Arsenal v Liverpool: the award, the teams, the sequences.

Posted on by Tony Attwood

Liverpool hope that Daniel Sturridge will play through his pain although Roy Hodgson said Sturridge would be out of a month.

But Liverpool are facing some choices.  They still haven’t finished their quarter final FA Cup round yet and have to play Blackburn, and then face Villa in the quarters, so much depends on how they see the priorities and how they plan such matters.

They could of course rest Balotelli, or rest everyone and play Balotelli, but either way it would be hard to tell since he looks like he’s resting whether he is on the pitch or not.

If Sturridge is unfit, Sterling is likely to return to the striking role.

But apart from the Sturridge and Stirling issues (oh, and Stirling has a sore toe), what else have they got?  Well… Steven Gerrard apologised for stamping about half a second after he came on the pitch, (but seemingly not to the player he stamped – although he made much of the apology on radio.  However the dopes that do the shows didn’t mention that he ought to say sorry to the man he hurt).

But still the great Gerrado is banned, and so is Martin Skrtel.  Adam Lallana is recovering from injury.

But what of Ramsey, I hear you cry (although not literally of course).  And indeed what of the injury position overall?

Well, Aston Villa are top of the injury league with 11 men down, while Arsenal are in the bottom three, with only two men down.  That’s what Physio Room says, anyway.

Bottom are Man City with one injury and above them, Leicester and Arsenal each with two.  Tottenham who appeared to have become the jammy sods of the league with zero for a while, are now up to four.

Our two out are quoted as Welbeck and the Ox, which means Ramsey is all right.  Liverpool are quoted as five men out: Sturridge, Lovren, Lallana, Ibe and Flanagan.

But it is also looking as if Arsenal are not only having to contend with at least one physical injury resultant from the week of nationalistic hyperbole they now also have to deal with the aftermath of psychological difficulties, and Mr Wenger has been talking his talk about Theo and the second international, saying…

“I don’t worry about Theo because he’s not completely there yet and I told you that a few times,” [ah nice dig a journalstic dodos]. “He has been out for a year with a very bad injury and he’s coming back. But being exposed like that, people have a harsh judgment on him that is not deserved because he does well. For me, he is on course to come back but he’s not completely there.

“He is strong mentally, but he is disappointed because when you come back you always think you are ready.   He needs patience. He is at the moment not in his best mood. He is not a fragile type. He has big confidence in himself and he has gone through some difficult periods in his life and he has always come out with strength.”

Mr Wenger also made the obvious point concerning the international (but which needs making when one is dealing with international managers, who generally find such things difficult to grasp), “Theo’s strength is the quality of his movements, he wants to go to get on the end of things.   He’s not a guy who provides….

“Maybe Rooney took the initiative during the game to play higher up and tell Theo to drop back. I haven’t seen Roy Hodgson in the game standing up to say: ‘Walcott, you come and play in midfield and Rooney you go up front’. That’s an initiative they took on the pitch.”

Nice one, boss.

Back to Liverpool and the club’s fans (who we shall watch with interest to see if Arsenal let them get away with more flare and smoke bomb throwing – each incidence of which takes us closer to a closure of the stadium for failing to control the crowd).   How will they respond to Raheem Sterling and what seems like a 20 year old saying £5,200,000 a year ain’t enough.

It was an interesting time to do the interview, and it was fun to watch the response from the Liverpool manager, who to me never looks utterly comfortable when trying to talk up Liverpool’s current position in football.

If Liverpool were to win, and Sterling score, one suspects the rapidly swivelling morality of Liverpool fans would turn once again, and he’d be welcome back – not least because Liverpool have only won once at Arsenal in the last 18 games here (of the rest 10 were won by Arsenal and seven drawn).  I suspect Liverpool will be happy enough with a draw and no new injuries ahead of the FA Cup replay.

So what else do we know?

