Resilient 10 man Arsenal foil Liverpool at Anfield

Liverpool 0 Arsenal 0  
League Cup Semi Final 1st Leg  
Thursday 13th January 2022 7.45pm   

It didn’t look good from the off. Jurgen Klopp fielded his strongest possible lineup, with only his two African forwards unavailable due to AFCON duty. Arsenal were weakened by more than just the absence of their four African players – although probably only Partey of that quartet would have started. Tomiyasu, Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe were all unavailable.  The selection of Ramsdale in goal indicated how important Mikel Arteta felt this match was, although perhaps that decision was harsh on Bernd Leno given he was the only player who could have held his head up high after the previous weekend’s horrowshow against Nottingham Forest.

The previous occasion the Gunners visited Anfield was last month, when the 4-0 pummeling in the league was an ugly, if unsurprising end to a good undefeated run, but both Mane and Salah played then, so last night did feel like it didn't have to be more of the same.

Eddie Nketiah was given another run out at centre forward and there was a fair bit of early pressing from Arsenal’s players. In the opening exchanges, you felt the tactic was to fight fire with fire. Cedric had to go off after 10 minutes, replaced by Calum Chambers at right back. However, things got seriously concerning just after a quarter of the game had been played, with the returning Granit Xhaka red carded for an attempt to clear an aerial ball which saw him take a whack against Diego Djota’s midriff rather than the ball itself, just outside the box. Given he knew the player was also chasing the ball, it was risky, and arguably reckless. It was difficult to dispute the referee’s decision given he had no cover. Pundit Paul Merson felt that Ramsdale might have played more of a sweeper keeper role, but the ball was in orbit. It was far from a typical forward ball. Difficult to defend against as Arsenal were caught on the counter attack. All the same it just had to be Xhaka, who will now miss both the return leg and Sunday’s North London derby at a time when central midfield options are very thin on the ground. 

As for playing with ten men, you could argue Arteta’s teams have had a fair bit of practice there, most recently at home to Manchester City. They didn’t quite hold out there, although the tactics against Liverpool were partly influenced by the lack of a natural replacement on the bench (let’s be fair to Charlie Patino and not expect him to come into this kind of game). As it was, Nketiah was sacrificed, with Rob Holding coming on to play between the two centre backs. It was very much batten down the hatches, with a back five featuring four centre backs and Kieran Tierney. Martinelli, Lokonga and Saka formed a three man front line in front of them with Lacazette a nominal forward. 

It was a concern initially, with Lokonga a bit of a liability, not getting tackles in and losing the ball cheaply. He is still young, but has a lot of work to do. That he will effectively have to carry the midfield over the next two matches makes the mind boggle. It might be an idea to put someone like Chambers in there next to him to take on the more defensive role. Anyway, for the most part what followed was a predictable hour plus of attack v defence, with the occasional foray from the visitors, including a great chance for Saka at one point in the second half. Less predictable was Liverpool’s failure to get shots on target.

The game was as much about frustrating the opposition and working the clock, although Arsenal didn’t get too much chance to do the latter, so little did they have the ball. The possession football in their own half went out of the window – no playing it out from the back under these circumstances.

It would be churlish to be too critical of Arsenal’s attacking play given the circumstances, but the odd opportunity was spurned due to a failure to trap the ball or cross with accuracy, on the rare occasions they had numbers in the Liverpool half. A word here for Michael Oliver, the referee. I felt he had a decent game – not at all biased or influenced by the home crowd, who were often quiet due to the inability of their team to spark their traditional fervor. That there were zero shots on target for either side after an hour told a story, although all the same, I found the encounter strangely gripping.

What is undeniable is that the Gunners showed far more character than on Sunday at Forest. Saka seemed to have some kind of stomach upset and was replaced by Tavares after 79 minutes. Although Arteta could have made a further two subs, his options were so thin, there was no point. Aaron Ramsdale seemed to lose his head a bit coming for a couple of late crosses and not really connecting. From the second, Minamino really should have scored, with only Ben White on the line to prevent him. To see the ball sail over – this in the 90th minute – was astonishing. As five minutes injury time was to follow, had that gone in, you could have seen the momentum leading to another. 

It was a heroic performance from the away side. Martinelli flat out at the final whistle said it all – he genuinely left it all out there on the pitch. Again, what a contrast to the FA Cup defeat last Sunday, although in fairness to the young Brazilian forward, he put in more of a shift at the City ground than most of his colleagues. 

I think Liverpool are still favourites to go through, but at least the second leg sees Arsenal start on level terms, score-wise, even if we can only wonder what kind of eleven the manager will be able to field. 

Doktor Schneide offered the following analysis -

Best defensive stonewalling performance since Boris’s ‘apology’.

I responded -
And about as many repeated attacks from the opposition!

Last night took a lot out of the players, no doubt about that. Let us hope their energy levels can be raised again to negotiate the two difficult matches in the next seven days. It does look like they might have 17 days off between the Burnley home and Wolves away league games (Chelsea being at the World Club Championship), which gives the opportunity for a training camp in the warmth of the Middle East. It was a very different style of Arsenal performance, very backs to the wall and a limited amount of actual football was possible. Nevertheless, the resilience and team spirit was heartening to witness.

Last mention on this blog for the mini-January sale by my old writing partner Alex Fynn, who has a few remaining copies of the 2016 edition of our book 'Arsenal: the Making of a Modern Superclub' to sell at £5 plus £3.50 postage to UK addresses only. This is now the only way you can get a copy as it is sold out from the publishers and no longer reprinting. Please email me – gooner.ed@gmail.com if you want a copy or and I will reply with details of how to make payment.

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