- Liverpool home v Arsenal away, and results the reverse of what you might expect
- Beware: the story about Arsenal is quite likely not true.
By Tony Attwood
The Liverpool reputation always lives on in the simple minds of journalists, and indeed it lives on, and on, no matter what the latest results. Personally, I think some Liverpool fans are still pretty miffed by having been in the second division from 1954 to 1962, meaning that they are still miles away from Arsenal’s record number of years spent in the top division, but that, of course, is their problem, and not one that is mentioned in the media. While Arsenal were voted into the top league in 1919 because they had maintained their faith in the league and refused to join the rival Southern League expansion, Liverpool at last rejoined the top division in 1962 and were for some years seen as Johnnies come lately, in fact.
But still, we have to fully admit that after 206 games between the two, Arsenal have won 67, there have been 58 draws, and Liverpool have won 81. I think that it is Arsenal’s biggest deficit of all, for any club Arsenal have played against, although I might have missed something along the way.
So the league table now reads
|
Club
|
p
|
|
|
|
|
|
GD
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
|
8
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
20
|
9
|
11
|
21
|
|
2
|
|
8
|
7
|
0
|
1
|
13
|
5
|
8
|
21
|
|
3
|
|
8
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
23
|
7
|
16
|
16
|
|
4
|
|
8
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
11
|
8
|
3
|
15
|
|
5
|
|
8
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
17
|
15
|
2
|
13
|
In fact, there are, as far as I know, only two clubs that have beaten us more in league matches than we have beaten them (leaving out the occasional teams that we just played a couple of times in the early days of football). These two outliers are Manchester United and Liverpool.
Arsenal have beaten Manchester United 72 times but lost 83 times, and Arsenal have beaten Liverpool 65 times and lost 77 times. These figures were particularly influenced by the poor runs Arsenal had (for example, in the 1960s) when those two teams were doing well.
The Guardian, however, focuses on Liverpool’s home results by separating out the various competitions the club has been playing in, and manages to find three consecutive home wins in three different competitions that they can o get excited about. These, they note, have been in “quick succession”, and in that quick succession “have helped build momentum at Liverpool”.
And yes, there is no doubt that a run such as Liverpool are on (that is to say seven wins in eight games) shows “the process had already begun.” But then again, the longer the process runs, the closer it must be to an end. And indeed, measuring eight games as something special, against a team that went through a whole 38-game league programme unbeaten (49 games if one includes all the league matches in the full run) seems to be stretching the wish list a bit, no matter how much the newspaper loves that particular club.
But it is of course fair enough to note that Liverpool have been rotating in every game “while continuing to produce results.” Although perhaps one might add that such a process is not exactly novel. Nor has the fact (that particularly gets the newspaper excited) that “there has been no drop-off in Liverpool’s physical intensity either.”
So instead, when it comes to Arsenal, there is yet another addition of the constant downplaying of the “manner of Arsenal’s title triumph last season” – as if Arsenal won the league in a way that was somehow ungentlemanly and not fair, and above all, not the sort of game Liverpool would engage in.
There is also a nod toward the “general shift towards more aggressive, urgent football in the Premier League” – something which newspapers seem to deplore when Arsenal are accused of it, but ignore when discussing other clubs.
But most of the praise goes to “Liverpool’s decision to change head coaches in the summer” – something which the paper suggests has resulted in “the results … paying off quickly.” So they expect four wins in a row, and the most difficult issue for Liverpool will be the fact that the manager will have to start answering questions about “a title challenge” should four-in-a-row finish as the journalists hope on Sunday
And thus we have one journalist setting the scene for the others, for the rest can now say that “As the Telegraph pointed out” there is now a debate about how far Liverpool can go. And so we have the classic set-up, with all the media chiming in with discussions about Liverpool being Champions Elect.
Does it make any difference? I suspect that it can, but much depends on how good Arsenal’s psychology department is in terms of re-boosting Arsenal for the subsequent game. And that, sadly, is what a lot of football comes down to: handling the comments from the media and getting the players’ thoughts focussed.
