Sunday 17 April 2011

Stupidity and gamesmanship steal Liverpool a point

It was a game that summed up our last few weeks, so near but yet so far, extremely frustrating, we were undone by a complex mixture of factors, certainly several of our own doing, certainly some were out of our control. It's the kind of game that leaves you tearing your hear out at the roots, football can be a cruel master on days like today but that's life, it's terribly unfair but you have to learn from these moments, then move on to better things.

Overall Liverpool defended very solidly and restricted us to only a handful of clear cut chances but over the entire match it was hard to argue that we deserved the three points. Reina looked to have killed our hopes with a terrific late save from RVP, we rallied well with ten minutes to go and pushed hard for the winner, this was after playing poorly for a long time in the second half. Arshavin and Bendtner made a difference, and in the end it told with RVP converting from the spot after a clear foul on Cesc in the box.

The game looked won, there were only a couple of minutes on the clock, the ball was hanging around on the edge of our box, we missed a few chances to clear, Lucas then dived for the umpteenth time in the half and the referee generously awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. By the time it was taken we were well over the extra eight minutes, the ball broke harmlessly towards the wing, Lucas went for it, Eboue followed, somewhat stupidly, Lucas slowed down and exaggerated the minimal contact that he looked for, again the referee generously awarded Liverpool the spot kick, Kuyt converted, our title dreams were crushed.

Eboue had a terrible game defensively and this was summed up with his naive play that allowed Lucas to cheat his way towards another decision from the referee, the hapless Mariner. The diving from Lucas and Suarez was particularly poor throughout the game, time and time again they hurled themselves down after minimal contact. For this reason I have sympathy with Eboue, he was silly and stupid, but Lucas conned him, it was never a penalty, he stopped running for the ball and made the most of the very little contact that he had himself deliberately engineered. The handbags between Dalglish and Wenger were nothing to even bother writing about, that won't stop the gutter press though.

Overall it's just terribly disappointing all round but if we're honest we just have to admit that we have not been good enough when it has counted, we have dropped too many points in the last few weeks, point that you cannot afford to drop if you hope to be champions. The fact that we were done by a bit of gamesmanship makes it that little bit harder to take, but we still should not have given Lucas the opportunity, we had several chances to clear that ball before Lucas dived for the first time. Still, let's not scapegoat Eboue, we would be more sensible to learn from the fact that we have not been good enough in many ways over many weeks. This title was not lost with one moment of idiocy, there have been many moments that have contributed.

19 comments:

Sour Gooner said...

"Lucas to cheat himself" ha, nonsense, was as much of a foul as Fabregas going down like he was shot. At least he did something today...

Anonymous said...

Sour Gooner is exactly that........sour.

Bet ur a Wenger out: we need silverware; bandwagon jumper; teenager; we were robbed but an absolutely luduicrours refereeing decision that would not have been given in a decade of Sundays at Old Trafford, grow up.

Sour Gooner said...

WE WUZ ROBBED! WE WUZ ROBBED! HA! Build a freaking bridge and get over it. Both were fairly soft penalties and the final score reflected what Arsenal put into the game, nothing. Im not a Gooner but if I was I wouldn't be so delusional in thinking Wenger's new youth policy will win you anything. "robbed but an absolutely luduicrours refereeing decision" You make me laugh.

Anonymous said...

lol this sour gooner isnt even an arsenal fan. thats insult enough you little b****. you may want to build a bridge to the nearest school and learn english. its ok you have my permission to stick around because obviously your team has no proper sites to visit, just try not to get an aneurism spelling big words like ludicrous again

Anonymous said...

I'm an arsenal fan, and I admit we messed up. Let's freaking get over it and focus on the next game. Anyone have something insulting to say about that? Kiss my ass

Sour Gooner said...

I merely copied and pasted the hilarious misspelling by one of your fellow gooners. Perhaps you need to brush up on your reading comprehension.

Anonymous said...

Both penalties were soft but there was contact in both - we can whinge all we like about Lucas but scousers will be pissed of with fab.

Any gooners crying about the penalties are glossing over our real issues. We didn't create enough chances. Once again we couldn't get around a tight defense. And once again a silly and needless lapse has cost us points.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Arsenal have issues, but I don't think it's at all fair to equate the penalties. Cesc may have exaggerated the contact, but the Liverpool player made the contact - it was a penalty. Lucas, after diving moments before to win the free kick, stopped in front of a running player and dove. He created the contact. It was not a penalty.

Arsenal & Wenger do need to figure out how to score against the bus. The result today was a shame. That said, we played well & you can't win them all. Truth is the players were not so sharp, & Pool played well. Losing the Carling Cup final was much worse, in my mind.

1979gooner said...

Sad that virtually all the opposition comment is nonsensical drivel.

The lucas dive was poor, he ran for eboue and not the ball, it's blatant on the replays.

Football shirt said...

Its best to move on and focus on the next game.

Anonymous said...

People see what the want to see. Sure the penalty was soft and could have gone either way. Had it been the other way around I'm sure if you would be getting furious blogs about the ref denying us an obvious penalty. Of more concern should be the sheer panic defending that led up the incident with several players missing the chance to clear the ball. The reason for this has been debated in blogs upon blogs in the trophy less years and will no doubt continue unless wenger changes tact (don't hold your breath) of the match itself, I think Liverpool deserved a point. We huffed and puffed against an organised defence (playing 2 youngsters) and we created few chances. We are a challenging a title and have failed to score in open play against an average liverpool side and 2 relegation threatened sides. Add that to the WBA,Newcastle defeats, the fact that we still have a mathematical chance, however unrealistic,what does that tell you about the standard of the league,the poorest manure side in recent years has been presented with the title. And this is what is SO frustrating. The title was there for the taking. Had we strengthened in obvious areas we would have ran away with this league. What would our past teams have done, the Invincibles would have had this sewn up half way through the season.
It would be good to think that wenger is drinking at the last chance saloon but the fact is, he IS a great manager,but so frustrating, he would be welcomed at any other club apart from barca and maybe Real, and on reflection this has been a good season. From what I read,the new owner is a great fan of wenger and shares his views on definition of success, and as long as we remain a top four club, the owner and the board will be quite happy, not withstanding how infuriated the fans will be, unless we stop turning up of course. Ps.It would be nice for wenger to be more gracious when decisions don't go his way and to stop blaming officials.

Anonymous said...

last anon

i agree with the panic in the defense, we had so many chances to clear before the dodgy free kick, we have looked panicky at the back in all these recent games too

the problems for me are tactics and players

wenger needs to re-jig the squad and he also needs to change the way he approaches games

we haven't attacked sides with nearly enough vigour or tempo recently, why the hell not?

1979gooner

Anonymous said...

What is sad is that this pathetic little blog is the only one that actually goes on and on about Lucas' "diving." Most Gooners aren't so delusional to think that Fabregas' antics weren't as bad as Lucas'. The only drivel I am reading is the sour grapes flowing out of a bitter Gooner.

Anonymous said...

most recent anon,

sad comment that addresses nothing i'm afraid

engage in reasoned debate or sod off

1979gooner

Anonymous said...

The foul on Lucas was easily as bad as the foul on Fabgregas, discuss.

Anonymous said...

How about you bother to read the post? Already discussed.

Discuss

1979gooner

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wonder why you even bother writing anything. You know people are going to resort to name calling, covering a blatant and shameful dive with something some other player may or may not have done in the game, or even in his career. We know that Wenger always whines, while Alex ferguson shows fire, even though ManU get the most favourable decisions. When Rooney or Terry constantly mouth off at the ref they show passion, when Cesc talks to the referee he is getting too big for his shoes. Nothing you say, no matter how logical, and well put, or indeed however strongly, and abusively put, will ever change that. I for one am going to stop trying to do all of that. You're either with us or you're against us will be my attitude from now on.

Anonymous said...

last anon

i certainly see why you shouldn't bother commenting, you say nothing of any coherence

the typical and pathetic 'you're either with us or against us' is trotted out, but what are you for and what are you against, can you not spit it out?

drivel, utter drivel, no points are made that make any attempt to engage in any kind of debate, you have your view and that's it, end of, you can even be bothered to explain it, argue it or justify it

pathetic

1979gooner

Anonymous said...

Lol..you misunderstood. I meant that you show more patience than me in calling for some perspective and reasoned response. I'm tired of trying to do that, and I'll let the people who spout vitriol do their thing as long as they do it away from me. Cheers..