Dzǎo-anh Positivistas,
Sky and BT often blather on about the “superior quality/best in the world etc” of the Premier League with no apparent justification but in terms of entertainment that was a great contest last night. Congratulations to both teams and both managers for putting on a spectacle that gripped from the first whistle to the final seconds. Action packed, end-to-end. You name the cliché, this game had it. Technically the football was probably no better than 7/10 but whatever the game lacked in precision it made up for in sweat and a mutual desperation to finish ahead. Even the foul weather added to the drama !
Of the players in old gold picking out names from such an intense match is difficult, but I shall try. There may still be one or two out their purporting a knowledge of football who have their doubts about Joel Campbell but last night he stamped his excellence on the game with two beautifully weighted and directed passes for the opening and third goals. When Joel was not the creator he was tirelessly working, tracking, running, tackling and putting himself about. I get the impression he is a lot “tougher” than two months ago, much, much harder to knock off the ball, much quicker back on his feet. His combination with young Hector has flowered in recent weeks, and last night they presented with an unstoppable combination on our right flank.
The second name out of the hat must be Olivier Giroud. To lead the line against two large centre backs away from home is no easy task. The Frenchman had to content himself with scraps in the opening, but from those meagre pickings he made a tasty meal for first Aaron, then provided the deftest of flicks to leave the Liverpool keeper embarrassed as we pulled back level for the second time. Olivier’s goal in the 53rd minute was the pick of the night, and could be one of the best he ever scores in his career. Perfectly engineered movement to turn, to strike the ball and to place the shot into the far corner. Magnifique young man.
Of the home side I thought they were a credit to their club which are words that I could not have uttered on the evidence of their feeble Premier League form and watched them crumple at Vicarage Road a few weeks back. Firmino finally provided a clue as to why he cost almost £30 million in the Summer and while Henderson is the Nissan Micra equivalent to Mesut’s Mercedes Benz the Englishmen ploughed up and down all night to some effect.
What is perhaps baffling is Klopp’s reliance on Simon Mignolet who I thought should have done much better with two of our goals. And his cack-handedness is hardly a one off is it? The Belgian has made error after error in games for the Merseyside club ever since his arrival. In a world where league tables based upon snatches of data dominate could anyone direct me to the one which lists goalkeepers graded on points costing errors ? Mignolet would surely have dominated that unwanted competition season after season. By way of cross reference to the Liverpool keeping puzzle I checked Pepe Reina’s age. He is younger than Petr Cech. Nice one Brendan.
Overall a fair result, a point apiece on a night when had either side lost it would have been a cruel ending for such endeavour.
A test for our title credentials last night which we passed, another to come.
Onwards to the Potteries on Sunday and I am sure we are expecting another rollicking ( I think that is the word I am looking for ?) contest at the hands and probably the gloves of Sparky’s men.
Enjoy your Thursday.
Positively Arsenal 
Spot on Andy. Absolutely spot on. It would have been a travesty for either side to lose a game in which neither gave up when the scoreline was against them. We are all grown up enough here to acknowledge that the other team battled hard enough to earn their point – in spite of our own disappointment.
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Bravo! Andy Nic (and thanks) and Bravo! Arsenal.
A very good away point indeed, rendered frustrating by the lateness of the final equaliser. M
Steww’s boy Joel outstanding, as you say Andy, and awesome work from one of the best strikers in the league in conditions that would make most of us slip up and slide away as rain turned to snow and the bleakness of a Merseyside winter slammed into Anfield at full throttle.
‘My’ boy Bellerin’s blossoming partnership with Campbell must be causing concern in many defensive quarters and Kelly’s lad Aaron playing like a colossus.
I must admit to added nerves at the sight of Neil Ashton’s boy Ozil coming off; I always think opposition morale is handed a marginal boost when key players make way at such critically important stages of the game. That said, it is a mark of the maturing of the squad that we sought to close out the game rather than go for a fourth. Had we instead gone for a fourth and lost the lead, well, you can all write your own headlines and Twitter moans.
Looks like we have our new signing in the bag and possibly on the bench for Stoke. Who else is AW targeting? One feels there will be more if only to get ahead of the crush likely to hit the market in the summer when all that new TV cash starts to get spent …
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The titterttwatsey think Arsene should have bough Chambers or Gabriel on rather than Mikel. I disagree, what we needed was calm and a measure of control. That it didn’t work out does not make it the wrong decision.
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Lovely stuff Andrew. Both teams were running from the first to the last minute. Fair result where neither team really deserved to had lost the game.
