I got the team news late as I was slightly comatose heading into the 5am time slot. For a supporter based in Sydney the early season games offer somewhat of a warmup, it’s pre daylight savings time which means everything moves back 2 hours in a few weeks making it harder to watch the games. Still in pre daylight savings mode my brain was kicking into gear as the game kicked off.
After a shaky first half I’m now firmly of the opinion that Calum Chambers and my brains are locked in sync. It seemed we were both still waking up as the young defender made errors against a counterattacking Liverpool side. It probably came as a surprise to Chambers that he even got a call up, with Metersacker calling in a sickie and Koscielny suffering back pain. It was the kind of game he needed to grow into and I wonder if by sending the squad out early before the second half Wenger sensed a defender needing to get used to his surroundings.
Still that shaky first half produced some great Arsenal moments early on. Ramsey running through and finishing expertly for a goal that should have put us in front, only to have been ruled offside. It’s the kind of call that can go either way and it’s a damn shame that he didn’t finish as I think it would have settled us and we would have seen a much more composed half. As it was momentum shifted back to Liverpool and we stayed firmly on the hook as erroneous passing gave possession away.
They hit the bar twice, once through a snap Countinho shot and another time through a Countinho curler from the edge of the box which Chech just about got a fingertip to pushing it wide.
Coming into the second half Cech made two enormous saves. They’re the kind of saves we haven’t seen at Arsenal for a long time. Game and point winning moments that will be the talking point for much of this week. It is true that Benteke should have done better from point blank, but Cech still had no right getting to that ball which had almost any other keeper in the world been between the sticks would have gone in.
HT Stats Arsenal v Liverpool Shots 3-11 On target 1-5, Fouls 1-5 Duels Won 47%-53%, Pass Accuracy 84%-73%, Possession 61%-39%
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) August 24, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsInto the second half Arsene made his usual no changes, instead preferring to keep faith in the players he had out. Chambers quietly got settled and this I believe was the major difference and driving factor in a much better performance. I could soon be proven wrong by a tactical switch I may not have noticed, but we performed much better throughout and I believe it was down to a change in our error count.
In this regard Chambers repaid Arsene’s faith and in my opinion grew as a player. If you are a club that wants to grow talent you have to allow for these kind of halves from players, down the line it will repay itself when the next game he starts the errors don’t come.
Sanchez then went on to hit the cross bar from a Giroud layoff which was the moment we really should have won the game. In a couple of weeks he will be burying those, as it stands the Chilean looks a little tired from his tropes throughout the Copa America and could be suffering from a post winners medal hangover a-la post World Cup Mertesacker and Özil.
In the end we just lacked some cutting edge, as we seemed to be getting on top and ready to finish something Giroud was hooked for Walcott. This stands to me as a decision that needed to happen but it was one I wish hadn’t. We were gaining momentum at that point, Giroud had almost teed up Sanchez, had a few almost moments with a Ramsey cross and some fine Monreal balls in. But the game needed more incision and Walcott is the man for that. Would it have been better to replace Coquelin or Ramsey for Walcott I cannot say, they were both performing outstandingly at that point and the game was in the balance. The full-time stats read:
FT Stats Arsenal v Liverpool Shots 19-15 On target 5-8, Fouls 2-13 Duels Won 51%-49%, Pass Accuracy 85%-72%, Possession 66%-34% — Orbinho (@Orbinho) August 24, 2015
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In the end we were forced to settle for a point which after watching Mignolet’s time wasting antics makes me wonder that’s what Liverpool had come looking for particularly in a second half within which we were firmly on top. Our error strewn first half will allow the media to gear this match in a negative light for Arsenal but it was the kind of game we easily could have won and left me feeling incredibly frustrated. Usually we have the better of Liverpool and this week so nearly could have.
Til the next time
the Reasonable Gooner 