I stole the above title from the excellent Arsenal podcast ‘Handbrake Off‘, which I listened to on The Athletic following Sunday’s top of the table near-stalemate at Anfield. Amy Lawrence, Art de Roche and Adrian Clarke offered an intelligent, mostly balanced view of the game – at least from an Arsenal perspective.
I have to agree with the crew: the post game narrative that’s painted Arsenal as overly negative and lacking in ambition is over the top and overly (and perhaps predictably) result driven.
Truth is, had the Gunners taken a point home (or somehow finagled a win) from what is likely their toughest away trip of the season, Mikel Arteta would have been hailed for a well-executed game plan, especially with William Saliba limping off after just five minutes, and the early season questions about the champions ability to defend their crown would have gotten even louder. After all, Liverpool were the home team here and they were hardly any more effective than Arsenal on the offensive end. David Raya was called into action only twice, saving shots from Cody Gakpo and Florian Wirtz – Alisson saved once from Noni Madueke. Besides, these top of the table clashes tend to be gnarly, battles of will, two well-organized sides canceling out each other. You know, boring stuff.
But, professional football is ultimately a results business and, even if Arsenal’s plan execution was mostly on point, the fact that they lost the game means questions will inevitably be asked about that plan. That they came to stifle Liverpool is clear – Arteta’s starting line up spoke volumes – and that’s not necessarily a bad idea.
But that’s exactly where the questions begin. Martin Odegaard, injured last week, was deemed not fit enough start, and Eberechi Eze, who was fit, was deemed too new to start. But could the much-heralded Nwaneri have offered a bit more creative nous in the “Odegaard position” than Mikel Merino? Is that too much to put on his young shoulders? Would Arsenal have been better served handing Eze more than the 20-minute cameo he got here? Or would that have compromised their defensive objectives?
Fair or not, there can be no ignoring the larger backdrop behind these questions: Arsenal’s heavy reliance on set-pieces and perceived lack of creativity in open play. Of the six goals Arsenal have scored this season, four have come from set pieces – three corner kicks and one penalty – and their open play expected goals (xG) of 1.57 is the second lowest in the Premier League. Set pieces are great – and Arsenal are excellent at them; their one shot on target at Anfield came from one – but a team with title aspirations needs to do more in open play.
Perhaps the arrival of Victor Gyokeres and Eze begins to address that, but that wasn’t apparent at Anfield, where, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly put to the test.
Liverpool have questions of their own to answer, of course. Although – results business and all that – the win and their now 100% winning start to the season spares them the type of scrutiny Arsenal, the challengers (and losers on this occasion) have been subjected to.
The champions struggled to get through Arsenal’s stifling press in the first half, and mustered just two shots at goal, as Mo Salah, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz struggled to get involved. Frankly, they were just as blunt – boring – as the visitors. Like Arsenal, they did their best work on the defensive side. Ryan Gravenberch was smooth as ever, Virgil Van Dijk commanding as ever and Ibou Konate much improved from his last showing at Newcastle. Arsenal’s main threat came in the guise of Noni Madueke, but Liverpool left back Milos Kerkez was up to the task and blocked several crosses and a shot.
Arne Slot’s team had come into this match with critics questioning their defending, particularly their openness to counterattacks (against Bournemouth) and susceptibility to set pieces (against Newcastle). That they had blown two-goal leads in each of their first two matches only further raised concerns. Taking two-goal leads is title winning form; blowing two-goal leads is obviously not.
All that fed into the notion that Liverpool were there for the taking and that Arsenal, with a bit more attacking intent, could really hurt them. None of those issues were visible at Anfield though: Liverpool were defensively sound and stood up to Arsenal’s constant barrage of corner kicks, free kicks and throw ins, especially in the first half and late in the game. More importantly, their build-up play was much improved in the second half, when they dominated the first 20 minutes or so. Dominic Szoboszlai’s moment of magic ultimately settled the contest, giving the hosts early bragging rights in what we hope will be an interesting title race.
It’s early days of course and, despite football’s penchant for drawing big conclusions from small events, it would be sheer folly to predict anything from this one-off game between two of the best teams in the league.
There’s more to come, but it’s most definitely first blood to Liverpool.