We’ve only lost one of the last seven league and cup games against Liverpool having won four and lost two.  But that is the one everyone in the media talks about – the 5-1 defeat in February last year.  Still you know the media rule concerning Arsenal.  “You’re only as good as your last bad defeat,” (until they pick up a better stat on Untold and then rave about the club).

But there are always some bad stats around if you look hard enough, so how about the fact that we have only won on of the last 11 home league games against Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool.  That should give the aaa some pleasure.

However we drew seven of those games, not least because of a growing tendency of clubs of all types to come to Arsenal and go for the draw.

But let’s not be downcast.  We have won eight consecutive home league games; the longest winning streak since moving to the Emirates and the best since the fabuloso 13-match run in 2005.

Oh yes and we have scored in all 22 of the league and cup games at the Ems this season.

However Liverpool want their own record.  If we don’t score against them that will mean the seventh consecutive top-flight away match without letting in a goal beating their record set in both 1966 (when they won the league) and 1972 (when they came third).  But no, let’s not give them that one.

So to the teams:

Oooooooooooooooooospina

Bellerin, Kos, Mert, Monreal

Ramsey, Coquelin

Ozil, Cazorla, Sanchez

Giroud

In the sunshine on the beach, some of…

Debuchy, Rosicky, Welbeck, Gabriel, Szczesny, Theo, Gibbs, Flamini.

—————

Arsenal on this day…  a set of Tottenham anniversaries.

  • 4 April 1913: Spurred on by Tottenham Hotspur’s objections, the Highbury Defence Committee joined with Islington Council and pushed through a vote protesting against Arsenal moving to the Gillespie Road ground.  Also here
  • 4 April 1983: Tottenham 5 Arsenal 0.  It was the first time since Christmas Day 1911 that Tottenham had scored five against Arsenal.  It was the last time ever that Tottenham scored five against Arsenal in a league match.
  • 4 April 1993:  A Tony Adams header won Arsenal’s 18th F.A. Cup semi-final, against Tottenham.  See also here   And here This was Cup match 14 of the Cup Double Year

All the anniversaries of each day are listed on the home page each day, unless we forget.   The files showing over 4500 Arsenal anniversaries are on the Arsenal History Society site, with an index a little way down the home page of that site. 

 

 

Recent Posts

108 Replies to “Arsenal v Liverpool: the award, the teams, the sequences.”

  1. Hope the newly returned walking wounded from those FUFA international farcial games and the rest of the squad are fit and raring to go .
    A clean sheet and 2 goals to the good should bring Easter cheer to all . Come on guys , do your stuff!
    Up the Gunners !

  2. There was much dismay about the appointment of Anthony Taylor as referee for this match, and an exhortation for the crowd to act as twelfth man. However, I read that much of the crowd plan to remain outside the ground, as they wish to protest, not against dodgy officiating, but prices that, despite the evidence of sold-out stadiums, they deem too high.
    But maybe it might suit Manchester United lovers to see Liverpool beaten today, so perhaps the situation is not as bad as all that.

  3. Ramsey, on his return from the Wales match: “I’m injured”
    Shad Forsythe: “Come here” (does a few tricks on him) “Ok, you’re fine now” 🙂

  4. Regarding bad stats Jambug claimed Liverpool hadn’t won a trophy in ten years, somehow ignoring the fact that they’d won the FA Cup and CL which isn’t bad considering we’ve never won the latter and despite the fact they’ve not had as good a manager as Wenger.

    Anyway I can’t see Liverpool playing for a draw as they want fourth and will regard us as major rivals for the CL and a team they need to finish above. They’re also not really a team that plays for draws. If we win this we should have secured CL football next year.

  6. Chapman’s Ghost, the issue of what Liverpool has won was dealt with in full in the previous post which debated them as a superpower.

    Incidentally as regards the issue of Arsenal as the all spending power of the 1930s, that you made in a previous post, I believe that you are referring to the “bank of England club” slogan that the press gave Arsenal at the time.

