Watching Arsenal is a little like seeing a smart sit-com in about its fifth or sixth year, with all the characters fully developed and most plausible storylines having been fully plumbed. A Rubicon has been crossed and the whole show begins grate on even its most devote fans because it is so very, very predictable and laboured.
And gooners familiar with Arsene Wenger’s latest project must have wondered if they accidentally tuned into a re-run. There was the same tidy possession with some ingenuous flicks and passing triangles to open up space that went wasted with wretched crossing, appalling corners and abject set pieces.
After comfortably knocking around the ball for most of the first half without really threatening Pepe Reina’s goal, Arsenal was almost undone by the same old concentration issues in their own end. Manuel Almunia flapped at crosses as if frantically hailing a taxi that never stopped. Then Glen Johnson exposed a gap between the DM (I think it was Abou Diaby) who had wandered off upfield, and Gael Clichy to launch a stinging drive that a desperate Almunia brushed away with his fingertips. On the ensuing corner, David Ngog’s header was hacked off the line by Bacary Sagna.
After nearly having their noses bloodied, the Gunners were handed a gift by Joe Cole, who stupidly lunged into Laurent Koscielny with a scissors-style tackle and was deservedly sent off.
Arsenal decided to exploit this advantage by gifting Liverpool an easy goal as Clichy sent a loose pass up the middle from deep in the corner. Mascherano snapped up the ball and Ngog finished with aplomb. From then on, Liverpool sought to hit the pressing visitors on the break and were a little unfortunate to concede an equalizer that owed a lot to a slice of misfortunate for Reina.
A draw was probably a deserved result. Neither manager should be particularly happy about it but both clubs should take away some real positives. Liverpool supporters should be pleased by how quickly players have bought into Hodgson’s system, particularly the wantaway Javier Mascherano, who played a fantastic match. For Arsenal, it was a valuable point without much of their first-choice spine available for the match, particular Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song. Fabregas’ absence was conspicuous in the final third as neither Jack Wiltshere or Samir Nasri could produce that final ball to unlock Hodgson’s disciplined back line. Koscielny’s injury scare and subsequently red card will also convince Wenger to buy another centre half. And hopefully a decent keeper, too. That would nicely freshen the show for most supporters.