Lights, Camera, Action

Last updated : 22 August 2011 By Kieran Davies
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Whilst the incessant moaning of Arsene Wenger echoes down the M1 and Arsenal fans rue their ‘four months of bad luck’ I think we have a lot of positives to draw from the game yesterday. Let’s put things in perspective without the bitterness of a lemon tree orchard which is all that seems to be coming out of North London currently. Liverpool fully deserved their win yesterday no if’s or but’s, as Rafa would say.........FACT!

From the first whistle we chased down Arsenal when in possession and in the most part didn’t give them any time on the ball. We played a simple pass and move game and Liverpool could be seen playing passing triangles around the Arsenal players as they tried to stop us. Whilst I do agree it was frustrating still to see us giving away possession at times, this was nothing in comparison to our opponents. During a first half where Arsenal’s best chances were coming from 35 yards, I felt we played more like the home team than away. Not one player could be accused of not putting in a shift and Arsenal’s frustrations shone through over and over again.

Jose EnriqueMan of the Match was awarded to Jose Enrique, fully deserved as it was, it could have been awarded to a number of Liverpool players. I personally was very impressed in the performance of Charlie Adam and felt he added something to that midfield not seen since Xabi Alonso left Liverpool for pastures new. Whilst I am not comparing their games as players as I don’t think that is fair to either as they are very different, but Adam seemed to tie the different areas of our game together, provide defence splitting passes at times and also when he saw the gap to do so, run at Arsenal and force them onto the back foot. It would be unjust to try and attribute the victory to individuals though as I thought many performances from players combined to an overall team performance which emphasised that on this meeting, one side were evidently better than the other.

Lucas seems to have etched his name into that midfield as being the stand out player willing to play the role of sitting in front of the back four as our other midfielders are a lot more comfortable with pushing forward in an attacking vein. Unfortunately for Lucas, as with every other player to grace this football position, he will forever be an unsung hero as this role is not as glamorous as any of the others just like Liverpool legend Dietmar Hamman found time and time again. Do not underestimate the importance of this role however as we have seen when we didn’t have the personnel in previous seasons. I know Lucas has been there during these previous seasons but I feel after his success last year, he has matured and is starting to blossom into a player we want to keep at Liverpool.

Charlie AdamStewart Downing was again very impressive and his delivery was nothing short of excellent. He even had a very good goal dubiously chalked off as yet another referee gave a centre back way too much protection with the unfortunate Andy Carroll being penalised yet again. I thought Jordan Henderson improved on his previous outing and showed real glimpses of the sort of prospect we thought we had signed and his movement and eagerness to get forward were impressive. Let’s not forget Man of the Match Enrique whose runs down the wing and delivery into the box made his £6m acquisition seem like a steal.

As for all the hot air coming from the London end of the country let’s put things in perspective. The offside claims on the goals, well that is life and we both played with the same officials so had no advantage over our opposition. Emanuel Frimpong could have and should have been sent off a lot earlier in this game during the first half but wasn’t. Van Persie was a non entity in the game and certainly was a pale comparison to our striker who caused the opposition problems all game despite Vermaelen putting in a world class performance. Their goalkeeper made some impressive saves to keep them in the game throughout the match, Walcott and Arshavin were missing for large portions of the game also.

What was a real positive to me was the strength and depth with our bench. When we played Spurs on the opening day of season before last I remember looking at the players on their bench in comparison to ours and wondering how we could justify the fact we believe ourselves to be a stronger side than them. As King Kenny keeps reiterating football is no longer about your best 11 players but your squad and how you deal with suspensions/injuries/transfers. You can feel sorry for yourself like Arsene Wenger and blame anyone you can think of for your bad luck, or you step up to the plate and utilise the strength and depth you have within your club. I now believe we have this.

Whilst I am not getting carried away after one result as we still face the fact that we are bedding in a lot of players into the team and club everything is moving in a positive manner and I feel every Liverpool fan can relish every fixture. I still think it is of paramount importance in the next 10 days to trim the squad of the players who do not feature in our plans as whilst the individuals may be professional enough to keep their mouth shut and get on with things it is not a positive when their agents are constantly starting rumour talk to try and invoke transfers. For me this bracket would include Aquilani, Poulsen, Ngog, Degen and Insua. Whilst I would be happy to see Aquilani to stay as a squad player, we need commitment from him stating this and also him to tell his agent to keep his mouth shut for the season. As for new faces in, it would be nice to see another striker arrive and I can’t help but wonder what a Liverpool back four would look like with Gary Cahill in the heart of it. One thing is for sure, when you look at Liverpool FC as your opponent it is no longer the case of trying to mark Gerrard out of the game to null out any threat as now plans have to be made for Adam, Downing, Henderson, Kuyt, Carroll and Suarez which is certainly a much harder task.

As the season continues I think our big advantage over our rivals is our lack of involvement in Europe and I even feel this showed against Arsenal this early into the season. The usually effective Aaron Ramsey seemed to be ‘dead on his feet’ by the 60 minute mark and it doesn’t matter how fit you are, logic tells you a team who plays once a week as opposed to two is going to be a lot fresher. It should also give the players the hunger to do better to ensure they are playing in the top European competition next season rather than watching it from home. One thing is for sure, I want and think, we will see a lot more of a certain canny Scottish manager dancing down the touchline celebrating Liverpool’s achievements this season.