    There’s little evidence that the Arsenal of the day had as disproportionate amount of money as Chelsea and Man C did. Although Sir Henry Norris did invest in the club from 1910 onwards, it was the building of Highbury and the fact that the club could fill the ground, following the triumph of the first championship season, that gave the club its money.

    Along with some fairly smart transfer moves.

  7. Foreverheady: the last time there was a demo at a match (it was an anti-Wenger Black Scarf affair) about 300 people stood on the roundabout by the Armoury, and then scuttled into the game as kick off approached.

    Of course I can be proven wrong, but I suspect very few seats will be empty come kick off. I’ll make a note of it next time I write an article.

    But must fly now, almost time to leave.

  9. Just waiting for Black sheep at Northampton Town ground. miserable day here. drizzle and grey sky. hoping for a clear M1

  10. There is nothing going to stop Arsenal from 3 points today. Demos, rain, train, pgmo or sterling (loves the Gunners).

    That’s our song for today – ‘Sterling loves the Gunners’.

  11. Hope the boys bag this one and put some daylight between us and 4th/5th. It’d be nice to be in a position where we don’t have to treat our matches against utd and chelski as must wins, we all know how those two know how to park the bus against us and hit us on an unlucky break.

    The boys must keep a close eye on balotelli today if he plays; he might be wanting to prove a point after we snubbed him in the summer, and can already feel the glee in the media were that to happen.

  12. Go gunners
    Go gunners
    Go gunners
    Go gunners
    Go gunners
    Go gunners
    Go gunners

  14. Taylor Ok so far, but both linos have given wrong offside calls. Sterling missed two good chances, one an open goal.

  16. Hheeccctttoooooooooooooo bellerin

    Yyyeeeeaaahhhhh
    Yyyeeeeaaahhhhh
    Yyyeeeeaaahhhhh….

  23. Did someone say sterling is better than Ozil!!!….

    Someone of the name wiechel wowen!

  26. get in ttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
    facking brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  31. Fantastic 🙂 Let’s hope noone does a silly thing to allow the ref to send them off or award a penalty….

  32. And he doesn’t do tactics. Nope. Never….hez past it.
    Hahahahahahahaha…

    Up yours wowen.

    Go gunners…. Yyyeeeeaaahhhhh

  33. After our two early missed opportunities and then giving Liverpool two quite easy chances I thought it wasn’t going to be our day, but here we are are half time three up.

  37. As always the angel of darkness with her partners roams the earth but with the protection of the risen one who cares. The Arsenal will be champs come May hooooooooraaaaaayyyy

  38. Va cong you are damn wright that Dick head,he hates us but i think he is paid to do that but if not he is to eat his puke until the end of the season. hi hi hi hi

  39. Brilliant goals. BT Sport outdoing themselves with the most pathetic biased commentary so far this season. Trying to turn a 3-0 half time lead into a lucky undeserved score line brought about by bad goalkeeping. Pathetic. If ‘captain Stevie G’ had scored Ozils goal they would be covered in jizz.

  42. I am not happy at all because Giroud, the PL player of the month is yet to score….NAH, just kidding 🙂 I hope Ollie gets his share of the goals though.

    We are looking very good and taking our chances with aplomb. I love it!

    That Bellerin goal must be shown to Kieran Gibbs over and over. He needs to see what he misses from that pathological aversion to use his right foot other than for moving.

  43. Been watching on a Russian stream, so have missed the commentary. Is it that biased?

  46. Wait…did the best midfielder to ever play the football since Gerrard even play today…

    Oh yes he does…there he is. Henderson.

