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Monday, August 16, 2010

Thanks for the howler!!

BY AZIZ HIRANI
Liverpool 1-1 Arsenal



10 against 11, well  09 against 12 if you count in Reina for Arsenal….

I was enraged to see the electricity play a big part in preventing me from watching the first half… but the second half was where the action happened.


Isn't this the same old Arsenal? As much as I pride myself for being a devoted Gunner, it makes me think what actually we have done to make the grade this season. It’s the same old pretty football but it’s only pretty as long as you get the 3 points!

Almunia once again made all Arsenal fans proud by proving that he is simply not the man to guard the posts.  A light at the end of the tunnel or Mark Schwarzer at the end of the transfer window! Sounds familiar doesn’t it. However, let’s give the devil his due as I must mention here that apart from all the blunders that Almunia has made or will continue to make, he was great at stopping that Steven Gerrard belter from the free-kick in stoppage time.

Throughout the second half, what frustrated me most was the fact that when down to 10 men, Liverpool were expected to sit deep and try to grind out a result. But boy have they shown marked improvements under their new gaffer Roy Hodgson! No more set-piece non-sense. Man-for-Man, zonal marking is as much history as Rafa.

Other than the goal, the Rosicky shot saved expertly by Reina was the closest we came to scoring. Arshavin was at his frustrating best. Same was the case with Walcott.

In the end, if it wasn’t for the howler by Pepe Reina, we would have returned home empty handed.  As for the new boy at the back Laurent Koscielny, he turned out to be pretty decent until he followed Joe Cole (although I don’t think he could have done much with the second Yellow). Marouane Chamakh also deserves to be mentioned since he was the one who put Reina under pressure.

Somebody mentioned on a fan page somewhere that without Fabregas, Arsenal play like gays... well he has a point after today's showing!