Liverpool 0 – 2 Arsenal: Emerging partnerships bode extremely well
September 3, 2012
Arsene Wenger always talks about the ‘huge technical risk’ a coach faces when making more than a couple of changes to his first XI at one time. That hasn’t stopped him from entirely remodelling his midfield and attack in the space of less than a year and while we’ve seen in the opening couple of matches just why that can be risky, we’re also getting to see something that we’ve rarely had the opportunity to before. We’re seeing a brand new side evolve and settle before our eyes and it’s pretty interesting.
While we coped fine in the first two games of the season, the ‘front six’ have looked like what they are – a bunch of strangers who have never played a match together before. But already we’re starting to see the buds of something. A growing awareness of teammates and what they can and can’t do. And most importantly the emergence of some key on field partnerships.
Cazorla and Podolski are the obvious example, combining brilliantly for both goals. For the first, Poldi found Santi in space from the halfway line before continuing his run all the way into the box by which time the little Spaniard had cushioned the ball, turned in a neat circle, motored forward then beautifully weighted the return through the gap in the retreating Liverpool defence. There was still plenty to do but what we already know about Podolski is that he doesn’t need a lot of chances to score. And when you’ve witnessed the timidity in front of goal of Gervinho coming in from that left wing, that feels oh so good.
They linked up again for the second, Cazorla scampering through the midfield before a cute little one-two with the German put him into the box. His shot should have been saved by Reina but it was struck well enough that I think the keeper was thinking too much about whether he’d deflect it back to an onrushing striker. Instead he felt it would be simpler to just fumble it into his net. Cazorla and Podolski ran off to celebrate together and you can tell they’ll be itching to get back on the field after the international break and develop that understanding further.
It’s exactly what I was hoping for before the match. We already know what a player we’ve got on our hands in Santi Cazorla and this team can thrive if he can stay fit and develop that natural understanding with his wide forwards. His superb balance, touch and ability to make a pass with either foot allows his to slip a ball to either wing or just inside a full back and into the box. Once both wingers are alert to that and making the right runs it can be devastating.
Another key burgeoning partnership yesterday was that of Diaby and Arteta whose growing awareness of each other and their roles in the midfield was another reason for the quality of our display. Diaby makes me want to cry. Three games fit and look at what a player he can be. This is why Le Boss has kept faith in him for all these years. He knows that if he could shake the injuries he could be almost unplayable. His ability to break up play, lose an opponent with a deft trick and then power up field offers us something that no other player can. I can’t watch him without thinking about all the ‘what ifs’. What if Dan Smith had never brutally stamped on his ankle when he did? What could we have done if we’d had a fit and healthy Abou Diaby available these past six years and able to develop his game? I can’t even contemplate the idea that he might finally be over his injury problems. It’s setting myself up for too much of a fall. Much safer for my mental health to just assume that we’ll get another couple of games out of him if we’re lucky and accept anything else as a gift.
Defensively we again looked strong. There was plenty of talk pre-game about the fact that we hadn’t scored so far this season and that if we went beyond half-time it would be our worst start in history etc etc but I haven’t seen any stats regarding when the last time was we went three games at the start of the season without conceding a goal (can anyone chip in?). What I do know is that at this stage last season we’d conceded 11, contributing a significant chunk of our horrendous total of 49 at the end of the campaign. I don’t want to jinx anything just yet but I think there’s a fairly good chance already that we’ll have improved on that this year.
Liverpool offered us a decent examination too. Raheem Sterling looks like he might just live up to the expectations and looked lively on the left but Carl Jenkinson dealt with him very well in the end. I could have done without the long raking balls across our own back four early on, especially the ones that landed at the feet of our opponents but I can only assume Steve Bould slammed him against the dressing room wall at half time and we didn’t see them again in the second half.
Luis Suarez appears to be celebrating Joey Barton’s departure to France by solidifying his position as the biggest prick in the Premier League. My word he’s unbelievable. He can’t go five minutes without doing something truly obnoxious. If he’s not raking his studs down someone’s calves he’s ‘accidentally’ stamping on them as they lie on the ground, chucking himself to the floor in the penalty box, giving verbals to his opponents or moaning to the referee. It’s amazing he finds time for any football at all.
The only other blight on a very good afternoon was the performance of Olivier Giroud who already looks like he’s got the weight of press expectations on his shoulders. He needs to be given time to settle but when the guy he replaced is busy banging in hat-tricks for his new club the pressures are bound to be high. He had another great chance to settle himself down with a goal in the first half, fed in following another surging Abou Diaby run. He just needed a bit of composure to dink the ball past Pepe Reina but he hit it like he was swinging a rusty tool box from a piece of rope.
Not to damn him with faint praise but the run he made to get into that position was great and I really think that once he gets going he’ll be snaffling up that sort of chance. As I’ve pointed out before, unlike Podolski, he does need a few chances to score. Last season he took around 7.5 shots per goal but still managed to end the season with 21 goals.
He’s still started only two games so he needs a bit of time.
Fortunately, if the rest of the team keeps playing as well as they did yesterday and his teammates chip in with their share of the goals, we can allow him the time that he needs.
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25 Responses to “Liverpool 0 – 2 Arsenal: Emerging partnerships bode extremely well”
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Good report……glad you did not go overboard in criticism of Jenks and Giroud…Jenks is proving a brilliant buy for a local lad of his age. He is reveling being in this sort of company so quick and already is a much better crosser that Sagna ever was. I see him becoming a big asset for Giroud who I am very impressed with.Yes ,like Bergkamo & Thierry he will take time to score and to adjust to our game but he will be a star later this year. As for Carzola…only Arsene could get a player unknown to us all that is (A) better than Cesc already and (B) costs a fraction of the gilt that Chelsk, City & manure have paid for lesser quality. Thank the Gods of George Graham that AW promoted Bouldie. I was one of the few who thought he was better than Tony and should have played for England another 50 times. What old Gunners like me have always screamed for since the loss of the fab 6, is a return to our hit an run at speed policy we had in 2004. When I watched the Sunderland & stoke games I thought, hello we may have something here that means we dont dread every free kick and corner. Now after Liverpool, I sense a feeling of dread from other clubs and our wonderful anti AFC media. The simple fact of AW’s new side is that with Jack on his way back and Rosicki plus Kossy & Chesney plus Ramsey & Theo..we have a squad , and about bloody time too. And as usual Arsene made a profit!! Hopefully, he will still add a couple of stars in January…ie; Falcao & Chiellini?
The first goal was a beautiful counter attacking goal, been a while since we witnessed that from an Arsenal team. You’re right about Jenkinson MH, he was fine defensively but those square passes/cross filled balls along the defence had me shitting bricks*don’t ask me how*, he really dealt with the impressive Sterling tho, I like what i see.
I can’t take credit for this, someone mentioned that Suarez dives as if he has been hit by a grenade, Vermaelean’s face said it all, he must’ve been thinking ”no mother could love this child”
The away fans were amazing as usual, best in the league. My fav chant was ‘he drives how he wants, he drives how he wants, Andre Santos, he drives how he wants’ love it.
Err what else? WENGER OUT.
Cazorla was unknown to you? He’s played for Spain quite a bit over the past 6 years.
I agree about the hit and run style – we’re very patient in our build up which is good but sometimes it ruins how we counter attack, often slowing the pace and looking for that intelligent pass to switch the play, all the while the opposition defence reforms and suddely we have two banks of four infront of us to penetrate again – players like Podolski are brilliant at quick counters, pass and move – Cazorla has the quality to pick out that final pass, putting it in the spot perfect for the forwards run – on our first properly fast counter attack yesterday we scored a goal.
Obviously that’s just one aspect – making the most of those counter attack situations, what we’ll also see with patient build up is players like Diaby and Cazorla able to navigate those highly populated passages between the midfield and defence, slotting the ball into the forward movements of Giroud and Podolski. Could be some exciting football ahead of us.
Giroud is receiving a hard time on the net this morning – he didn’t have a great game yesterday but once again was the man getting into the best piece of space on the pitch, just needs a touch of composure, presumably a goal will relax him a little. Frankly I don’t care if he’s just a poacher at the end of the day, if he can start scoring regularly he’ll win us matches.
it has been 88 years since the Arsenal kept clean sheets in the first 3 games of the season .For me i also feel Bouldy was better than Tony and my biggest fear has been laid to rest ,Arsene is letting Bouldy coach ,we have started solid if not spectacular this season which means we will only get better .
Also, Pete – Falcao would be nice but I assume he’ll be quite far outside of our financial range – still, another forward is needed I think – an injury to Giroud or Podolski leaves us thin on the ground up top.
Gunnerpete, Giroud is definately a fantastic player and with more time to adapt to the this league his class will start to show.
As MH mentioned his movement will always get him into goalscoring positions so i expect goals to start coming very soon. Even that fucker Rvp took a while to adjust to the CF forward position after cunting his way through our medical rehab facilities, i have more than enough time for the O.G – While waiting for the goals i advice we melt in his eyes and bask in his heavenly looks, ha!
BUT, he needs to stop getting frustrated so easily, he always looks dejected after a stray pass or mis timed header, we understand.
We should have brought in Bould long long ago, instead of keeping Rice – no disrespect meant – for the good of the team. He would not have tolerated bungling players like Almunia, Squillaci, Cygan, Sendoros, even Clichy’s tendencies towards defensive errors. And we’d probably baggede a few titles as well.
At least Giroud is not injury prone like the previous somebody. If we can give that person lots of time, why not give Giroud a few months to adjust and settle in.?
The last time we went without conceding a goal in our opening 3 games was 88 years ago!
“What if Dan Smith had never brutally stamped on his ankle when he did? What could we have done if we’d had a fit and healthy Abou Diaby available these past six years and able to develop his game? I can’t even contemplate the idea that he might finally be over his injury problems. ”
In that scenario, he would most likely be playing at Man City by now, earning +250,000 a week….
Zinc, agreed, again yesterday we had no striker on the bench, and as you stated an injury to one of Giroud or Podolski will leave us thin up front, seeing as AW was interested in Mirallas it shows that he realises this too, unless he considers Gervinho and Walcott as potential strikers.
Speaking of Walcott, he has been left on the bench for the last two matches and yesterday was not used at all. I can only think of three reasons for that, Either Wenger feels he is distracted by the contract negotiations, he was left out due to tactics or he is no longer first choice.
But am not complaining, i finally got my wish for Chamberlain and Cazorla to start in the same team.
The way Giroud plays reminds me a bit of Mario Gomez, which I’m liking. Big and strong, and seemingly with a poachers instinct, and a canon of a shot (and willingness to try to score at just about any opportunity). I’m not claiming he’s going to knock 40 goals in for us as Gomez does for Bayern, but you really see the potential there of a big threat. I also would be surprised to not see a number of goals this season from Giroud knockdowns in the box. I’ve been a bit surprised he hasn’t won us too many fouls yet as defenders have been absolutely crawling all over him when we hit it to him long. Maybe because he’s so big the refs don’t think it’s a foul?
I was a little harsh on Chamberlain and Mertesacker yesterday – they didn’t have the best games but they also did a lot of good stuff which aided our performance in significant ways. Loving our new look squad.
I haven’t seen the whole game yet as i again was working and had to endure the pain of having to listen to the game on talksport with no other than Stan Collymore but I knew we where playing well because he wasn’t slating us half as much as he did last week when what I felt was a solid all round performance from the team against Stoke.
I knew we would win this one and I feel that this could be the start of a real push for something this season just as it was last season in the same fixture what I would loved most about yesterdays game even more than the goals and don’t get me wrong I loved the goals was the way we defended. You can see the whole team are defended closing players down so quickly even Giroud he may not have scored but what he has offered in terms of winning the ball back is far greater than RVP ever did, its like we are determined to get a clean sheet and don’t care how we get it I mean there was one shoot I believe from Shevley and Mannone parried it and there were two liverpool players there but like a flash Verms got there like he was on drugs to just row Z the ball I was just thrown back its unbelieveable and a sort of determenation I haven’t seen since that famous back four and more that anything that impresses me and when add to that the fact that we have been to Anfield and Brittania with our 3rd choice keeper and kept to back to back clean sheets in just amazing.
I love the way you mentioned Daiby who for me had a great game against Stoke up until he got to the final 3rd but yesterday he brought all that together and was unstoppable at times, if he can stay fit I think he will become our new Viera but like you in your blog lets not get too carried away. All in all our midfield did look very strong and to think we still have wilshire to add to that which will add to our creatvity and work rate if he comes back with any sort of pre injury form and then we still have Coq Frimpong and Rosisky to add and if Ramsey and regain his pre injury form we will have some real depth in the middle.
I just know aswell that Giroud once he scores will be unstoppable and will just bang them in, because he is doing everything other than score but once he gets that monkey off his back no one will be able to stop him.
Another thing that needs mentioning is the our direct style of play and the way we are counter attacking reminds me on the Henry era and its so good to see direct play when we need to hit the oppostion with speed. All in all it was a great team performance and lets hope the international break doesn’t mess this run from getting better.
Well for now let just say COME ON ARSENAL.
Excellent blog, covering all point sensibly. Re- Diaby; I just hope the person who sent a message that was totally out of order on every level, when saying after the transfer deadline had closed, and I quote – ‘ I wished Diaby had got injured to force Wenger to buy a DM’
Shameful from a so-called fan? Choke on it!
Other good partnerships coming together, Podolski-Gibbs. Not only the tremendous tracking back from the former, but also the overlap link up. Jenks on the other side, re-the crossfield balls, is because he doesn’t seem to trust his left foot? I thought Yennaris might have been in with a shout against Sterling, but Jenks matched his speed pretty good.
Motm could have gone to Podolski, Arteta, Vermaelin, or Cazorla on any other day, but quite rightly Diaby desrves that honour, and long may he stay fit. He was lucky with one tackle that came through him to have got his foot of the ground? Very nasty otherwise.
Is it just me, or has Suarez got a face that needs a good slap?
Just you mate, Suarez and an affable chap who everyone loves, a real gentleman.
Good post MH but u also have consistency issues. One moment u’re slugging AW for lack of deadline day activity & the next u’re literally drooling abt squad depth! Which is which?
@Paul – Not sure what I’ve said is inconsistent really. I haven’t really said anything here about squad depth (i don’t think). I’m very positive about most of the players that we have but I do think it was a mistake not to make the further signings that could have pushed us over the top. AW himself said that they were needed but then we failed to sign them as we have so often in the past. As I mentioned the other day a couple of injuries to key players up front and we’re back to fielding Arshavin and Chamakh. I don’t want to get into slating players who can still do a job for us but the manager himself doesn’t seem to have faith in these players so it’s less than ideal.
I see no consistency issues either. There’s a certain type of militant fan out there who seems to believe that you should pick a side (for or against Wenger) then stick your fingers in your ears and repeatedly yell the same line over and over. I’m more interested in the facts and while I fully support my manager, players and club there are still valid criticisms to make of everybody involved, on occasion. These people also think they boost their credibility with personal attacks and mindless tribalism, they’re massive children basically.
I welcome different opinions but wish people would stick to the topics at hand more than making personal attacks on the people making them. (I’m not contradicting myself here, I’m making a wider point about gooners’ discourse)
Just thought i’ll also mention a massive shout out to the Arsenal away fans you could hearing singing at Anfield no easy feat thats what we need every game.
Well done
Why do people see the need to dissect and scrutinize every single comment/statement, some even go as far as giving reasonable posters labels like doomer and what not(which i am guilty of myself) but thats not taking away the fact that some Arsenal fans are very daft.
Paul, it is possible for a supporter to be positive and EXTREMELY supportive of a manager(in this case Wenger) and still disagree or criticize a decision made by the club and with good reason too, its human nature my man. MH and most of us here are behind AW 100% but we all agree a couple of signings was needed, especially in the striking department in the case of an injury to one of Giroud or Podolski, but thats the past now we can all MOVE ON.
Eh Paul, if that came across as insulting in any way, then my bad, not my intention me brov.
Giroud needs some Carling Cup games against lesser opposition to dis-virgin his boots is all!!