It’s a bit depressing going on twitter this morning. Some of these tools are questioning everything about Arsenal, from the manager, backroom staff to it’s players mental health because we had the audacity to earn just 2/6 from that hopeless lot in the 2 fixtures. They don’t possess the minimal brain cell requirement to look at the 2 games in isolation. Had it not been for Ramsey’s goal being wrongly disallowed we would’ve got 3 pts at the Ems, and last night Klopp and his boys throw everything at us, the kitchen sink, the letterbox and some more. There’ll be some sore bodies this morning from both sides.
Onwards to Stoke we go and if we played anything like we did last night, smiles will return to even the weakest of Arsenal’s fans.
PS: I see Arsenal’s ITK-in-chief Memz started a rumour that Arsenal sold Wilshere for £45m to Man City.
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Let me just add, I don’t give credence to anything that Memz fool have to say. He’s nothing more than an attention seeker.
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Yes twitter has a lot of idiots but to those who think therefore that all of twitter is an idiot brigade, there are easily deployed methods by which one can filter who one speaks with and who one sees. My timeline is, in the main, very sensible and an enjoyable read.
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Old fart’s thoughts
Yet another roller coaster at Anfield. Yet another 2 points gone courtesy of a last minute ‘pool equalizer. Bugger.
But in fairness a draw a fair result albeit that we should have made the game safe before inexplicably retreating into a what we have, we hold mode. Or were the scallies just that fraction quicker? For sure they had by far the best of it in the last 25 minutes or so.
A great game for the neutrals, not so hot for us old geezers who had an incredibly up and down evening. One of the big ups was Oz, proving that even when he’s not running the show, his ability to find a nigh on impossible pass is still there. His first half pass to Theo, unfortunately off side, was amazing; his cross to Joel, who blotted his copybook for the first time in the game by totally mishitting the chance, unbelievable. And he was off the boil.
We got off to a sad start when Theo copied Kos’s cock up in the Sunlan game, Petr was only able to push the shot away and the rebound was easily slotted home. This lead was quickly cancelled out when Joel Campbell showed great composure and talent before slipping an perfectly weighted pass to Rambo who shot inside the near post.
The cheers of the travelling gooners had barely subsided when we went behind again to a goal of some beauty that gave Petr no chance. Pity that the build up needed a couple of ricochets off Arsenal players prior to reaching the Brazilian just outside the area. We seemed to waste a golden opportunity when Olly failed to tap in a cross from Theo, but closer inspection showed a slight deflection that made the “impossible to miss” into a “bloody nigh on impossible to score”. Great pity, it was one of the few good things Theo did in the game.
But then level again. Olly meeting a near post corner as he’s done so many times before and squeezing the ball home from an acute angle. I suspect that Mignolet may well have had some scouse epithets aimed his way.
That was some start but the final 15 minutes went past with no additions to the score. Time to get the breath back.
Ten minutes into the second half, Olly made a goal out of nothing. Receiving from Joel with his back to the goal he swiveled and cracked a great left footer just inside the post. Ahead for the first time we had a spell of dominance and Theo had a mazy run from our half before wasting the opportunity by shooting wide. That really was the end of us as an attacking force, especially when Joel was subbed for the Ox. In retrospect, a totally knackered Joel may have done more than the Ox managed. For sure with his work both on attack and defence, Joel has probably done enough to move above the Ox and Theo in the pecking order for first team places.
The weather treated all to a major advertisement for a January break in the season, was there a bit of hail that accompanied the sleet that turned up? A bad blow to players who’d given their all. And so it went until just like last season, a last gasp equalizer from the ‘pool. Probably fair enough.
Now off to our nemesis Stoke. Hopefully the lads can ignore the surroundings and the knuckle draggers and get a result. Keep the faith.
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Yes I see hindsight in the hands of the simple is being used to its usual ‘devastating’ effect in relation to the substitutions. Where we all these experts when we shut down other games towards the end ?
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What else can I say after such a magnificent summation of the game? But I will.
The think that struck me after the game was how open it was compared to both teams usual average. Liverpool 3 year average is 1.96 GF per game and 1.24 Against. Yet in the first 20 minutes they looked like Barca and Real Madrid pounding a mid or lower tier team in La Liga. Firmino looked positively Messiesque, false 9 and all. This is the same team whose prior 20 PL games was a woeful 1.2 and 1.1 goals respectively. Clearly the Suarez years are long behind them. The only consistent trend as A5 pointed out is that Mignolet, who was once highly rated by various Arsenal bloggers and tweeters, continues to leak goals like a sieve. In contrast Arsenal’s 20 game average is 1.96 For and 0.9 against. Scoring and conceding 3 is way off the charts. Going by all these trends I wouldn’t be too worried about last nights results. Liverpool played out of their skins, much like they did against City and snatched a draw at the end. Emotionally it felt like a defeat to us but one point up at Anfield is a useful return. Roll on to Stoke City.
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And it appears our new Egyptian will be joining us for the trip to the Britannia. Seems a sensible lad, feet on the ground. It might be Stoke are exactly the team to blood him against. Introduction to Mohammed Elneny from David Hytner in today’s Guardian if you have five minutes;
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/14/arsenal-mohamed-elneny-basel
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If the last 2 goals had been reveresed that ‘gutted’ end of game feeling as their equaliser went in would have been replaced by ‘ euphoria’ to an orgasmic level as OG’s turn and shot found the net. Both states of mind would still be transient in the heads of the sane and the rational thinking can see that both endings produce the same result.
Twitter has irrational folk and not following them is the rational response.
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On the Turf there are few things Bookies enjoy more than a change of going, rendering as it does recent form irrelevant. Some horses act on the soft, some on good to firm, their relevant actions determining ability to cope with underfoot conditions. So too with footballers and football teams no doubt, and telling that few on Twitter made any mention of the conditions. I sometimes wonder how much the anger has to do with bets lost. By the end Anfield resembled nothing so much as The Baseball Ground in the 70s, so small wonder that the effectiveness of some of our players was reduced. I suspect that if the conditions had eased and the pitch remained playable we would have ended up winning 5-2, but then again if my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle. I can’t say I enjoyed the game at all, but for the neutral it would have made compelling viewing, just as the previous evening’s 3-3 had been. A good point to have won I think, and should we do the same at Stoke all will look rosy from my point of view.
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Thanks A5 for a great write up. Personally I really enjoyed the rollercoaster ride and the excitement of the game, I thought we showed a lot of strength to keep fighting and eventually lead the game. Klopp and Liverpool were always going to really raise their game for this encounter, and I was glad that we didnt get our heads down and collapse but kept on fighting.And also getting Dan Roebuck to give the PA a shout out on Arsenal player!Great atmosphere here yesterday throughout the match despite being defied at the last.
Now were are on the orc road to Joke City.
COYG!!
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Im sorry to see that Alan Rickman popped his cloggs. A lot of people clocking out, perhaps theyve had enough of the world of the WOB? Soon we will be just left with the Kashadians,how exciting!
Anyway cheers for all the great acting Alan.RIP.
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I love Elneny already….
http://player.arsenal.com/videos/7257/elneny-exclusive
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Why are we not surprised?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/12099524/Arsenal-already-have-a-40million-striker-its-Olivier-Giroud.html
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Mohammed Elneny signs for Arsenal?!
What a surprise!
Where did this come from, why haven’t we been told?
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the January transfer window is likely to explode into major action, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have both received two window transfer bans starting in the summer, so they will both have to do lots of business in the next couple of weeks
they have got the bans from FIFA for same as Barcelona, the breaching of rules over the transfer of minors
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FIFA have put transfer bans on Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, to last for 2 windows:Summer 2016 and Winter 2017. Expect panic buying and selling over the next 2 weeks. We can expect Bale and Ronny to be stuck in Madrid for another year, so Man Utd fans can still just keep dreaming.
The reason for the ban: child trafficking from non EU states.
I am sure however Arsenal’s recent deal to sign two Nigerian teenagers was 100% above board.
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wenger says Arsenal scouted Elneny for a year
http://player.arsenal.com/interviews/video/7258/wenger-on-elneny
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The late and sadly missed Adam Bodgan wrote an excellent article on PA about 2 years ago on this very subject. Big European clubs and child trafficking of minors and the horrible effects on the kids who don’t make the cut.
It’s taken FIFA some time to act, probably helped by having the crony in chief being pushed out of the way.
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Welcome Elbusquets
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well Arsenal must be a very religious club, we’ve had God play for us, now Mohammed has joined us, and I’m sure I hear many fans roar Jesus Christ every time Giroud goes near the ball.
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Another superb write-up. Ta, A5.
Having gone behind twice, I was impressed with the comebacks, esp. as IMO, there was predictable tilting happening. Arsenal weren’t gonna be given a penalty or any “benefit of doubt” decisions.
I found it difficult to know what to think last night. Such an exciting game. At half time I was just stunned at what had happened. I felt as though I needed to watch the whole 1st half again – before watching the 2nd, but of course, you can’t do that unless you’re recording the game. For me this is another of those games I’ll have to watch as live 3 times in order to take in the various bits an’ bobs.
Sure, there’s disappointment at the late goal (all of theirs, actually), but that’s cos I didn’t want them to score at all, and I wanted us to win.
What am I supposed to think when I remove any itchy bitty bias?
Great game. Good comments.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2015-16/liverpool-vs-arsenal-highlights/goal-olivier-giroud-2-3.html
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george
personally i expect arsene to bring on arteta much earlier in the second half when we couldnt control the game and they were all over us looking for the equalizer. instead of ox, arteta would have given us more body in the middle allowing ramsey to move to the right wing while still drifting into the middle. but by the time he was brought on liverpool already have two big center fowards and no longer interestd in playing the ball but the long balls to those two. maybe gabriel or even callum would have served us better. i’m not too sure wenger brought arteta on to keep possession. i guess he was brought on to help to defend in the final minutes of the game. like i said, thats my personal opinion. arsene knows.
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welcome to arsenal elneny.
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All this new found love for Giroud is better late than never. Danny Murphy on Talksport this morning made some half-hearted apology for doubting the man some of us call Larry. We on PA know better. At least I did a piece some months ago titled “Can Arsenal Win the Title Without Giroud.” To be honest the data said NO and I am worried if he should roll his ankle or some other freak accident as happened 3 years ago. Remember we went from being a shoe-in for 3rd to coming 4th on the last day. This is the main worry I have about this team.
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The Telegraph piece on Giroud put paid to any follow-up I could do on the “big fella.”
Sorry Steww.
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This is what we in PA are up against:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160113-are-your-opinions-really-your-own
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Shotta
I think Danny W will fill in for Olivier if and when needed, and Joel will score when needed. After all, Campbell becoming a master at assists – along with his ball retention and passing in tight spaces – not to mention his defending… Well!
Jack will skip thru midfield to finish 20 touch moves, and who knows how much extra Alexis will bring once he’s match fit?
Would you kindly send over some sunshine and heat please. I’m ****ing freezing over here! and I’m in the South. Pah.
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Shame we did not hold on, but Liverpool were extremely up for it from the start and really coming at us towards the end, the conditions making the odd hopeful punt into our goal area a bit of a lottery.
Still, can only praise the commitment, application, and at times, considerable skill for our boys part in a very entertaining game, not the worst result up there, especially when most other results are taken into account.
Bring on Stoke…apparently they kick less….we shall see….
Wonder if Wenger will be asked to comment on the sad passing of Alan Rickman?
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Real Madrid C. F. has today received the decision from the FIFA disciplinary committee, dated 23th July 2015, sanctioning the club with a transfer ban that prevents them from registering any players for the next two complete and consecutive registration periods as well as a fining the club 360,000 Swiss francs.
According to the decision, Real Madrid CF has been sanctioned for:
1.- Playing foreign players, under 18 years of age without being appropriately registered with the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (Spanish Football Federation): Absolutely untrue. All the players that play or have played in the youth teams in our club are and have been registered with the RFEF with prior notice before entering the field of play, as certified by the Spanish football federation to FIFA by means of a correspondence dated 17th April 2015, as the files show.
2.- Incorporating foreign players under the age of 18 years old, either for their first registration in Spain or through transfers from other foreign clubs, without fulfilling the regulatory requirements: Equally untrue. Real Madrid C. F. has always complied with FIFA regulation:
-With regards to players older than 12 years of age and younger than 18, has always complied with FIFA regulation requesting that the RFEF process (as they did) the corresponding authorisation from the FIFA Players’ Status Committee.
-With regards to the players under 12 years of age, the RFEF (the only FIFA representative in Spain) established and communicated to Real Madrid C. F. (email dated 10th March 2014) that in relation to these players, they don’t need a separate process to that of a Spanish under age player, which was ratified by FIFA to the RFEF by fax on 17th Aril 2014.
3.- Not communicating to the RFEF the players that play in the youth teams as FIFA considers that these teams are the equivalent to an academy: Also untrue. Although it is considered that the combined Real Madrid C. F. youth teams consist of an academy, despite not being independent legal entities, Real Madrid C. F. has always notified the RFEF the players who are registered in these teams, as can be proven by the fact that each and every one of them have the corresponding federative licenses, as stated in the document certified by the federation dated 8th April 2015.
As a result, Real Madrid C. F. will appeal this decision of FIFA in all the sporting incidents, considering them absolutely inappropriate.
