Arsenal v Liverpool // Post-Match

Was there a decision on whether we create separate post-match threads? I recall we decided to do so but not sure.

Anyway, we got the win!

In my opinion, that's where the good news end.

Maybe I'm being too critical, but we were clearly in control the whole game, as was probably justified to expect against this depleted Arsenal team. What I found very frustrating was that despite our control, we created very little. No Flow in our game. Final third of the pitch is our problem right now; we've got a great crosses in Downing, a fine passer in Adam, an all-round guy in Henderson, a DM in Lucas and a workhorse in Kuyt, but whenever we need to look dangerous in attack, we fail to do that nine times out of ten.

Carroll did OK, but when we play with a goal-scoring CF like him who won't be creating much anything, we really need our midfield to provide the creativity in attack. Frustrating to see that department lacking in this stage.

But hey, 3 points from the Emirates for the first time ever!
So we should be happy, but keep in the back of our minds that our engine isn't running quite as good as might be hoped for.

We need a dribbler in our midfield....someone who will take defenders one on one and beat them. Suarez is that guy....that's why we play so much better with him. I wish we can get Juan Mata........that would solve all of the problems we might have in the final 3rd

Messiakanino wrote:We need a dribbler in our midfield....someone who will take defenders one on one and beat them. Suarez is that guy....that's why we play so much better with him. I wish we can get Juan Mata........that would solve all of the problems we might have in the final 3rd

That's actually what I was thinking, we need a guy in midfield who is comfortable in tight spaces with the ball. We've got some very fine passers in MF, but you need something more than just that in attack. Suarez, yes, but he plays quite high up the field, I rarely consider him to be a midfielder.

Gerrard is the dribbler in midfield who we are missing.

Fine passers & crossers true! but what i felt was lacking was the surge forwards because every time Carroll bringing a ball down controlling the ball for someone there weren't actually many players to partner him . .which was sad . .now with the injection of Meireles what changed was Suarez wasn't alone up front like Carroll was. .what Meireles frequently does & did again was go forward pressure the opposition defense . .the reason why we forced the first goal . . & second came of the same two individuals. .

its not like i am saying that Adam & Hendo cannot do that but they were not doing it at all . .so all the pressure shifts automatically to Carroll which ain't fair. .

Anyhow Suarez was again the difference for us . .thank god

4 of our front 5 are playing together for the 2nd time in their career.So its clear they lack cohesion and time to need gelling.Despite that we created more clear cut chances than Arsenal who probably was only missing Wilshere in attack.And we too were missing Gerrard Meireles and Suarez in attack too most of the game.

Ofcourse Arsenal are depleted that doesnt mean winning at Emirates it easy.So i dont see any reason to be critical but neither any reason to be overjoyed.For me job done and very important one at it too.Real physiological edge for us for the chase for 4th place with Arsenal and very early in the season too.

And for everyone concerned about our defence very satisfying performance from them too against the likes of Van Persie Walcott and Nasri.

P.S.

Adam is real quality for me.His passes in the final 3rd are really impressive.

o btw loved the Gangstaaaaaaaaaa attitude from Meireles . .all out showing middle fingers and all! !

:lol!:

Merseyside Godfather! !

We're first!!!!!!! :O

The first team should have played together in the pre-seasons. If the likes of Adam, Downing, Kuyt, Carroll or Henderson played the pre-season together; they would have had far better understanding.

Now we are developing that understanding.

I'll add what I did to the ratings thread.

Seems like whenever Carroll is on all we do is cross from everywhere into the box in the hopes that he will get on the end of one of them. When Luis came on, we concentrated more on passes on the ground and trickling through their defense. That is what we need when Carroll is on in my opinion. So far, 35 million for heading ability seems like a waste. Hard to blame anyone in particular for it. I just hope we rectify this as soon as possible.

poolsupporter wrote:I'll add what I did to the ratings thread.

Seems like whenever Carroll is on all we do is cross from everywhere into the box in the hopes that he will get on the end of one of them. When Luis came on, we concentrated more on passes on the ground and trickling through their defense. That is what we need when Carroll is on in my opinion. So far, 35 million for heading ability seems like a waste. Hard to blame anyone in particular for it. I just hope we rectify this as soon as possible.

I'm mostly with you on this one.

Our thinking at the moment is too much along the lines "we've got a big CF as our striker, let's kick it to him and build from that".

Whereas, I think, we should aim at building plays up mostly with our MF players and find Carroll with that killer pass or cross to finish the play off. Right now Andy is getting too much involved in build-up play and we're not creating that many chances.

Art Morte wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:I'll add what I did to the ratings thread.

Seems like whenever Carroll is on all we do is cross from everywhere into the box in the hopes that he will get on the end of one of them. When Luis came on, we concentrated more on passes on the ground and trickling through their defense. That is what we need when Carroll is on in my opinion. So far, 35 million for heading ability seems like a waste. Hard to blame anyone in particular for it. I just hope we rectify this as soon as possible.

I'm mostly with you on this one.

Our thinking at the moment is too much along the lines "we've got a big CF as our striker, let's kick it to him and build from that".

Whereas, I think, we should aim at building plays up mostly with our MF players and find Carroll with that killer pass or cross to finish the play off. Right now Andy is getting too much involved in build-up play and we're not creating that many chances.

well they were putting forward to Carroll right but they weren't going forward themselves to help him out if decides to give a layoff to someone else . .that needs to be changed . .

3 points, Thank you.

Congratz guysssss LOOOL...well tbh .... No comment Good Luck

Meireles is BOSS.......i hope he starts the next PL game.

I thoroughly satisfied with this match. Yes its true, there were some frustrated parts to the squad and some arising questions. Yet the frustration was simply based on the selection of the squad rather then our play itself.

