NO RISK NO REWARD

Well, that was a Sunday ruiner if ever there was one. We took the L at Anfield 1-0.

 

We HATE losing games like that. We can totally accept defeat if we've given it our best shot and are beaten by the better side on the day. Neither of those things was true about yesterday.​

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As always, there are different ways to look at the result.

 

The main talking point centres around Arteta and how risk-averse he is as a manager. Liverpool, especially first half, were there for the taking. I've never seen us so comfortable at Anfield. It was a game between two teams participating in a mutual respect display rather than one team grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and trying to win it. Liverpool did this around the hour mark, where there was a definite shift in momentum, and we were late to counter it and paid the price. The starting line-up reeked of avoiding defeat rather than trying to win, despite Arteta claiming the opposite pre-match. It was a line-up that said, "keep it solid and maybe nick a set piece."

 

Infuriating that we weren't more of an attacking threat considering their defensive performances in the first two games. We had some nearly moments, but Allison wasn't overly troubled. Letting them keep a clean sheet seems such a wasted opportunity. As a team, we seem to be a bit robotic. Wenger used to use the phrase "played with ze handbrake on," and that applies to us under Arteta's reign. Sometimes, and yesterday was a perfect example, seemed the perfect scenario to take the reins off and let the players go win the game. Instead, we stuck to our robotic sequences and never threatened enough.

 

We again didn't get Gyokeres involved anywhere near enough. We read a stat after the Leeds game that he has made more back-line threatening runs than any other striker, but when he receives possession has the least amount of available passing options. Lots of hard work needs to be done to integrate his style into the team dynamic.

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If you, the readers, weren't happy with the starting eleven, how would you have lined up? We see a lot of flak for Merino starting, but he scored home and away against Liverpool last season. We just don't see him as a 10. If Odegaard wasn't fit (we'll get to that later), then Eze had to be the call. We get Arteta's defence that he'd only been with the club 5 days, but he's the kind of player you can throw straight in and say "Ok, do your thing". He's an off-the-cuff, maverick type; he doesn't need as much prep as others. He did more in 20 minutes than Martinelli did in 70, so the whole "he's not been with us long" argument looked total weak sauce.

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We mentioned in our Leeds United preview about the consequences of dropping Martinelli. In doing so, you shattered what little confidence he had left. You play him against Leeds, he scores a couple, confidence flying, and he's a totally different beast vs Liverpool. Granted, you didn't know Saka would get injured in that game. He looked completely devoid of any confidence whatsoever. He was up against a makeshift full-back in attacking midfielder Szoboszlai. He had a one-on-one against him once and came out second best. That was an absolute area of weakness for them, and we just couldn't exploit it. That's not only on Martinelli. As a team, we couldn't figure out a way to maximize that matchup.

 

We were in two minds about the next segment, but have decided to go ahead with it, and that is, wtf is going on in our medical/fitness department?

 

Let's talk about the Odegaard 'injury'. Forgive us if this seems harsh, but he landed on his shoulder on a football pitch that's nicknamed The Carpet. Arteta said pre-match, "Martin did well to even make the bench." With what? A 'sore' shoulder, a 'bruised' shoulder, what exactly was the injury? There was no dislocation, no separation. No injury of that kind was EVER mentioned. Are you telling us he couldn't recover in a week to start? He comes on with 20 to go, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM. NOTHING. Come on, people. This is the captain of the club we're talking about, missing a game against our biggest title rivals because he had a boo boo on his ickle shoulder woulder. Do better.

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Then there's Norgaard? We heard before matchday one that he had a 'slight knock'. It's now matchday 3 and still no sign of him. 'Slight knocks' shouldn't have players missing for 3 weeks.​

 

Is it a case that Arteta is conscious of the optics of our terrible injury record under him and is now using the added squad depth to shut players down who would normally have played? Like the pendulum now swinging too much in the other direction?

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That train of thought certainly didn't apply to Saliba. He apparently twisted his ankle in the warm-up but said he was good to go. Sometimes you have to take the choice away from the player. Hopefully, he hasn't aggravated the injury too much. The ideal scenario is he misses the internationals, gets nearly a 2-week break, and is back for Forest.

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We're not mentioning the Odegaard stuff, etc, to ruffle feathers or be controversial for the sake of it. Sometimes you have to call things as you see them.

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What about the positives from yesterday? Yes, there was some.

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We'll start with how easy we coped at Anfield. It never seemed like we were in any danger of losing the game. Yes, they upped the tempo around the hour mark, backed by The Kop (do they ever lose a coin toss? They always kick that way second half), but not to the extent it was backs to the wall stuff and they were peppering our goal. The least we thought we'd get out of the match was a draw. This is the counterargument to the robotic stuff we mentioned earlier. That style of play had us unbeaten in 22 games against the 'big six' and easily coping yesterday at a hostile, hard-to-win venue. It took a moment of magic to down us.

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With regards to the free kick. We think Raya can do better. There we said it. The ball doesn't land in the top corner; it's mid-post height. It's 32 yards out, and for us it's saveable. His starting position is all wrong, and he doesn't shift his feet quickly enough to get across. Harsh? Maybe. Disagree? Then let us know in the comments.

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Individual performances-wise, we thought Mosquera looked terrific when he came on. That's a hard enough place to make your debut, never mind coming on cold after five minutes, but he looked confident and assured. Madueke looked a threat, but already we're a little concerned that he is the English Martinelli. All hustle and bustle with no end product. This is what his numbers and stats told us at Chelsea, and the early signs look like they may be right. We did choose a different man of the match, which you can clearly see below.