The match between Arsenal and Liverpool ended 2-2, which wasn’t that bad, though it left some of us Gooners with questions. The main question, I’m sure, is: if we had our strongest squad, would Liverpool have stood a chance against us?
Putting that aside, Bukayo Saka posed another question in his post-match reaction that left me wondering: could Arsenal have easily won the game if they had maintained their first-half momentum in the second half?
Bukayo Saka, speaking about the atmosphere in the Arsenal dressing room after the draw, stated, “We are disappointed.
“Congratulations to Liverpool; they are a good team, but we also felt that we did not play well enough in the 90 minutes today.
“100%, we did not do well enough in the second half. In the first half, we showed quality from the whole team; we dominated and did not give them any chances. In the second half, we were more timid and did not play at our best.”
Arsenal got off to a bright start against Liverpool; by the 9th minute, they had already broken the deadlock, with Saka scoring minutes after his injury return.
Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last long; nine minutes later, Liverpool equalised from a corner. Either way, the Reds were just lucky to score that goal. In the first half, Arsenal completely dominated them, winning duel after duel and maintaining possession (52%); Liverpool just couldn’t match the Gunners physicality. Mikel Merino’s goal, scored two minutes before the halftime break, solidified the dominance of the North Londoners in the first half.
At halftime, Arsenal had a 2-1 lead; they just had to return after the break, score another goal, or just hold on to that lead.
But the Gunners were poor in the second half.Gabriel’s injury, which led to his early substitution and Timber’s withdrawal due to some discomfort, further hindered Arsenal’s performance in the second half, preventing them from maintaining their first-half momentum.
Liverpool, who had clearly struggled in the first half, regained momentum in the second half, limiting Arsenal to just 38% ball possession.
Not dominating in the second half prevented our boys from winning one of the most crucial fixtures of the season, right?
Darren N
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
The headline question was answered in the third from last paragraph…losing Gabriel & Timber.
But they are defenders, we stopped before then Jax and started again at 2’2 when they were off the pitch. I believe we didn’t have our first corner in the second half until nearly 90 mins.
TBH Reggie, I didn’t notice that we stopped playing at all, but that Liverpool put more effort into attacking us in the second half, which was to be expected.
We stopped pressing them in their half Jax. We invited it. Arteta said it Saka said it. I don’t think Liverpool were dominant, just too much in our half. They didn’t look dangerous just, too much in our half, for comfort. Its becoming a trend.
Unfortunate injuries in the second half clearly didn’t help Arsenal. That said, Liverpool didn’t play particularly well, even then. However, despite Arsenal leading twice, it ended up as two home points dropped whatever the circumstances.
Arsenal is certainly not where they would want to be – something that Arteta has admitted (what else could he do?) in post-match interviews. His team has now had three disappointing games in a row: Bournemouth (result/performance), Shakhtar (performance) and now Liverpool (result). They can’t really afford any more, at present anyway.
Basically, we were unable to sustain pressure on Liverpool in the second half because we lacked the energy to do so.The injuries to Gabriel and Timber, ultimately cost us the game because their replacements are simply not of the same calibre, and in the case of Kwior, I very much doubt if he will be part of our squad next year.In addition,while Trossard is a very able intelligent footballer, he lacks the pace and energy to assist Rice and Merino in central midfield when the going gets tough.He is a front three player and should not be used as a midfielder.Finally, and probably most importantly, having to play Partey at RB where he did well, denied us of a real class act in central midfield where, not unexpectedly, Merino ran out of steam in the second half due to his lack of real match fitness.I am pretty sure Arteta did not set up to defend our way to a win but for the reasons mentioned we could not maintain the energy we displayed in the first half.
Well said Grandad
@GrandadI agree with you. The team had no more legs to continue the aggression of the first halve. But we can’t deny the fact that injury to Timber didn’t help matters. Myles Skelly was out of position he had left his space when the ball came to Salah (part of inexperience) and our make shift Center back don’t have Saliba pace to recover when Liverpool countered. All in all it’s safe to say we need our best players on the pitch for games of such magnitude may be we could have held on to our lead just 9 minutes to full time
Injuries are not why we stopped attacking and anyone saying otherwise is simply ignoring the very obvious pattern of Artetas teams to default to defending the second we take the lead. We stopped attacking minutes after scoring the 2nd goal, and before Gabi’s injury. Obviously we cannot control 90 minutes of a whole game but it’s evident to anyone who watches every Arsenal game that we are more concerned about defending a lead than killing games off. Liverpool were nothing special and most the half was devoted to letting them have the ball and dictate play. They were there for the taking and getting at Liverpool and having them rattled is typically the better approach to beating them.
I think you are way off the mark but of course you are entitled to your opinion.
Got to say, I agree, RSH. IF you are unsure of your defence, don’t put it under pressure. Win the ball higher and force Liverpool to defend more. That is what Arteta alluded too but he himself was slow to react and adjust what was going on. Personally I thought with the players we had out there, Rice, Merino and Partey we had enough braun to win the midfield and push up. Which is exactly what we did inbthe first half.