Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 , SS1

[blaze_of_glory]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

I recall us dominating from start to finish. Our guys golden gods 7 feet tall while the 'pool players crawled on four legs through the mud.

 

[a_fourteen]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Silly paranoia has gripped this forum. Yes we stumbled the first few weeks of the season but we've won the last 5 out of 6 games. We've always done well against Liverpool except for last year when their pace and movement blew us away. Without Suarez and Sturridge they are a shadow of last year and will be starting without even a center forward. A little perspective please.

 

[chessygoal]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Silly paranoia has gripped this forum. Yes we stumbled the first few weeks of the season but we've won the last 5 out of 6 games. We've always done well against Liverpool except for last year when their pace and movement blew us away. Without Suarez and Sturridge they are a shadow of last year and will be starting without even a center forward. A little perspective please.

Exactly, Lovren and Moreno are awful defenders, I can see Sanchez scoring a few goals there. It won't be easy, but we should be going there confident that we are the better team.

 

[Big Poppa]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Silly paranoia has gripped this forum. Yes we stumbled the first few weeks of the season but we've won the last 5 out of 6 games. We've always done well against Liverpool except for last year when their pace and movement blew us away. Without Suarez and Sturridge they are a shadow of last year and will be starting without even a center forward. A little perspective please.

I can't speak for everyone else but I'm not at all concerned about what Liverpool might do to us, I'm concerned about what we might do to ourselves.

I'm sure Liverpool fans feel the same about their team. Sunday's game will be decided by which team ****s up the least.

 

[Jury]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Our guys golden gods 7 feet tall while the 'pool players crawled on four legs through the mud.

I'm emailing RAWK to tell them I've got a man to rival their scribe!

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Balotelli banned for this one btw. Given one match ban for his twitter comments. Not that he would have made much of difference.

 

[Jury]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Balotelli banned for this one btw. Given one match ban for his twitter comments. Not that he would have made much of difference.

Heh, are you kidding? Arsenal have always had an embarrassing habit of allowing the player we least want to score against us, score. Or the least likely to. I dont know what it is... He'd be unplayable if he lined up against us

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Yeah actually, i remember when Drogba would have poor seasons at Chelsea and then turn into an unstoppable machine once he faced us

Same with Crouch, he's a right ****er whenever he comes up against us.

 

[Vinci]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Knock, knock. Is this thing on?

Forum keeps crashing and what not.

 

[BobP]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Not sure if that **** Darren Bent falls into that category, always scores against us regardless of the circumstances.

 

[a_fourteen]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Gabby Agbonlahor. If we have a bogeyman it is him.

 

[redanddread]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Just watched a repeat of the 1st half of last year's demolition at Anfield. Their pressing coupled with their pace & movement up front gave us fits. Furthermore, there was little pace in our side as we went with a team consisting of three, maybe four No.10's. Coupled with that, aside from The Ox, we never had the pace up front to really frighten them. Once they were ahead they could sit back and hit us on the break which suited them perfectly.


This year Liverpool don't have the pace nor presence of either Sturridge or Suarez. They still can move the ball swiftly and dangerously but don't have the devastating finishing of last season's SAS to score the goals that won them so many games. This is a big problem for them as there just aren't enough goals in their team at present.

We have a much more balanced and pacey attack than last year and it's an offense that is much better at defending both in the press and helping out at the back. We have the tools to counter attack with pace and precision this time, which Liverpool will have to be very wary of.

Midfield where the battle is often won is an interesting scenario. Although we are missing several 1st team midfielders I actually think a midfield with Flamini, The OX & Cazorla offers more balance than the one we had last year (Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla/Özil). Last year we did little more than pass the ball around to nowhere as would be expected with so many technical midfielders. Whilst Flamini's distribution is not as good as Arteta's, he does provide a little more bite & mobility in midfield. The Ox's ability to break from deep at pace will be a weapon and Cazorla is being played in his favoured No.10 role. Cazorla does do a lot of work off the ball also and will help out more than Özil would.

Both defenses are in a bit of a state, although their's moreso. Their goalkeeper situation is a shambles and Jones is very vulnerable plus there is no consistency in selection nor performance from Liverpool's CB's. Their wing back/FB's situation is also not ideal with Johnson out and Moreno/Manquillo not convincing in defense as yet.

The only area of the park where I feel they match us to a degree is in midfield. It'll be interesting to see where Coutinho & Henderson start and who will be in the midfield and on the wing. Will Rodgers play Lucas or Allen?

If we can deal with the crowd and Liverpool's initial intensity then we have more weapons to win this game. For me the key will be the opening 20 minutes and if we can see this out and establish our presence and possession game we can win this.

Make no mistake, Liverpool will be up for this and will believe that they can turn us over. I think we have a more talented team on paper but they have to turn up on the day and make it happen. The entire football world will be looking at Arsenal to see whether or not they can turn up on the big stage away from home.




My team: 4-3-3

Szczesny

Debuchy - Chambers - Per - Gibbs

The Ox -Flamini - Santi

Alexis - Giroud - Danny


Prediction: 2-1 to the good guys.


P.S. We also have the best player in Alexis. Last year they had that player in Suarez.

 

[redanddread]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Gabby Agbonlahor. If we have a bogeyman it is him.

Rooney? He always seems to score against us. Darren Bent has scored nuff against us also.

 

[BobP]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

In that 5-1 game, the entire team came out looking severely hungover.

Was an anomaly.

Wenger's a laugh though, if you guys have noticed he will often see how far he can push things before they go to ****, then when they inevitably do he'll pull his socks up and ensure we get the required results.

Some people think he isn't capable of being pragmatic but I reckon that sly old fox is well capable of being so, just doesn't want to.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Of course he is pragmatic, you don't stay in this job for nearly twenty years if you aren't. He's shown us in 2012 and 2013 that he has the ability and desire to change things up, if the minimum season target (4th place) is under threat.

I've always hated how long he waited to do something. As if it makes any difference, if you stood by your approach a couple of months longer or not....

 

[redanddread]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

In that 5-1 game, the entire team came out looking severely hungover.

Was an anomaly.

Wenger's a laugh though, if you guys have noticed he will often see how far he can push things before they go to ****, then when they inevitably do he'll pull his socks up and ensure we get the required results.

Some people think he isn't capable of being pragmatic but I reckon that sly old fox is well capable of being so, just doesn't want to.

If the 6-3, the 6-0 & the 3-0 hadn't have happened also (remembering the 8-2) I'd have said it was an anomaly. I doubt those scores will happen again, however, at one point in time both Stoke & Everton away this season didn't look so different.

The team has to come out bright & alert not snoozing and passive.

 

[Taylor Gang Gunners]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Gabby Agbonlahor. If we have a bogeyman it is him.

Rooney? He always seems to score against us. Darren Bent has scored nuff against us also.

Rooney, Gabby, Drogba, Bent.. All have decent records against us the bellends. Not sure about Peter Crouch but he seems to score against us all too often, lanky streak of piss.

 

[redanddread]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

Gabby Agbonlahor. If we have a bogeyman it is him.

Rooney? He always seems to score against us. Darren Bent has scored nuff against us also.

Rooney, Gabby, Drogba, Bent.. All have decent records against us the bellends. Not sure about Peter Crouch but he seems to score against us all too often, lanky streak of piss.

Drogba was the worst. He feasted on us for almost a decade.

 

[SomGooner]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

We should beat them but knowing Arsenal we won't. As usual we will make few of their players look like the best in the world by giving them all the time and space they need to hurt us. I'm sorry guys, but I fully expect us to lose this game, anything else is a bonus.

 

[Big Poppa]

Re: Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal - 21/12/14, 16:00 ,

In that 5-1 game, the entire team came out looking severely hungover.

Was an anomaly.

Wenger's a laugh though, if you guys have noticed he will often see how far he can push things before they go to ****, then when they inevitably do he'll pull his socks up and ensure we get the required results.

Some people think he isn't capable of being pragmatic but I reckon that sly old fox is well capable of being so, just doesn't want to.

If the 6-3, the 6-0 & the 3-0 hadn't have happened also (remembering the 8-2) I'd have said it was an anomaly. I doubt those scores will happen again, however, at one point in time both Stoke & Everton away this season didn't look so different.

The team has to come out bright & alert not snoozing and passive.

The numbers don't mean a whole lot to me, its more the fact that we consistently apply an approach that is agnostic of the opposition's strengths and weaknesses. Man City for example always attacked down the right with Zabaleta and Navas at home. When we went there last season we played Jack Wilshere on the left wing, for his ability on the ball, completely ignoring the fact he's one of the slowest in midfield, and would offer little protection to Gibbs.

There are certain games where you need to turn the opposition's strengths against them. Mourinho and Simeone are masters at this. We need to understand that most teams that fail to win their home games, do it by crumbling under the pressure of their own fans to score. They take more risks than they would do away.

If we know this intellectually, why don't we apply it? Play more like we did at Galatasaray and sit deep, allow them to come on to us and hit them on the break where the pace of our forwards actually has space worth exploiting? Its basic stuff but we deliberately don't do it.