Arsenal had been playing with ten men since Diaby was sent off a half hour into the contest, so the result was a resounding tribute to the principle of resilience. Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I'm not a huge fan of Captain Gallas, but it was not the first time this season that he has rescued our team from the depths. Nor was it the first time that Fabregas won the game late. In a team that lacks talismanic players, those two and Flamini are the ones who seem to take the games personally, and who, when we are losing, raise their work rates and levels of concentration.
The come from behind victory maintained Arsenal's title hopes, but while the Gunners are scraping themselves up off the mat, Man U is delivering vigorous beat downs. Horror of horrors, Rooney has begun to score again and C Ron does not look capable of playing a game without a goal or two. They smashed Aston Villa 4-0 at the weekend and have outscored their opponents 12-0 in their last six outings.
For Gooners, it was good to see guts on the pitch again, especially with the steel cage match-three plays in six days-with Liverpool on the verge. I had high hopes for a breakthrough yesterday, seeing as we were playing at home and all. Both teams had their best men on the pitch in general, though both were missing fullbacks. Arsenal is not quite the same without Sagna, who is not only our best tackler but also gets down the wing relentlessly.
The game began as expected. Arsenal with nominal control over the ball. Liverpool looking rock solid and organized as Torres and Gerrard menaced on counter opportunities. Gradually, though, Arsenal began to penetrate better. Carragher and Toure were both playing as right backs and were both noticeably uncomfortable. The skill set for that position is so specific. You have to have horse lungs, the ability to get to ground instantaneously, and a comfort level with getting stranded alone with the ball. Sagna and Finnan are great at it.
Torres intelligently stayed away from Clichy, as he and Gerrard attacked the gap between Toure and Senderos. Arsenal's success came down the middle, with Flamini supplying V. Persie and Fabregas in the hollows, and them looking back out wide to Hleb and Adebayor.
The game really picked up for about five minutes before the first goal came on a good header from Adebayor off of a Fabregas corner. Liverpool got mixed up and neither Hyypia nor Skrtel went up with the big man and he buried the header. Arsenal began to ping the ball around, the stadium sang loud, and things were looking great. Too good to be true. Gerrard hustled an intercept as Arsenal were coming about and played a really nice one-two with Torres to receive just outside the area on the left side of goal. Eboue, the midfielder in the area, froze and did not close Gerrard down. Gerrard dragged by him easily and moved into the area. Toure came up next. Gerrard stuttered, Toure tried to jockey. But Gerrard made a clever two-touch step by and walked past to the line. It was a really nice run from Gerrard, but Eboue was at fault badly for not forcing a commitment from Gerrard outside the box. From his position at the line Stevie G played a really good hard low cross and Kuyt did well to slide through the ball and Clichy and stuff it in. 1-1.
Wenger looked miserable and the Gooners were quiet. How is it that whenever we do something good, we give up a soft goal just after. You can't take away from Gerrard's play, but at the same time he would never have gotten free against say Man U, Chelsea, or Milan. The midfielder would have stepped very hard. If Gerrard had made an amazing move from the dead stop-which isn't his thing-he might have gotten a foul and a chance at a good free kick. If he hadn't, he would have gotten clattered and the ball would have been out for a throw.
Water under the bridge. Halftime came and went and the game was different afterwards. V. Persie was subbed at halftime because his thigh hurt. Awwwwww! Good god Dutch Boy! Him and Rosicky need to bathe in the Ganges in the off-season. Anyhow, Walcott came in and his speed was killing Liverpool down the left. Liverpool is sooo sloooow. They may be the slowest good team in history. Roma is also slow.
Arsenal began to dominate the play. Eboue was dreadful the whole game and got ball after ball after ball. Apart from his goal, Adebayor was also dreadful. Our impetus came from Flam and Fab and Hleb. They began to carve Liverpool into triangles and Walcott looked like he might be the guy to crack the game open.
It was Hleb, though, who broke through. He collected and turned about forty yards from goal dead center and skipped through two defenders with his Central European drag-push step-through. He came to the 18 with a head of steam and did the same thing again splitting two more defenders at a diagonal and beating Kuyt to the ball about the corner of the 6. Kuyt pulled at his shoulder. Hleb fell. The ref, five steps away, waved play on. Here's the thing. It was a penalty. But Hleb should have stayed up and scored. Arsenal never stand up. Eboue dives, Adebayor dives, Hleb dives. So the refs won't blow.
Torres should be the model. He runs into his moves strong with the intent to finish. If he doesn't think he can shoot hard, he falls and gets calls. If he does think he can shoot hard, he shoots hard. Hleb anticipated the contact, was happy with his dribble, and wanted someone else to finish from the spot. The play bothered him and he wasn't the same afterward, playing two or three of his weird overlap passes into space and at one point yelling at Clichy. If I was Clichy I would have yelled back: shut the fuck up you fucking cunt cause you and Adebayor and Bendtner aren't running and I'm running my fucking ass off.
Liverpool went into a shell. Torres ran his legs off and had no supply. The game was completely one-sided and Arsenal got two more really good chances. Walcott got the ball across to Eboue at the 6 and he whiffed the finish. Then Fabregas made a fantastic play to get to a ball at the spot and toe poke it into the corner of goal, and Bendtner blocked it on the line. All he had to do was get out of the way and the game was over and he couldn't get his feet out from under him. It was pretty tragic.
The game ended that way. Bad news is that Liverpool have an away goal. Good news is that Arsenal was better and nobody got cards to keep them out of the next match. Arsenal has to score away to win so the away goal shouldn't really matter.
The chalkboard says we need to put speed on the field. Sagna needs back on and Walcott should start on the left above Clichy. Hleb can play on the right and stay mostly inside. Arsenal's forwards are a mess right now. Nothing to do but throw Adebayor and V. Persie up there and hope for the best. Liverpool is boring and sucky but Stevie G. and El Nino are very good together. Torres is an amazing runner off the ball and with it too. Mascherano is out for the EPL battle on Saturday and that helps a lot because he is unbelievably good at playing spy on Fab.
Swami says we win the next two against the Liverpudlians and get some mojo working but that we're out of gas at Old Trafford the following week... I know I know I know. I can't help what the third eye sees.
Arsenal pushed the bet for another week, surviving up north against Bolton and then tying the first leg of the Champs League quarterfinal with Liverpool at Emirates. I didn't see the Bolton game, but by all accounts it was a dramatic story of survival with some very bleak moments and an uplifting ending. Arsenal was down a man and two goals when Captain Gallas scored a 63rd minute goal at the back post and then Cesc won the game in the dying seconds with a close shot that pinballed into the goal off of a wandering Samuel.