by Reg » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:34 pm
Interesting comment in tomorrows Times that the Aresenal lads looked knackered.
I reckon physically and mentally we're above these guys- they've run out of gas.
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Arsenal held to draw by LiverpoolJonathan Northcroft, The Sunday Times
Stan Kroenke, the US sports mogul who has spent a year building a 12.19% stake in Arsenal, came to the Emirates stadium to watch his team for the first time. He must have been confused. Arsenal were supposed to still be chasing the title but were half-hearted and surrendered any lingering hopes of overhauling Chelsea and Manchester United.
The game was supposed to mean less to Liverpool but they pursued three points with greater verve and surety, and were unfortunate not to beat these opponents in London for the first time under Rafael Benitez. For the third time this season these sides shared a 1-1 draw. One big striker cancelled out another, Nicklas Bentdner equalising from a second-half set-piece after Peter Crouch, one of a poor game’s few passable performers, gave Liverpool a merited first-half lead.
Jamie Carragher was among the two or three others who did well and Benitez will need the defender at his totemic best when the teams reconvene at Anfield, for their third meeting in six days. If, in Tuesday evening’s Champions League quarter-final second leg, it is 1-1 yet again the tie will head towards the car crash of penalties. Should Carragher and company hold out for a clean sheet, however, Liverpool will be back in the last four of their favourite competition and Arsenal’s season will be over.
Twelve weeks ago they were chasing four trophies but after winning just two of their last 10 games it all comes down to the Champions League. Anfield on a European night is a hard enough for visitors in any circumstances but the pressure on Arsene Wenger’s young players will be remarkable. To win nothing having played so beautifully for swathes of the campaign would be a horror for Wenger and his squad and they would no doubt point that out to us all. However, there are no marks for artistic impression in football and Arsenal’s conquerors would be entitled to offer remarks similar to that made by Cesar Luis Menotti when the Argentina team he coached and not Brazil, who considered their play superior, won the 1978 World Cup. “We congratulate Brazil on their moral victory. Now we hope they will congratulate us on our actual victory,” Menotti said.
No injuries were incurred but Arsenal appeared the more low on energy and Wenger, doing Basil Fawlty routines in his technical area, seemed unusually frustrated with his players. “I kicked every ball because I felt there was room for us to win the game. We had two or three crosses from the left and we did not attack the ball. Of course if I had been on the pitch, I wouldn’t have scored either,” he smiled.
Having taken so many plaudits it is only right Wenger should receive a bit of criticism for his misjudgment this year. He is a wonderful finder of talent but has proved a less impressive constructor of a squad and spate of injuries has left responsibility weighing on the same young, tired sets of shoulders and legs, week-in, week-out. Nobody seemed to suffer more yesterday than Cesc Fabregas, mentally and physically exhausted, and Alex Hleb, despite being rested until a late substitute appearance, was also betrayed by fatigue, miscontrolling Bentdner’s flick-on when Arsenal had the chance to secure an unlikely victory with yet another of their stoppage-time goals.
Wenger also complained of a penalty that could have been awarded when Lucas tugged Fabregas but, in truth, it was Liverpool who should have scored the decisive goal at 1-1. Andriy Voronin, twice dismal in good positions, has never looked more like a plumber, and Fernando Torres couldn’t find Steven Gerrard on the break when a ball across goal would have set up his captain for a winner.
Minds turn to gambling on Grand National day and not even Wenger was exempt. He had said the league could still be won and he would go all out for victory without regard to Tuesday but in the event hedged his bets. Some, like Gael Clichy, Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor, were substitutes while other key players started. Wenger’s convictions about the title were obviously not as strong as he’d proclaimed — mixed signals and selection led to a mixed performance.
Arsenal’s first half was as poor a 45 minutes as they have played all season, their 4-0 drubbing at Manchester United in the FA Cup apart, while Liverpool were surprisingly good. Benitez had seized the chance, for once, to rotate his squad with impunity and Damien Plessis, a 20-year-old Frenchman proved an assured debutant in central midfield.
Crouch was purposeful from the opening moments, when he spooked the Arsenal goalkeeper, Manuel Almunia, with a dangerous 35-yard drive, and soon he was feeding John Arne Riise with a gorgeous pass. Riise, not known for subtlety, and on his right foot, thrashed into the stand when he had a clear sight of goal. The look on Benitez’s face was of a señor who had just found a slug in his paella.
Yossi Benayoun was wasteful, spoiling good work from Lucas with an inconsequential touch that was neither cross nor shot but then Crouch won a flick-on and spun to take a pass from the Israeli before beating William Gallas and spanking a shot past Almunia from 20 yards. Emmanuel Eboue epitomised Arsenal’s malaise, unable to pick out Fabregas or the lively Theo Walcott after beating Liverpool’s offside trap.
Rather surprisingly, boos followed Wegner’s men down the tunnel at half-time and it took Bentnder’s goal to mollify denizens. As in Wednesday night’s Champions League first leg, Liverpool’s zonal marking was vulnerable against Arsenal’s set-pieces. There was warning for Jose Reina and his defence when Toure rose unimpeded to head a corner wide in the 48th minute and seven minutes later a Fabregas free kick brought punishment.
It was delivered nicely by the Arsenal talisman, bending into the six-yard area, but none of Benitez’s players challenged for it and Bentdner, with Crouch the culprit nearest the Dane, belied what had been a hitherto uncertain display of striking on his behalf to score with a confident header past the Spanish goalkeeper.