Liverpool vs Arsenal 9th April 2023 player rating and match summary

[IBK]

As people know I tend to try to be moderate on here and I have been one of Xhaka's biggest supporters.

But I was disappointed with that result/performance yesterday and I still am now. We were absolutely in control at 0-2 up and we had Liverpool on the ropes. What did we do? - We showed that we lack the maturity to play our game and ignore the shit-housery and absolutely played into their hands. I would have thought that the game last season showed exactly what you don't do at Anfield. You don't give them and their crowd anything to lift their game. What does Xhaka do? He riles the crowd up - for nothing - and the result was their first goal, just before half time.

The second half was a disaster class from our team and manager. All composure went and we simply invited them onto our shaky defence. I'm not going to single Holding out, but he is our 4th choice CB for a reason and was playing with a LB who can't defend and a RB who was giving us a Manure style performance after (an admittedly soft) yellow card. I felt their second goal was inevitable, and they should have beaten us by 2 goals but for a world class keeper performance from Ramsdale.

We had little or no outlet - I can't remember so many attacking pases going astray - and we lacked the composure to profit from 2 or 3 gilt-edged chances to score another. Our mindset was negative, and we switched to survival mode - something epitomosed by Arteta's decision to put on that Herman Munster looking guy in place of Odegard - one of our best ball retainers - at a time when our MF seemed as though it had disappeared anyway. Zin should have been subbed long before he gifted them their second.

I get that Anfield is a difficult place to go to, but we were in total control FFS and we fucked it up. This was not a performance (for 50 minutes) that suggests we have what it takes to prevent Citeh from winning the title, and the doubts about our team's ability to cope with real pressure loom large. If ever a point felt like a loss it was this game, for me. I have lost faith that we will take the title and that feels depressing this morning.

[HCZ_Reborn]

As people know I tend to try to be moderate on here and I have been one of Xhaka's biggest supporters.

But I was disappointed with that result/performance yesterday and I still am now. We were absolutely in control at 0-2 up and we had Liverpool on the ropes. What did we do? - We showed that we lack the maturity to play our game and ignore the shit-housery and absolutely played into their hands. I would have thought that the game last season showed exactly what you don't do at Anfield. You don't give them and their crowd anything to lift their game. What does Xhaka do? He riles the crowd up - for nothing - and the result was their first goal, just before half time.

The second half was a disaster class from our team and manager. All composure went and we simply invited them onto our shaky defence. I'm not going to single Holding out, but he is our 4th choice CB for a reason and was playing with a LB who can't defend and a RB who was giving us a Manure style performance after (an admittedly soft) yellow card. I felt their second goal was inevitable, and they should have beaten us by 2 goals but for a world class keeper performance from Ramsdale.

We had little or no outlet - I can't remember so many attacking pases going astray - and we lacked the composure to profit from 2 or 3 gilt-edged chances to score another. Our mindset was negative, and we switched to survival mode - something epitomosed by Arteta's decision to put on that Herman Munster looking guy in place of Odegard - one of our best ball retainers - at a time when our MF seemed as though it had disappeared anyway. Zin should have been subbed long before he gifted them their second.

I get that Anfield is a difficult place to go to, but we were in total control FFS and we fucked it up. This was not a performance (for 50 minutes) that suggests we have what it takes to prevent Citeh from winning the title, and the doubts about our team's ability to cope with real pressure loom large. If ever a point felt like a loss it was this game, for me. I have lost faith that we will take the title and that feels depressing this morning.

Whilst I agree with you in regards to our second half performance I think this idea that Xhaka reacting to Alexander-Arnold was the turning point without which they couldn’t have come back into the game is for the birds.

It’s a lovely talking point for sky sports commentators but the reality is…Liverpool at any point could have upped their game and turned the screw.

Not having our best defensive options available didnt help and this is why I was not confident of getting a result yesterday.

Yes the players did wilt under pressure, but we haven’t suddenly found a magical way to play out of trouble when we get pushed back

The fact is it’s not the first time we’ve been penned in and couldn’t find a way out away from home….Crystal Palace, Leeds, Leicester…even against Spurs in the second half it was all them and I think we had maybe one or two half chances on the counter. Arguably even against Brighton our backs were against the wall for the last twenty minutes or so and only a marginal offside call stopped them making it 4-3

We have gone for it twice away from home, once losing (against United) and once winning (against Villa)

[Chippy]

I don’t think that’s true.
We’ve scored plenty of late goals, got lots of wins from losing positions.
And we responded to The Wobble ™ with 7 straight wins.
We are a lot stronger psychologically and better at dealing with setbacks than we were.

This result could be the 2 points dropped that cost us the title or…it could be the point gained that wins us it. It’s going to be crushing not winning it after how good we’ve been this year, but we are against an absolute juggernaut in City. I’m can’t really fault our efforts this season.

Hopefully, City will be deducted points for blatant FFP avoidance

[IBK]

Whilst I agree with you in regards to our second half performance I think this idea that Xhaka reacting to Alexander-Arnold was the turning point without which they couldn’t have come back into the game is for the birds.

It’s a lovely talking point for sky sports commentators but the reality is…Liverpool at any point could have upped their game and turned the screw.

Not having our best defensive options available didnt help and this is why I was not confident of getting a result yesterday.

Yes the players did wilt under pressure, but we haven’t suddenly found a magical way to play out of trouble when we get pushed back

The fact is it’s not the first time we’ve been penned in and couldn’t find a way out away from home….Crystal Palace, Leeds, Leicester…even against Spurs in the second half it was all them and I think we had maybe one or two half chances on the counter. Arguably even against Brighton our backs were against the wall for the last twenty minutes or so and only a marginal offside call stopped them making it 4-3

We have gone for it twice away from home, once losing (against United) and once winning (against Villa)

I agree with your point that we have ridden our luck in second halves a few times this season, but I still think that the Xhaka incident was key. This isn't following the press - I was watching the game with a few Gooners and we all said it in real time. Before Xhaka's over reaction we were saying that it was embarrassing because you could hear the tannoy (and the away fans) - so much for the famous Anfield atmosphere. After it, the crowd woke up, and it definitely gave Liverpool's players a lift. They are a team - as their extraordinary home record compared to away shows this season, that feeds off the atmosphere. This was Klopp's Cup Final and his 'heavy metal' playing style needs a spark. We gave them this - just like Arteta did last season. Had we gone in at the break 0-2 up then the crowd would have started the second half nervy and subdued - their goal came at the worst time.

Arteta seems to agree with me.

Beyond that, however, we showed that we don't have the composure to deal with shit housery. Liverpool already had an excrable ref on their team. The likes of TAA; Robertson and Firmino are masters at riling and disrupting opposition players. Xhaka is supposed to be a leader in this team, and did the wrong thing in reacting and reverting to type. Our ineffectual MF was severely hampered by his yellow card - and IMHO this contributed to it fading almost into non-existance in the second half - so much so that Klopp took one of theirs off to go with a more attacking formation. Same went for Ben White - a yellow stifling performance - albeit that his was unmerited.

Klopp - who let's face it had little to play for - wanted this to be a rabble rousing cup final. And we gave him exactly what he wanted.

[Mac76]

I agree with your point that we have ridden our luck in second halves a few times this season, but I still think that the Xhaka incident was key. This isn't following the press - I was watching the game with a few Gooners and we all said it in real time. Before Xhaka's over reaction we were saying that it was embarrassing because you could hear the tannoy (and the away fans) - so much for the famous Anfield atmosphere. After it, the crowd woke up, and it definitely gave Liverpool's players a lift. They are a team - as their extraordinary home record compared to away shows this season, that feeds off the atmosphere. This was Klopp's Cup Final and his 'heavy metal' playing style needs a spark. We gave them this - just like Arteta did last season. Had we gone in at the break 0-2 up then the crowd would have started the second half nervy and subdued - their goal came at the worst time.

Arteta seems to agree with me.

Beyond that, however, we showed that we don't have the composure to deal with shit housery. Liverpool already had an excrable ref on their team. The likes of TAA; Robertson and Firmino are masters at riling and disrupting opposition players. Xhaka is supposed to be a leader in this team, and did the wrong thing in reacting and reverting to type. Our ineffectual MF was severely hampered by his yellow card - and IMHO this contributed to it fading almost into non-existance in the second half - so much so that Klopp took one of theirs off to go with a more attacking formation. Same went for Ben White - a yellow stifling performance - albeit that his was unmerited.

Klopp - who let's face it had little to play for - wanted this to be a rabble rousing cup final. And we gave him exactly what he wanted.

This

And who has picked Xhaka week in week out despite knowing his temperament?

Arteta

We should have got rid of Xhaka two summers ago, last season his ill discipline cost ua a CL place, this time it's cost us the title

[HCZ_Reborn]

I agree with your point that we have ridden our luck in second halves a few times this season, but I still think that the Xhaka incident was key. This isn't following the press - I was watching the game with a few Gooners and we all said it in real time. Before Xhaka's over reaction we were saying that it was embarrassing because you could hear the tannoy (and the away fans) - so much for the famous Anfield atmosphere. After it, the crowd woke up, and it definitely gave Liverpool's players a lift. They are a team - as their extraordinary home record compared to away shows this season, that feeds off the atmosphere. This was Klopp's Cup Final and his 'heavy metal' playing style needs a spark. We gave them this - just like Arteta did last season. Had we gone in at the break 0-2 up then the crowd would have started the second half nervy and subdued - their goal came at the worst time.

Arteta seems to agree with me.

Beyond that, however, we showed that we don't have the composure to deal with shit housery. Liverpool already had an excrable ref on their team. The likes of TAA; Robertson and Firmino are masters at riling and disrupting opposition players. Xhaka is supposed to be a leader in this team, and did the wrong thing in reacting and reverting to type. Our ineffectual MF was severely hampered by his yellow card - and IMHO this contributed to it fading almost into non-existance in the second half - so much so that Klopp took one of theirs off to go with a more attacking formation. Same went for Ben White - a yellow stifling performance - albeit that his was unmerited.

Klopp - who let's face it had little to play for - wanted this to be a rabble rousing cup final. And we gave him exactly what he wanted.

The point I’m making is that if it hadn’t been that it would have been something else

The idea that Liverpool would have been dormant for 90 minutes and the crowd would have stayed docile for that time is a way of comforting ourselves that somehow we could have won this game easily. The fact is that even before that incident they’d created chances…Robertson should have done better when through on goal, and albeit a harsh booking White was struggling to deal with Jota.

[IBK]

The point I’m making is that if it hadn’t been that it would have been something else

The idea that Liverpool would have been dormant for 90 minutes and the crowd would have stayed docile for that time is a way of comforting ourselves that somehow we could have won this game easily. The fact is that even before that incident they’d created chances…Robertson should have done better when through on goal, and albeit a harsh booking White was struggling to deal with Jota.

Yes there would undoubtedly have been something else to lift them...but the timing of their goal was key. We were pretty much penned back from there on in. Who knows - if they hadn't scored just before half time we might have scored another after that and any revival would have been moot. Liverpool's players were clearly looking for something to provide a spark and we were naive to play into this.

[Marc Overmars]

So we could lose to City, win all the other games and still not win the league. That would mean since the 1-3 defeat to City, we could conceivably take 43 points out of 48 and still miss out.

It’s ridiculous but these are the margins we’re dealing with. Starting to feel how Liverpool fans must have felt in 2019 and 2022.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Yes there would undoubtedly have been something else to lift them...but the timing of their goal was key. We were pretty much penned back from there on in. Who knows - if they hadn't scored just before half time we might have scored another after that and any revival would have been moot. Liverpool's players were clearly looking for something to provide a spark and we were naive to play into this.

Quite possibly but it’s still pretty thin by my reckoning to hinge the result of the game on one largely peripheral incident. The pressure from the home side would have come at some point, and it’s worth bearing in mind that we relied on Ramsdale to provide a couple of world class saves to get a point. On one hand you can say we were too passive, but I think especially with the defence we had we could have been opened up if we had been too expansive.

We’ve done to other sides exactly what was done to us yesterday, we beat United at home because we penned them back and they couldn’t get out. To a degree we did it to Liverpool at home, we don’t have the players of a team like City where we can just soak up that pressure and break.

As for Xhaka himself, you’ll get no argument from me that we should get rid…I would have played Jorginho yesterday because despite how slow he is, actually as a passer of the ball he is unrivalled and he could have been a player to set us away on the counter.

For me not bringing him on, combined with taking Odegaard off for a centre back was far more pivotal to them getting a point.

[HCZ_Reborn]

So we could lose to City, win all the other games and still not win the league. That would mean since the 1-3 defeat to City, we could conceivably take 43 points out of 48 and still miss out.

It’s ridiculous but these are the margins we’re dealing with. Starting to feel how Liverpool fans must have felt in 2019 and 2022.

That’s it exactly. This is why I’ve never felt at all confident that we’d win the league this season

Our points total has been very impressive, Partey, Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard and Saliba have been exceptional. But if you look at the last few seasons….City have won four out of the last five titles and Liverpool got to 99 points to win that (and it helped that City had an off season…which they don’t appear to have had this time around).