I'll start off.

Reina: Perfect. Distribution, command of the backline and saves were spot on.

Agger: Besides one silly mistake on Nasri, he wore the shirt with pride and displayed his sheer intelligence and reading of the game to thwart the arsenal attack. World Class CB. Hands down.

Carra: Is it me? Or is he highly underrated? Cause each game I see him as the leader, the marshal, the backbone of our backline as today he was flawless with his commanding defensive performance and barked his orders to compose the defense.

Enrique: Like I said, Baines is overrated, Clichy is meh, Enrique is simply the 3rd best LB after Cole and Evra. His attack and dribbling was impressive while he subdued the mercurial walcott to the point of invisibility. Great signing.

Kelly: The best of the backline as I FREAKIN love this guy! In attack he reminds me of a young cafu going forward as he does it without hesitation and is relentless. In defense, he completely made the left flank of arsenal disappear as I cannot express how talented Kelly is. Ultimate big game player.

Lucas: Some positioning mistakes, yet overall another performance to impress Kenny in the big games as he was the turning point of the midfield combinations with his interceptions, tackles and screening of the arsenal attack.

Adam: Got some criticism from some as I am quite surprised. Adam is a midfielder who thinks progressively, always looks to attack, always keeps the ball moving. His through passes, long pass's and vision was exemplary as it seems he has been playing in liverpool for years. Loved his confidence with his alonsoesque chips. The only problem is he needs to defend as like Pirlo, he can be a serious defensive liability.

Downing: Still needs time to blend in yet was overall effective. Proves that he can use both feet effectively and is versatile enough for both flanks. Always looks to cause problems for the opposition and is a refreshing winger compared to the brainless wingers who only know how to dribble. The thinking mans winger.

Hendo: Kept it simple. Good one-twos, well at holding possesion, but overall needs to contribute more.

Kuyt: Its always been apparent on his lack of technique yet he made up for it by his workrate, positioning and defensive work.

Carroll: Unlucky here as the service from the midfield was lacking in the final 3rd as he did not receive enough support in the box. I'll discuss this.

Yes Arsenal were missing Wilshere, Song and.... not really anyone else.

But we were missing Stevie g, Johnson and played a squad with players who took on their 2nd game with each other. The arsenal fans excuses here are not convincing.

I was happy to see throughout this whole match we did not resort to hoofing the ball at even times of pressure. I was very impressed by the alarming rate of chemistry developing in the midfield. Adam may not be Alonso but I can say he is not far off as his link up play with Downing, Hendo and the rest was excellent. So many gaps were created by the combined effort in the midfield as only the poor showing in the final ball and 3rd squandered our chances. It simply seems we are capable of creating chances yet need to deploy the correct squad to find the balance. Henderson, while showing some good movement and passing, kept it all to simple as he did not look to take risks and rather was timid from many opportunities presented. In time I hope he will look to create and contribute more as confidence clearly was not there and at times, his lack of presence was causing us to wane in the midfield battle. Good performance, but needs to add more the pass and move. One thing, I cannot understand why Raul is being benched for him as Meireles was our best performer in the 2nd half of the season as when he came on, it made a vast difference to our midfield. He stamped his authority and looked to be involved in the game.


I'll summarize here:

Our defense looks as solid as ever as Kelly is a highlight for me. Our midfield although susceptible to counters, has improved quite a bit as there the ball is constantly moving and chances are being created. The only problem is the final 3rd. Carroll consistently needs a SS around him as he is not the type to find channels and holes in the defense as rather in true #9 fashion, he is there to hold possession, intimidate the offense, and create an aerial threat as in this game, you could see how frustrated he was by the lack of support by Kuyt and the rest as the chances were created by him, yet rarely anyone appeared in the box. Once again, more faith has to be shown in the skill of his feet.

All-in-all I apologize for the convoluted analysis above. Simply put, improvements are being seen quicker then we expected, yet there needs to be fine-tuning with the final 3rd as I am more then confident we can put up a fight for 3rd or even 2nd place. YNWA

Nice analysis arq.

But on the Raul part and why he's always on the bench is that he isn't match fit. It's why he keeps coming off the bench. He was injured in the pre-season so we don't want to risk him getting injured again.

ynwa wrote:Nice analysis arq.

But on the Raul part and why he's always on the bench is that he isn't match fit. It's why he keeps coming off the bench. He was injured in the pre-season so we don't want to risk him getting injured again.

This makes quite a bit of sense. We are giving playing time to Henderson to try to help him develop. The kid is playing darn well for being 21. He's not Downing or Meireles, but he's showing a lot of calm and poise for his age.

Meireles, while regaining match fitness, is our super-sub. Coming off the bench to inject a spark into the attack. When he and Suarez came on in the second half today, they turned the game upside-down and drove the arsenal defense mad. We completely changed the style of attack.

On Kelly and Enrique... wow. I was very impressed by them in every way. We have gone from a suspect back line during preseason to putting two of the best fullbacks on the pitch in approximately two weeks. Enrique was pure class on the left, making intelligent challenges, muscling the wingers off the ball and even joining the attack. Kelly was pure class on the right, making intelligent challenges, muscling the wingers off the ball and even joining the attack... wait that sounds familiar. If this is what we can expect from Kelly week-in week-out, I'm not sure that Johnson will have a spot in the starting XI when he regains fitness. Kelly was just as good in attack today and far better in defense.

Kenny on Meireles from official website:

"We've got to manage Luis's circumstances the same as we have everybody else's. There were another four or five lads there who we had for the first time. Raul Meireles has had a difficult pre-season with injuries so we've got to look after him as well as Luis."

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/kenny-that-shows-squad-strength