7 lessons learnt from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 vs. Liverpool – Part 1
The highly anticipated, “title deciding” clash did not live much up to its pre-match hype until the latter stages of the match when two penalties in the course of 4 minutes ensured that Liverpool continued their strong resurgence under the legendary Kenny
Dalglish, and Arsenal suffered their third successive home draw and had their title hopes all but extinguished.
The match had its fair share of controversy, penalties, injuries and the always entertaining touchline arguments between rival managers ensuring that the fans were kept entertained as wave after wave of Arsenal’s attacks were fluffed out easily but the young
but determined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 back line.
Liverpool must be given full credit for their brave defending after all the setbacks they suffered before the match, with injuries to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Martin-Kelly-c24395, and during the match when Fabio Aureilo limped off after 20
minutes and then Jamie Carragher had to be stretchered off after a midair collision with fellow Red’s player, John Flanagan in the second half. The injury to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jamie-Carragher-c17728 halted play for 8 minutes, culminating to the stoppage time madness.
With the title on the line, the Gunners had no margin for error. The match however, resulted in the same old story specific of the Arsenal team; plenty of possession but nothing to show for it. Sir http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 Ferguson, watching from the stands, looked a bit worried
when Cesc Fabregas, after a neat passing move with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jay-Spearing-c18106. Van Persie took the resulting penalty kick and slotted it home for what looked to be a certain 3 points.
Much debate is going on over the fact that the referee, Andre Mariner allowed the game to restart after the penalty with the clock at 99 minutes. Arsenal threw bodies back as Liverpool launched the ball towards the Arsenal goal and the resulting melee gave
Liverpool a free kick just outside the penalty box. Suarez smashed it against the wall and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lucas-c22528 induced a foul out of Eboue to give Liverpool one final spot kick before the final whistle. Wenger was fuming since 4 minutes had elapsed after the scheduled stoppage
time. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dirk-Kuyt-c11348 scored from the spot and reduced Arsenal’s faint title hopes to dust.
If the Gunners learnt seven things from this heart stopping encounter, they are;
1– Arsene Wenger has to drop his youth policy
While Arsene Wenger sticks to his guns, the Arsenal fans are growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of silverware in recent years. Although the potential at Arsenal Football Club is not called into question, there are times when all you need is an experienced
head to guide the players through the tougher times during the season. Track back to the time of the the ‘Invincibles’ when Arsenal had the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-c31222 Pires and Dennis Bergkamp. It was the perfect platform for the grooming
of youngsters like Cesc Fabregas. Take the example of United. The likes Of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rafael-c30339. A mix of young blood and experienced
heads is what Arsenal require.
2– You need to sometimes play dirty to win
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 do not play the prettiest football but they grind out results one way or the other. Arsenal have been guilty of over-passing before also and this is what happened this time around. Over-passing inside the box resulted in Arsenal giving the possession
away many a times. You do not always have to play pretty to win. Sometimes you need to change tactics and play a little more direct to get that one goal that will set you through. Arsenal need to abandon their thirst for the perfect goal and just try to put
the ball in the back of the net one way or the other.
Article continued in Part 2…
Tags: