend it better and be more concentrated.
“Then you have low battery and you need a bit of luck and we had it. We changed players and I think it was a well-deserved draw.”