The UEFA Champions League quarter-final between Liverpool and Arsenal yesterday ended with one team scoring five goals (Liverpool) and the other scoring three. Usually this means that the team who scored five would be considered the better team.
But it seems that people such as Arsene Wenger and numerous armchair pundits don't agree.
A night of fantastic football with one of the highlights of the year—in Theo Walcott's Pele-like run—has been overshadowed by yet another debate on the boring subject of a dubious penalty decision.
So what are the real reasons why Arsenal didn't win?
Here's the rundown:
Philippe Senderos
The number one culprit. Caught badly out of position for the Hyypia goal and went to cover Torres on the left (outside) instead of the right. Although Torres' finish was spectacular, he had plenty of time to place his shot in the absence of a quality central defender.
Emmanuel Adebayor
Very good at positional play and goal poaching but is a donkey with the ball at his feet. Missed a couple of sitters in both legs and his passing was woeful. Couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo since Eduardo's injury.
Kolo Toure
Whether you think the penalty was or wasn't valid, he chases the ball instead of keeping the line tight. He was caught badly out of position by Babel from the restart following Arsenal's second and should have laid a strong tackle outside the box instead of chasing with his arms flailing.
Mathieu Flamini
The man who held Arsenal together unfortunately left the game early. One of the few men Arsenal can rely on to run his guts out gone, and for me that's where Arsenal fell in a heap.
Gilberto Silva
It's not his fault but he is not the player that Flamini is. His passing is wayward and he was dispossessed too easily.
Robin Van Persie
It showed Wenger's desperation that he played a player that is only 50-50 in a game of such importance. He was ineffective and should have stayed on the bench. But who else has Wenger got, which brings me to the boss himself.
Arsene Wenger
If you have a beef about the result, here's the man to blame. Given a 60 million pound transfer kitty, he chose to keep his hands in his pockets. A very costly decision with Eduardo now out for the season or longer, Van Persie not right and now Flamini on the injury list.
Wenger is man who never accepts his or his team's failings and encourages a culture of paranoia amongst the Arsenal fans.
The Arsenal rearguard was a far cry from the Adams-Keown days and up front they look fragile. There is no doubting the skill in the Arsenal team but the one thing that they lack is any depth.
They were going great early in the season until the injuries started to mount and now instead of players, they only have excuses (and no silverware). For a team who was scoring so freely early in the campaign, three wins from 12 games spells meltdown to me.
Arsene might be well advised to stop pointing that petulant finger at the referee's performance and take a look at his own. I'm sure the Arsenal board is doing just that.
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3 months ago
Here here.
3 months ago
Where are you getting this 60 million from? I guess that's what Arsenal start with in Football manager and for fans like you that must be taken as gospel. Blame what you want, but as we finished 15th before wenger, and never below 4th with him, I think he's deserved a chance somehow. 3 titles speaks for itself mate.
from 2 months ago
I'm sorry, you're right I was mistaken, it was 70 million pounds.
http://arsenalanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/11/accounts-show-wenger-has-74m-transfer.html
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_3224349,00.html
http://www.soccerway.com/news/2007/September/24/arsenal-hand-wenger-a-70-million-pound-transfer-kitty
2 months ago
Yes, I'm sure they board is "pointing the finger" at Arsene. Because all the teams that regularly sack their managers for not winning every other year seem to go on to great things in England... like... er.... um.... er....
from 2 months ago
Chelsea? Outside England - Milan, Real Madrid. The third wealthiest club in the world demands success. The fact is the league title was Arsenal's at Christmas and Arsene threw it away. And let's face it, even though they got to the final against Barca two years ago, Arsenal always get their pants pulled down in Europe. Wenger is a great coach but has a bad attitude not unlike Mourinho and we all know how that ended.
from 2 months ago
"Because all the teams that regularly sack their managers for not winning every other year seem to go on to great things in England... like... er.... um.... er...."
Who does that? Jose was in his 4th year at Chelsea. Benitez is also in his 4th year. We all know Sir Alex's record!!
Just who exactly were you referring to, Anonymous?
2 months ago
Spot on, Wengers lack of spending has cost us success. Yes we may have been very unlucky to go out to liverpool over two legs, but we are closer to Liverpool in terms of performance than Man U . We need to step up to the level United have set by spending some money and buying world class proven talent. Its no good looking back we must look forward, Wengers ability to build a teams playing successful football will probably guarantee us "top four" for the next ten years but we should be looking to go to the next level not settle for that.
2 months ago
The writer correct. The players you mentioned were the weak links in the team that night. One thing people haven't said anything about is Almunia's positioning for Babel's goal. It might not have made a difference as Liverpool were already winning but he was totally to one side of the goal and Babel calmly slotted the ball into the other side..
