Arsenal ignored as ‘most of English football must be thankful’ to Liverpool and Mo Salah

Editor F365
Arsenal lead Premier League table

Arsenal really must be so thankful to Liverpool for showing them that Manchester City might not run away with the title, apparently.

 

It’s VAR from a mystery
It’s been a while since we have visited Garth Crooks’ BBC team of the week on a Monday but sometimes it is just too delicious to be ignored.

He found room for three Liverpool players – including Joe Gomez, who apparently ‘wasn’t expected to start the game in the first place’. That would have been news to Gomez, who started in midweek for Liverpool v Rangers and would have been confused not to start again.

Gomez is now ‘a must for Qatar’ after this one match, even though he has not actually played for England in over two years.

Also in his team from Liverpool were James Milner and Mo Salah, with Crooks observing: ‘It was schoolboy marking by Joao Cancelo that allowed Salah in on goal but you have to ask the question why weren’t Manuel Akanji or Ruben Dias marking the Egyptian? Once Salah was one-on-one with Ederson the game was over.’

First, Cancelo is not exactly a weak link; he has probably been the best full-back in the Premier League over the last 18 months.

Second, Manchester City had a free-kick and Akanji and Dias were forward for that free-kick. These are pretty standard tactics for attacking free-kicks; the mistake was Cancelo’s but it’s not a mistake that he was there at all.

He also includes Thiago Silva (who is having to ‘mentor’ the 31-year-old Kalidou Koulibaly) and Bukayo Saka, seemingly just so he could complain about VAR.

‘And why Gabriel saw his late red card for violent conduct rescinded is a complete mystery because that’s what it was – regardless of what the video assistant referee at Stockley park said. There was a time when the referee’s decision was final, VAR has changed that.’

Well it’s not a complete mystery, is it Garth? VAR made the correct decision because Patrick Bamford had barged into Gabriel and thus his kick-out was actually just a yellow card offence.

As Mark Halsey told The Sun: “VAR came into its own in a frantic finale at Elland Road – I believe the outcome was correct.”

And yet former Tottenham striker Crooks is still mystified.

 

With hope in your hearts…
‘It wasn’t so much an improvement, but more a complete transformation from Liverpool,’ writes Liverpool fan/journalist David Maddock in the Daily Mirror.

Liverpool are literally unbeaten at home in the Premier League since March 2021. Liverpool played well but they won a game 1-0 with 37% possession and just two shots on target.

Is that a ‘complete transformation’ or a ‘very good defensive performance in a stadium where they have not lost in the Premier League for over 18 months’?

‘And it is probably no exaggeration to suggest this was precisely what English football so desperately needed, to ensure the Premier League doesn’t become another Manchester City procession.’

Yes. Thank you Liverpool, for beating *checks notes* second-placed Manchester City to ensure the Premier League does not become another Manchester City procession.

‘No one at Anfield will be thinking they’re back in the race just yet; 10 points isn’t just a gap, in a season which will be a ridiculous war of attrition, it is a chasm that still looks too vast to make up against a side with such fire power.’

The gap is 14 points to Arsenal, David. You have heard of Arsenal, right? They beat Liverpool 3-2 last week. They seem to be doing their bit to ensure the Premier League does not become another Manchester City procession.

It turns out that he has heard of Arsenal as he writes:

‘Yet for Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, this small sign of vulnerability from Pep Guardiola’s side, the manner in which their defence was exposed ceaselessly by Mohamed Salah and a Reds forward line that was full of desire and belief, will offer real hope of a real contest at the head of the table.’

Yes, we imagine that when Arsenal came off the pitch after winning their ninth of 10 games this season to remain top of the table, they declined to celebrate until Liverpool gave them ‘real hope of a real contest at the head of the table’. They probably united in a chorus of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to say thank you.

‘Klopp was right to point out that no team can try to match the UAE sponsored club when it comes to buying success. Yet what his side showed here, is there is a different way to bring them down.

‘You have to outrun them, outfight them, and out-suffer them too. And Liverpool certainly suffered in a truly pulsating contest, that had everything from tactical and technical brilliance in the first half, to a game of sheer end to end emotion in the second.’

You have to outrun a team when they have 63% possession; you literally have no choice.

‘In the end, it was won by the audacious quality of Salah, and for that, most of English football must be thankful.’

We really must.

‘Salah is back after almost 10 months of appearing a shadow of himself, make no mistake – and Liverpool are too. It is enough to give Guardiola sleepless nights, and the likes of Arsenal some proper food for thought.’

The last time we checked the Premier League still awarded only three points for a win so Liverpool are still 10 points behind Manchester City and 14 points behind leaders Arsenal after one win in four. Just like Brentford.

But thank you, Liverpool. Heroes and saviours.

 

Misleading headline of the day
‘Graeme Souness set for Sky Sports exit as broadcaster’s overhaul continues’ – Mirror website.

Actual story – as broken by The Athletic – is that the 70-year-old ‘is expected to take a step back at the end of this campaign’.

‘Overhaul’ is one way to describe an old man giving up one of his part-time jobs.

 

This aged well