Reds lack the killer instinct

Last updated : 18 November 2002 By Kevin Smith

It was clear from the start of the game that Howard Wilkinson's men had one gameplan, and that was to sit behind the ball, waste as much of the 90 minutes as possible, and travel back up north with a vital point as they look to secure Premiership football for another season.

They succeeded at the expense of a Liverpool team lacking creativity and a finishing touch that would have opened the floodgates.

These are the games that we should be winning if we want to challenge for the title. These are the games that Arsenal win. We need to be able to break down an eight-man defence, turn defence into attack in an instant and make the most of our goalscoring opportunities.

The stats from Saturday's game make for interesting reading - 27 goal attempts, 12 of which were on target. Although we did control most of the game, those figures indicate a bombardment on the Sunderland goal. However, many of those shots off target were hopeful blasts that flew well wide or over, while many of those on target were half-hearted pokes towards goal. Julio Macho had only a handful of saves to make.

Markus Babbel, returning to Premiership football for the first time after his illness last August, made the most attacking runs down the right, while Danny Murphy, Dietmar Hamann and Salif Diao were slow going forward, took too many touches on the ball, and turned away from goal too often.

Our midfield needs to be more attacking and support the frontmen rather than pumping the ball into space or onto the head of Emile Heskey. We need to attack in numbers, and attack quickly.

Saturday was, as Gerard Houllier always says after a disappointing result, another lesson learned. We need to remember this lesson and change tactics against similar opposition next time. Otherwise those few points seperating first from second from third at the top of the Premiership in May will be very costly.