Had he saved it, who knows, they might have gotten that second equaliser!!
2 months ago
Arsenal play Great Football, Arsene is a great manager, but the backbone of the Liverpol team is home grown hungry players. Invest in youngsters and one day you will have natural talent in the form of local boys such as Gerrard and Carragher. You already have awesome players from around the world. What you are missing is a backbone.
Dont think me rude for messaging here, but money solves nothing, And arsene Wenger is an awesome manager who has built a fantastic team..
Man Utd have Giggs, Scholes, Neville, (and rooney/ferdinand(also Brits)
Chelsea have Lampard, Terry, Wright Phillips
Liverpool have Gerrard, Carragher
Arsenal have Walcott, and at the end, he was the only one who went above and beyond to get it
Sorry to be harsh, but you dont need to spend, you need to grow
Kopite
2 months ago
I agree with many of your comments Joe.
Certainly Wenger appears to have an almost blind faith in his players. Before virtually every game in the last 2 months he has said 'we will win', in reality they have won very few. Arsenal have been unlucky with injuries, but thats were your squad comes in, and Arsenal's just does not have enough depth at the moment.
In an interview just the other day he intimated that he wouldn't be spending big money in the summer because he didn't think it was necessary. This is of course admirable in some respects, but if come May 2009, Arsenal are sitting at the end of a 4th year with no trophies, surely the board, and many more fans, will be thinking 'We trust you Arsene, but just WHEN are our 'young' players going to be ready?'
I think there is such as thing a great manager staying at a club for too long, and maybe this is the case for Wenger? who knows. Nest season will be interesting and the pressure will be huge, assuming there is not a dramtic turn around and they somehow manage to nick the title this year....
2 months ago
It's actually 70 million.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11670_3224349,00.html
2 months ago
Not very interesting or original or, most importantly, insightful commentary. What I find most amusing is that had the ref called a foul on Kuyt and not on Toure, probably the more defensible set of decisions, what would you be writing? How the steel and grit of Arsenal had weathered the best that a poorly managed and poorly playing, boring Liverpool side had to offer? Or would you have been griping about how lucky Arsenal were, and how they still should have spent this alleged money in the transfer window?
There's a saying in the law that goes something like great cases make bad law (or maybe it is hard cases.) In any case, the same is true with great games like this. One can read too much into them, as you have, when, in truth, the end result is down to, in Dylan's words, to a "simple twist of fate."
from 2 months ago
As I said, I do not doubt that Arsenal are a good team and played some very entertaining football. The purpose of the article was to shift the focus back onto the players and managers instead of the constant stream of 'we woz robbed' rubbish and ref bashing. You seem to want to concentrate on the referee though. Both teams played some great football and how you can claim Liverpool were boring (particularly in the second half) is beyond me. Did you watch the game or just the news footage of the penalty decision? If the penalty wasn't given then yes, I probably would analyse the Liverpool players and their performance but then we wouldn't have had Wenger whining and griping about injustice and this article wouldn't be required.
2 months ago
Thank god someone sees the obvious.
Why is this obvious to everyone except for Wenger?
He had the nerve to say that Arsenal played well after the game with Chelsea.
Maybe that's the problem, his standards are not high enough and that's what you get, a team that is very good, but not champion material.
2 months ago
I think that you are right that a number of Arsenals players did not perform on the night. I feel though that there is a lack of belief in the Arsenal team at the moment, they don't believe they are good enough and it flows into their game. Liverpool have a strong belief in themselves in Champions League I wish they could bring it into the Premiership.
The first 30 minutes of the match were all Arsenal, Once Liverpool scored it was if they gave up
2 months ago
Just a side comment, not really on your article, but did you count how many English players were on the field during the game, if I am correct there were about 5 or 6. I think that is the problem of the Premiership
from 2 months ago
Even worse: Carragher, Gerrard and Crouch for Liverpool and Jermaine Pennant for Arsenal who was a sub. So 3 starters and one sub.
2 months ago
So the question is can we make a squad of 11 English Players using the the 4 Champions league sides, I wonder?
2 months ago
Interesting exercise, let's see. Ferdinand, Brown, Scholes, Hargreaves, Carrick, Rooney and Neville. Seven from United flying the flag. The three from Liverpool and Walcott (not Pennant, oops) from Arsenal as mentioned above and Terry, Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole. So we have 14 players from a possible 64 (including the bench) with no goalkeepers to be seen, even on the bench!
I guess United look like the most English of the English teams. It's possible, but only if you stick Ferdinand in goal and have a three man bench.
2 months ago
I'd rather have Ferdinand watching from the stands, I think he is the most overrated player in the game.
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