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seemingly Mike Dean is 4th official on Sunday – Stoke v Arsenal
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Real Madrid will use a wonky fax machine as an excuse again.
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A draw may have been a fair result but in my possibly biased opinion OG’s second deserved to win the/a game.
Onwards and forwards and it looks like a transfer thingy has happened.
Crikey.
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Billy (Joel) came off hobbling as minutes before he been hacked quite badly and quit obviously out of uncontrolled spite (of course no yellow!)
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I could be wrong but it believe the technical term for such a niggle following a playground rumble between friends or what is usually a yellow card offence or worse in a game of assc.football:
“A dead leg”
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Sorry I’m late to the party A5 great write up.
I think we deserved all three points, maybe I’m not very even handed.
Apart from our battling display, I also felt we came off worse on the decisions front.
Definitel a penalty when Campbell was haulded down in front of the ref and on the same side as the lino. The refs leneancy meant several pool players wernt booked and when clyne kicked Campbell in the second half he should have walked. If it had been cricket he would of walked himself without waiting for decision. The drop ball incident was comical, when Ozil sheilded the ball rolling the challenge that come from behind was more appropriate for a porn film than on a football pitch.
Once again Untold called it 100% correct saying based on previous display s he was extremely unlikely to give us a pen and he also would be reluctant to show yellow and reds. Sometimes I am amazed at just how correct they get it.
7 goals conceded in the last two away goals is not good reading however I’m hoping the conditions had alot to do with the goals and not the sort of decision s that Theo Made on the first goal.
Stoke again will be a real test and the games aren’t getting any easier but I do think we are steadily improving.
With each week we stay ahead of the pack and with our players returning our chances will slowly get better and better in fact we only have to win our next 16 league games on the trot and weve won it.
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What do you guys think of the incident where Ramsey lobbed the ball over Mignolet and I think Sakho got back to head it off the line, Mignolet did not touch the ball, but he flattened Ramsey, and it was clear that Rambo thought he should have had a penalty, do you guys think it should have been a penalty(and a red)
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reports in Brazil suggest that Chelsea are set to sign Pato for £11M
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From what I heard and read last night Ian a large section of Liverpool fans were foaming at the mouth that Mike Jones had ignored two clear penalties, one for an obvious Theo handball and another one the details of which merged into two separate incidents.
Can’t say I noticed any clear penalties last night for either side but I may have been swept up in the action.
With both sets of supporters cursing the referee it usually means he either had a shocker, or he got it about right.
I’d go about right myself.
Btw did Untold have anything about the lack of media comment about Deano at SJP on Tuesday ? I did not see any – the journos seem only interested in LvG and Paul Scholes. I know they think it is an important issue.
Good game like that I thought
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Flamini misses with his Kung fu kicks and people freak out.
Next time an AFC player targets an opponent for a solid kick and gets away without even a yellow we will all notice. Because we’ve been waiting for such calls for quite a while.
I don’t think anyone needs to comment any further on Dean. Funny how we have seen this former FUFA “top” ref since his last “performance”. Indeed. It is remarkable. And so people remark upon it.
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Must admit, didn’t think ….in my highly untrained eye…that the ref was too bad, but of course that maybe relatively speaking, sounds like I may have missed a couple things as well.
But not a good couple of days for refs, video analysis, properly done, cannot come too quickly….they need help…so let’s see how long IFAB manage to delay what they appear to be endorsing.
Don’t expect Arsenal to be ever given a penalty again…..but maybe I will be proved wrong this very weekend……but somehow…… doubt it unless of course Charlie Adam or Shawcross take to the field with offensive weapons
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One actual error, and a potentially serious error, that Jones did make was failing to stop the game when Giroud sustained what was obviously a head injury in his clash of heads with Sakho in the 14th minute.
By letting the game continue we scored and needless to say the Scousers were furious at his failure to adhere to the rules concerning head injuries.
If the boot had been on the other foot I imagine something would have been said.
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Mandy it doesn’t matter if people walk or not in cricket as the officals now get the support required to weed out the cheats.
IFAB have indeedn been obstructive perhaps they are an obstruction but we all remain hopeful of slow and incremental improvement which I am sure no one denies is required in the worlds most lucrative sport.
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Very true.
No can say the officals attitude towards the AFC players safety was inconsistent
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Craig Pawson on Sunday, a referee very much like Jones. Last time he officiated was our game at the King Power and he did a good job as far as I recall.
Watch out though – Deano is the 4th official.
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