  50. Pete.

    I found the fire news at Arsenal.com, the bumbling BBC said nothing. Heck, the hardly mentioned those black scarf idiots. I’m glad they didn’t keep many people out of the stadium. The BBC has managed to find a bunch of “fans” to whine however. And it is mandatory to mention the zipper at 2 minutes. Anyway, it was 31 minutes in when I got to the BBC commentary, still 0-0. Man was it surprising to see the goals roll on by as I got to the top and did a refresh. Got my coffee, still too hot to drink it. Congratulations to Hector, and Mesut for making the goal! And to Mesut for knowing the keeper was misplaced on a free kick. And always good to see Alexis sore, it has been a while.

    I got some lookup’s and time conversions wrong, but I am supposed to see a total lunar eclipse soon. Except I looked outside and nothing but clouds!

    Another nice half of football please!

    COYG!

  55. What’s up with the ref? How does Santi avoid getting a yellow card for not avoiding Can’s trip (or whatever)?

    COYG!

  59. all they talk about newcastle 4-4
    monaco defeat
    liverpool instanbulk come back
    and liverpool missing players rrrh didums

  63. Morning Kenneth!

    The Hornsey fire started at 2am, 70 firefighters worked on it. I gather the road is open now.

    ESPN (worldwide leader in being ESPN) is reporting the Koscielny has a groin strain.

    COYG!

  65. Oh dear… Ozil. You are a 42 million pound man… You don’t get fouls in your favor.

  66. I don’t understand the commentary is no-longer about the match anymore,may be i’m on another channel on Jupiter.Apart from when Ozil goes down and the pundit wants him booked.

  67. Come on Gunners, we need another goal. The bumbling BBC thinks we are playing park the bus now, show them different!

    COYG!

  70. Sky is reporting that Aaron was limping when he was substituted. As he had picked up something for Wales, he probably wasn’t quite mended yet.

    COYG!

  77. Therz something about Ramsey. When he plays we look so composed. Even when hez having an off day.

  84. Blaming the pitch…Hahahahahahahaha

    We have. a saying in Hindi..”naach na jaane aangan teda.” Which coverts as “person who can’t dance blames the floor.”

    He blamed the pitch. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

  85. From Sky:

    > RED – ARSENAL 3 LIVERPOOL 1: RED CARD – CAN. Emre Can’s afternoon gets worse as Can, already booked, dives in two-footed on Welbeck to collect the most blatant second yellow card you could wish to see. Could even have been a straight red had he not been booked.

    A straight red can be issued if a player is on a caution. A straight red depends on the severity of the foul, not on anything else.

    > 83 – ARSENAL 3 LIVERPOOL 1: Home fans unhappy again as the referee halts an Arsenal attack because Henderson is down injured after a clash with his own player. Must’ve thought Henderson had a head injury, but not sure that was the case.

    Ref was cheating.

    COYG!

  92. …great stuff. Shame we cant be the “top”clubs.Wenger out! Onward we march!!!!
    COYG!!

  93. From Sky:

    > 90+4 ARSENAL 4 LIVERPOOL 1: Liverpool give the ball away yet again, but escape on this occasion as Welbeck is wrongly flagged offside.

    More ref cheating.

    COYG!

  94. Vengeance is mine said The Lord wenger!
    Absolutely brilliant team performance. Just when it looked like Taylor had the chance to turn the screw, Liverpool blow it with what, their third red in two games? Won’t have many players left at this rate.
    Any Arsenal fan who didn’t enjoy that is a waste of a pulse.

  96. Gord
    I don’t really think you can blame the ref for wrong offsides. There were three in this game but not Taylor’s calls.

  97. Just when I was thinking that Ollie’s great run is coming to an end….BOOM he smashed one in 🙂

    What a game, what a result, what a statement!

  98. Wow Taylors 2nd half performance really was just something else.. He stopped Arsenal on the break 4 times ffs! Luckily so was Arsenals (albeit in the good sense) :D!

  100. Tail Gunner.

    The referee doesn’t have to act on the assistant’s flag, it is just advice. But the assistant cheated by raising it, and the ref cheated by acting on it.

    Up the Gunners!

  101. Just got back home & having a cuppa. The PGMO cheat Taylor tried to influence the game with some decisions out of the Riley book of creative vision. His award of the penalty was dubious considering sterling took a dive bigger than on the money markets! His play of advantage to Arsenal was most disadvantageous. He ignored several fouls on Alexis & gave fouls against him instead.

    Despite this cheat we rogered Liverpool with quality football. We were fortunate not to get punished for some slack defending earlier but overall we played careful football & didn’t get injuries apart from Ramsey who seems to have a low pain threshold. Lets hope that Stoke does the business on Chelsea & make Mourinho – mourninho!!
    Go Stoke – up & at them!!

  102. Just looked at Emre Can’s second yellow on ARSENALIST and there is NO WAY that his left foot slipped. That is a dead on RED card.

  104. @Menace, that was a stonewall penalty. Bellerin took Sterling’s ankles and nobody would have done anything but go down after that challenge. If God was officiating you’d still claim he was cheating.

    Great result. Liverpool subdued by our hassling and slick movement. Some top class goals too. Second spot is up for grabs now.

    @Tony Attwood, it’s a little disingenuous to suggest we’re not a very wealthy club. Besides the obvious three in the league who has our spending power? As for the Arsenal of the thirties they may have not had City or Chelsea’s money but they did have significant financial muscle.

  105. Chapman: your argument about finances is the point that is disingenuous, in the clearly in a capitalist run system different organisations like different people have different amounts of money.

    My argument is always that there is nothing wrong with that, but rather that competitive sport has to be competitive to be worth watching, and if clubs are allowed to gain far far more income through their owners than others, the competitive element becomes eroded artificially.

    The issue is thus twofold – the amount of money and the source of the money. I have never argued against Man U’s right within football to have money made from the worldwide marketing schemes, and indeed wish Arsenal had had the foresight in the 1960s to do the same sort of thing. Arsenal’s money in the 30s came from people watching to team, not investment from the board, and that is the same now. To me (and it is just my view) there is a danger to competitiveness from the type of investment that Chelsea, Man C, PSG, Real Madrid and Barcelona has which can lead to a less interesting type of football.

  106. Chapmans Ghost

    “Regarding bad stats Jambug claimed Liverpool hadn’t won a trophy in ten years, somehow ignoring the fact that they’d won the FA Cup and CL”

    I never once said they had not won a trophy in ten years, so that’s an out right lie. But Yes I made a small error at the time, which I corrected. I stated that Liverpool, like Arsenal have both won just one FA Cup in 9 years (not ten as I stated).

    If we extended it to 10 years it would then of included a CL win for Liverpool and another FA Cup for Arsenal.

    But the point I was making, as you well know, was that for our one FA Cup in 9 years we get slaughtered, relentlessly, where as Liverpool remain pretty much un tainted by there one FA Cup in 9 years, often as not under the pretext that they are ‘rebuilding’ or some such excuse which they seem to be doing endlessly, when in actuality it is us that have been rebuilding, not just the team but a shinny new Stadium.

    My point was the haranguing of Arsenal started after just a couple of years without a trophy.

    Liverpool have gone some 25 years without a title and it hardly gets a mention.

    Spurs some 50 odd with hardly a mention.

    So I never once said ‘without a trophy’ but yes it is a 9 year period and not 10, but an honest mistake and one that made absolutely no difference to the point I was trying to make, as you well know.

  107. Hello to every gunner there. I normally do not comment, but this time I felt the need to raise this observation. Three left foot goals in a single match by different players. Isn’t that new record set by us. Researchers do your job.

  108. Chapman’s Ghost
    April 5, 2015 at 6:20 am

    From where I was sitting it didn’t look like a penalty. Looked like Stirling pushed the ball so that he could fall if contact was made. Having seen it on TV, I agree it was a penalty.

    Incidentally, God was officiating as PGMO are God’s own.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *