What Does the Arsenal Result Tell us About Liverpool

Arsenal supporters are insane. A quick look through social media in recent weeks has shown that to be the case, but looking at what a lot of high-profile Gunners seem to think about yesterday’s result merely serves to drive home that sense that they’re absolute lunatics. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good refereeing conspiracy. I have written and spoken plenty of times about the fact that referees from Greater Manchester shouldn’t be allowed to take control of games involving clubs from Liverpool or Manchester, for example. To say nothing of the fact that certain referees should’ve been struck off in the wake of it being discovered that they were heading out to the likes of the United Arab Emirates in order to officiate matches there, except for the fact that they were allowed to do so. I’m also aware that there are more than a few whacky Liverpool supporters who take to the likes of Twitter in order to spout complete and utter nonsense in the wake of one of our matches. Yet nothing compares to the madness of Arsenal supporters that we’re seeing now.

I have seen the tackle that Ibrahima Konaté carried out, in which he very clearly won the ball, as the ‘most obvious penalty of the season’. I’ve read tweets full of conspiracies about why Anthony Taylor, a referee from Manchester, would want Liverpool not to lose, hence blowing for a free-kick as Arsenal ‘scored’ a goal that involved about five different free-kick worthy offences. Even before the match, I heard pre-match shows with Arsenal supporters talking about the red cards that their players have been shown this season, all of which have been entirely fair, and declaring them to have been part of some grand conspiracy against the Gunners. None of this is me talking from a position of bitterness, either. During the Arsene Wenger years, Arsenal were probably my second-favourite club after the Reds. Yet what the Arsenal fanbase has become of late is as though they saw what Arsenal FanTV were doing and decided that it didn’t go far enough. They’ve gone down the rabbit hole and I’m not sure there’s any way back for them.

We Didn’t Play Well

When it looked as though we were going to lose, I spent a portion of time contemplating whether it was better or worse that we really didn’t play well. When you play well and get beaten then you have to just hold up your hands and say that the better team won. When you don’t play well and drop points, you have a ready-made excuse for why you didn’t end up winning. In this case, I think it says a lot more about Arsenal that the game ended in a draw than it says about Liverpool. The Gunners had an easier tie in the Champions League than we did, playing at home against Shakhtar Donetsk on the Tuesday rather than away from home on the Wednesday in Germany. The players that they’d spent all week cryarsing were going to be injured were, in fact, fit to play and they were at the Emirates, not Anfield. The game was setup for them to emerge with three points, especially given the fact that they twice took the lead. Yet we left North London with a point, coming from behind twice in order to ensure that we maintained the four point gap between us.

Most importantly of all, we did it in spite of the fact that we didn’t play well. Apart from the two goals, I have struggled to think of many moments in which anyone made the right decision. I’m surprised at how little criticism Andy Robertson has faced for the opening goal, for instance, in which he played Bakayo Saka onside initially and then failed to just put the ball out for a corner. I can’t believe how bad Trent Alexander-Arnold’s passing was for the entire match, with the exception of the one for our second equaliser. Generally speaking, though, I’m glad that we didn’t play well. Had we played at our best and still dropped points then I think it would demonstrate that Arsenal are ahead of us. As it happens, I think that we’re better than them, as demonstrated by us being four points clear in the Premier League, and emerging with a point is a good result for us and a bad one for them. They are now under even more pressure in forthcoming matches, which include away games to Newcastle United and London rivals Chelsea, who are a decent side.

Slot Might Well be the Real Deal

When Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield he had to take a club that was in the doldrums and completely transform everything from top to bottom. Although he won trophies, including league titles, he wasn’t as successful as the man that was given the job in the wake of his departure. Whereas Shankly was all brilliant speeches and full of passion, Bob Paisley was quiet and unassuming. He just got on with the job of taking Liverpool to the next level, winning more trophies in a shorter space of time than any other manager before or since. Shankly lay the foundations, but Paisley built the empire. There is a world in which a very similar thing could happen for Liverpool under the management of Arne Slot. No Liverpool manager had won 11 out of their first 12 games before the Dutchman, yet that is exactly what the Reds did under his management. The ‘test’ of Chelsea followed by Arsenal in the league, with Champions League games in between was supposed to see him come undone, yet we’ve taken four points from those two games.

With 115 Charges FC and Real Madrid around the corner, there are obviously sterner tests to come for the Reds. Yet the truth of the matter is that the former Feyenoord boss has settled in well to the job of succeeding the greatest modern day manager of Liverpool. He has shown himself to be adept at making changes and alterations when needed, whilst his ability to get the best out of certain players that were underperforming under Jürgen Klopp can only be a good thing in the long-term. The transformation in Ryan Gravenberch has been incredible to see, to say nothing of the change to Darwin Núñez’s approach over the last few games. Although we dropped points against the Gunners, it is a very difficult ground to head to and a tough team to face, with Mikel Arteta’s impression of Tony Pulis with more money making the Gunners difficult to beat. Three points would’ve been great, but as long as we keep steamrolling the poor sides in the Premier League week-in, week-out, we should be able to mount a serious title challenge this season.

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