Arsenal Leaves Anfield With More Questions than Answers

After watching the highlights of yesterday's game at Liverpool again, I'm struggling with some rather conflicting thoughts to be honest. Half of them are positive, the rest are rather depressing.

I'll start with the positives.

First off, we got a point at Anfield.

No matter what state Liverpool is in, earning a point at one of the toughest places to play football in the world is always good.

A loss would have been a dreadful start to the campaign, especially with Chelsea banging in six goals in its first game. So it could've been worse.

The two new signings also looked particularly good yesterday.

Marouane Chamakh did well in his debut as he was a nuisance to the Liverpool centre-backs all game, and it was his presence that caused Reina to panic uncharacteristically and end up throwing the ball into his own net.

I am now a firm believer of karma after that. Reina would have caught that ball if he hadn't have proclaimed Cesc to be "The future of Barca" a few weeks back!

That should teach him.

I thought Laurent Koscielny looked pretty solid as well. At least his legs are solid anyway.

They must be made of steel, because his knee didn't snap in half after Joe Cole "tackled" him.

Of course, there are always the doubters. Steven Gerrard reckons Koscielny was acting. This is despite the fact he had to be taken off the field on a stretcher. What a muppet.

Another plus point yesterday was our subs bench. When in need of a goal, we were able to bring on Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Robin van Persie to go and get it.

If we can keep all our attacking players fit this season—and I appreciate that a big "IF"—then we're going to have plenty of weapons up our sleeve in times of trouble.

But it wasn't all flowers and roses yesterday. And there's no other way to phrase this next sentence, so those who are too sensitive should look away now before I upset you.

Done that? Ok, here goes......................MANUEL ALMUNIA!

The only reason he played in goal for Arsenal yesterday, was because there was no one better available at the club.

Sounds a bit obvious, but there's no way Wenger went into preseason thinking Almunia would be playing yesterday.

We know we put in a bid for Mark Schwartzer in May, so if he was looking for someone else back then, why are we still stuck with who we have in August?

It's so frustrating to see Manuel put in a showing like he did yesterday, in which he flapped at several free-kicks and corners and conceded a goal at his near post.

Yes, N'Gog smashed the ball, but he got a hand to it. And it still went in. Reina made a similar attempt to save a shot from Rosicky later on and made the same contact with the ball but flicked it over the bar.

It's the little things that separate the good goalkeepers from the great ones. We need a great keeper, not a good one. Sort it out, Arsenal!

While he's sorting that out, maybe he can have a word with Arshavin while he's there. He was completely ineffective yesterday.

It was as if he couldn't have been bothered playing out on the left, so he gave up running altogether. The amount of times Johnson and Kuyt bombed down our left wing was shocking.

Even when they had ten men, they still ran Clichy ragged.

It was no surprise that it was a lazily misplaced pass from Arshavin behind Wilshere that led to their goal.

Since he's arrived at Arsenal, he's had a free pass from criticism, due to the majority (including me) arguing that he'll become good soon.

Well 18 months on and apart from scoring four at Anfield last year, he's done sod all else. Just remember, Julio Baptista scored four at Anfield once....

Anyway, that's enough moaning for one day. Just enough time to thank everyone who joined my fantasy league for this season. Actually, 73 people thought they could beat me this season.

I look forward to proving you all wrong!

Until the next time readers.