Arsenal-Liverpool: Match Ratings and Analysis

I do this for an Arsenal forum, so I am planning to do it here as well and see what other fans' views are.

Rating = (lowest) 1-10 (highest).

Arsenal

Almunia (6) Pretty much had nothing to do but pick the ball out of the net.

Toure (6) At fault with the goal, caught square by Gerrard, he is a better defender than that.

Gallas (7) Solid considering the lack of attacking by Liverpool, but nevertheless dealt well with the counter attacks and Torres's pace.

Senderos (7) Some Senderos dodgy moments with a couple of poor headers and clearances. But overall a good game and looking confident for once.

Clichy (7) Outrageous pace but some immature moments, can still improve defensively.

Eboue (5) Severely lacking confidence, thus lost his usual driving runs and creativity. Still think he is better attacking from right back position and overlapping although he doesn't defend well.

Fabregas (7) Much better in second half when Liverpool started to get tired. Could have scored a couple.

Flamini (7) Worked hard as usual, and distributed well. But should have tackled better against Gerrard in the run up to their equaliser.

Hleb (7) Disappointing on the left, but a revelation in the number 10 position. Should have started there with Van Persie on the left to keep width. What a run for a dead-on penalty though.

Van Persie (6) Sad to lose him to injury again but he hasn't looked fit enough for the past few games. The team has somehow learnt to play better without him despite the fact that he is our best striker.

Adebayor (7) Impressive up front, worked hard and physically tested Hyypia and Skrtel. Good movement for the goal too. His best performance since San Siro.

Subs

Walcott (7) Good little cameo although dropped a little bit on the right.

Bendtler (6) Defensively excellent in clearing Fabregas's shot on the line! Did not offer much.

Liverpool

Reina (7) A couple of good saves despite not having to do much. Some good distribution too.

Carragher (7) Did very well against Arsenal's attacks on his flank. Also a great block at the end. A great leader from the back.

Skrtel (7) Shaky at times but overall restricted Adebayor's threat. Looks a good buy by Rafa.

Hyypia (6) At fault for goal and lacked pace a little bit.

Aurelio (6) Didn't do much in attack and didn't do much in defence.

Mascherano (6) Could not get close to Arsenal's midfielders in the second half but better at first.

Xabi Alonso (6) Spent half the game chasing shadows but was Liverpool's hardest worker, covered the most ground. Did not get much chance to show his creativity though.

Gerrard (8) Great play for the goal and overall a threat from counter attacks. Inventive in attack and worked well with Torres for winning free kicks in dangerous positions. One down point is that he didn't defend enough for the midfield since Fabregas and Flamini had too much time on ball in the second half.

Kuyt (7) Good goal from a good run, excellent worker and played as a second right full back. It WAS a penalty though, got lucky.

Babel (6) Did not see much of the ball and did not do much with it when he did have the ball. Benayoun should have started to keep possession a bit more.

Torres (6) A threat but Gallas and Clichy did very well against him since it is difficult to outpace them.

Subs

Benayon (6) Didn't have much of the ball, but kept it better than Babel.

Lucas (6) Didn't have much time to impress.

Voronin (6) Don't think he even touched the ball.

Analysis

Game Play

A very good, and well-mannered game. It is not very often that you see a good tempered game between the top four.

Typical Liverpool performance away from home in the Champions League.

Defensively very well organised and took their goal well. However, pretty much outplayed by Arsenal in terms of football, didn't create much at all even though some may argue that they shouldn't have since they had an away goal.

Arsenal on the other hand should have won this game, could have won it by a two goal margin even. The second half was only played in one half and Liverpool rode their luck a little.

Tactics

Arsenal got it wrong in the first half. They should have been defending much better on the flanks which is how they conceded the goal. Too narrow at times with Hleb on the left drifting in and Eboue not offering much movement on the right.

Substitution worked well with Walcott offering directiveness and pace. Unlucky not to win.

Liverpool got it right on the other hand, limited Arsenal's plan of dropping the ball between defence and midfield thus restricting Fabregas space to slide balls through. Defended wide positions well by often having two defenders vs one attacker on the flanks.

Attacking-wise, they can still improve as a team, it is one thing defending well but more goals will be needed if they are to win things. Fatigue could have been the factor for their laboured offensive performance.

Hope you enjoyed the read, please give me feedbacks on how I could improve. Thanks.