Liverpool 1 – 1 Arsenal

1 – 0 Gerrard (7)
1 – 1 Fabregas (80)

..but two dropped.

That is in the cold light of day how the result feels. For all of the character shown in retrieving a deficit through seventy minutes of constant pressure, composure in front of goal would have led to a comfortable victory. A warning has been served though that the team is not the powder-puff that many pundits seemed to think beforehand.

It was overall a decent performance, lacking the cutting edge in the business end of the pitch. Adebayor chose to have an ‘off’ day with a touch that was extremely heavy and foraging the lonely plough he only had one good opportunity to score, Reina saving well. The rest of the time, he worked hard on his own until joined by Bendtner.

In midfield, the passing patterns worked but the ball was invariably surrendered when faced with the seven to ten defenders Liverpool had in place for the majority of the match. It has been a long time since we have gone to Anfield in the League and totally dominated possession to the extent that the hosts were forced backwards constantly.

The pressure told in the end with Fabregas taking his shot early and wrong footing Reina. Hleb had been industrious all afternoon with little reward but he held the ball and waited for the run, spurning the chance to pass to Adebayor in an offside position, seeing the gap that had been created by the runs of the Togolese forward and Bendtner and waited for it to be filled by Fabregas.

The missed chances were, in the end, costly. Fabregas and Bendtner snatched at shots that had rebounded from the post to them when they had more time, controlling the ball would have been a better option which is easy to say with hindsight although I suspect that Bendtner knew pretty quickly what Kolo Toure felt in much the same way that Adebayor knew that the Ivorian did not appreciate a simple wall pass being cocked-up in the first half, an opportunity that would have seen Toure clean through without a defender having any chance of catching him.

Liverpool set out to disrupt with a 4-3-3 that was meant to be attacking but ended up being forced into a defensive 4-5-1 for most of the match. Their opener came from the pressure, Almunia making a good save, pushing the ball away from the incoming Torres. Eventually the ball found its way to Fabregas who lost control, fouling Alonso on the edge of the area even if the dive was somewhat theatrical. The wall committed a cardinal sin of breaking; if it had held firm, it might have been painful for a few minutes but not as painful as chasing a game for seventy minutes.

The chances Liverpool had were restricted to long range efforts, indicative of the manner in which the Arsenal back four and midfield protected their area. Almunia eased some of the doubts that surfaced recently with solid saves from Crouch and Gerrard, Riise sent an effort onto the top of the net. At the other end, Hyppia cleared off the line when Rosicky sent an effort over the onrushing Reina.

The introduction of Walcott, Gilberto and Bendtner was an interesting one. The removal of Eboue and Rosicky was unsurprising but Clichy, I presume had some sort of knock or appeared tired as he provides more of an attacking threat than Flamini from the left back position. But the changes worked as a point was salvaged.

Gripes about referees are nothing unusual but how Carragher remained on the pitch is beyond me. Twice he gave away stonewall penalties, twice neither were given but then as the sign says ‘This Is Anfield’. Grappling with opponents shirts is, the last time I looked, a punishable offence yet not for Carragher. Neither is putting your shoulder into an onrushing opponent. Eboue may or may not have ‘over-reacted’ but quite what Carragher thought he was doing throwing out an arm, I doubt even he knows. A lucky boy as is Mascherano, the second week running that a Liverpool player has escaped the correct punishment for a two-footed lunge from a mid-air position. When Steven Gerrard looks back at the times he was sent off for doing exactly that, he must feel hard done by.

One final thought. Since when did Arsenal allow tradition to die easily? Has the Club become so commercial that it has forgotten its roots, its heritage? Why was Emmanuel Eboue allowed to walk out with a long sleeved shirt in the second half? Heads must roll and I expect Peter Hill-Wood, Vic Akers and Arsene to resign immediately for such shoddiness.

’til Tomorrow.