After a 5:1 huge defeat at Anfield last week by Liverpool, Arsenal this time, flaunted a brave challenge and refusing to be beaten again rather they kicked Liverpool out of the FA cup.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reflected a growing importance not confined to the finishing and crossing that supplied Arsenal’s first and then Lukas Podolski for their second goal.
Oxlade had luck on his side after Howard Webb’s amazing refusal to award Liverpool a second penalty; a clumsy foul on Luis Suarez was blatant. Webb, almost certainly through a misplaced sense of evening out the decisions, should later have sent Steven Gerrard off for an obviously bookable foul that deserved a second yellow card.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has long been accused of not varying his tactics, but this was a wholly different Arsenal, not just from last week, but for much of the last nine years. His teams were once capable of duking it out with all comers. If opponents came to kick, Arsenal would kick back harder. Should they come to play, then Arsenal could play most opponents off the field. Somewhere along the way, that was lost.
For Wenger, that resourcefulness made a happy return just as another season lurched toward trophylessness. He was more than happy to give his team the credit.
Wenger told Sky Sports “It was vital for us, I am very pleased with the intensity of our commitment. We had a clinical desire to take every opportunity to kill them.”
In not letting Liverpool have their way and then taking scoring opportunities with precision, a template was provided for how they might have escaped humiliation last week, and might yet in the Champions League.
No comments:
Post a Comment