Hello there you gooner, you. You alright? How you holding up after last night?
I’ll level with you – in writing this on the Friday night sitting on the tube making my way back to Uxbridge; I have an early morning drive up to Northumberland and do the chance of writing a post match blog is very limited.
What this also means is that I am still set deep within the emotion of the game, so forgive me if my opinions seem a little bit on the raw side, but the game from whence I’m writing is still very raw.
And my initial reactions aren’t ones of relief, but of disappointment, because the way I’m feeling right now I am not happy with Arsenal’s overall performance.
It feels like we’ve had five minutes of absolute bliss, surrounded by 85 minutes plus of pretty turgid stuff.
If I was a Liverpool fan this morning I’d be just as disappointed, because by and large, they did ya over. They did us over real good.
They dominated the ball, they dominated the attacking threat and until Alexis gave us some hope, they looked like they could run away with this game.
On our patch.
For the second season running.
What happened to that Arsenal team that had such incision and drive against United and came across a ‘keeper who was inspired? Where has that Arsenal team gone?
Because what I saw was a team who were gifted a lifeline by a Mickey Mouse Liverpool Defence and a ‘keeper who was matched in his flapping by Cech on the third goal.
So in the raw moment of speeding past Wembley stadium as I write this – no – I’m not satisfied by a point because I don’t think this Arsenal team played smart against a very impressive Liverpool front line.
We didn’t play smart, we played right in to their hands and quite frankly, that is maddening.
A disciplined performance, with the right set up, could have negated Liverpool and given us the opportunity to replicate the North London Derby.
Instead Arsène did what Arsène does: he played his team and ignored the strength of the opposition.
Why on Earth was Iwobi on the pitch? Can somebody answer me? How can his inclusion from the start be justified? I just don’t understand. How about we take his role – which was redundant in the evening anyway – and fill it with another player who can track the runs of the very mobile Liverpool front three.
We went into the halftime break one down through a little bit of fortune but there were countless other chances that we gave away. The very fact that I’m loathed to totally chastise Cech of their third goal sums up just how cack we were; we relied him to get out of jail on more than one occasion.
The thing that’s winding me up tonight is that this Liverpool team aren’t that great. They showed that tonight with their defensive display. But that’s 0 for 5 for Arsène on Premier League games for Klopp and you have to wonder when the actual f^ck he’s going to learn how to set up against a team like Liverpool.
He had the f*cking blueprint after the Tottenham game. Why the flying f*ck didn’t he execute the same plan?
Because he’s a stubborn old man who wants to do things his way and the result? A point in which some will shrug shoulders but the reality is that most of us know deep down should have been more.
I’m angry because we have good players. They just don’t look like a cohesive unit and defensively, at times, they are shambolic.
Perhaps by tomorrow morning I’ll have chilled out, although I suspect it’s because I’ll be in Christmas mode, but Arsenal right now are doing nothing to convince me that they are a top 4 side. That 3-3 draw flattered us, despite the fact we were 3-2 up and quite frankly, I’m getting sick of the Arsenal ‘what ifs’.
Here’s a ‘what if’ for you: what if we had a manager who had an answer to a particular style other than “let’s just play our way at home”. That’s be ace.
Tonight’s game was there for the taking. Tonight’s game feels like yet another wasted opportunity. Tonight’s game feels like more negatives than positives.
I haven’t listened to what Arsène has to say. Quite frankly I’m not interested in the excuses. We aren’t a top four side and that will bear out in the next few months.
But hey, we’ve got another year and a half of this so let’s just bed down and deal with it, because it’s gonna keep happening.
Sorry for the negativity but the odd good result punctuated by a host of average or shit ones are hardly cause for optimism.
Catch you on Sunday.
How much idiot can someone be to insist on a totally confused Iowby and to put Niles to stop Mane !!!!!!
How much stupid can someone be to insist on a totally confused Iowby and to put Niles to stop Mane !!!!!!
Niles did well.salah wud have roasted monreal or d tank.arsenal is more a confidence team before been a tactital team.wit dat formatn we cud have still won jus dat dias a big lack of confidence Dats why u had stray passes evrywer.desire n drive makes arsenal tick Dats why we wer on dem frr dat 5minutes