Quote Originally Posted by The Emirates Gallactico View Post
Prime Maldini/Nesta or Vidic/Rio would have struggled with Ramsey and Flamini in front of them tbh.

Might be an odd thing to say seeing as we conceeded three goals, but I though Merts and Kos had really good games last night in the face of relentless Liverpool pressure and virtually non-existent protection in front of them. The first goal wasn't really their fault (Theo mainly but also Cech and Nacho) and the second was a worldie - should have done better for the third but those happen.

The problem wasn't starting them ahead of Gabriel but instead not bringing Gabriel on at the end to shore things up. Wenger instead went for Arteta - personally with hindsight I think bringing Gabriel on and playing three at the back may have prevented the third goal.
Second goal was Merts fault.. his clearance was horrible and he fell down like a lump of coal and awkwardly kicked it to a Liverpool player. He also couldnt get the ball out of defense without a panic. Anytime he got the ball and Liverpool pressed, he seemed to make a panic pass putting pressure on the other players. I will agree that he did better in the second half, but his first half was as bad as I have seen him play.