Arsene Wenger’s men stick to their principles

From The Times

October 29, 2007

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1

Martin Samuel, Chief Football Correspondent, Anfield

The question should not be whether Arsenal can get the job done ugly, but why on earth anybody would wish them to when they can play like this. It may have needed an equaliser by Cesc Fàbregas ten minutes from time to take a point from Anfield yesterday, but despite such anxious moments Arsenal continued to play the football of glory-hunters, of men of true character, perhaps of champions.

They did not take a backward step from kick-off to final whistle against opponents who scrapped for their lives to maintain legitimate title ambitions and both sets of players deserve thanks for that. Plenty of visiting teams would have come to Liverpool to steal a point. While achieving the same result, Arsenal risked so much more.

They did not once doubt their principles of short, quick passing and movement, did not once sell out and take an expedient route to goal, did not once shirk the mental challenge of trying to succeed the hardest way of all: beautifully. Arsène Wenger calls it playing without the handbrake, but that makes the Arsenal style sound haphazard, indiscriminate, random almost. In practice, it is nothing of the sort.

Fàbregas’s goal was a case in point. To create it, Alexander Hleb needed to carry the ball through Liverpool’s midfield, drawing opponents while ignoring teammates who had strayed offside. He patiently spurned two runners and attracted three Liverpool players before an eye-of-the-needle gap opened up, through which could be glimpsed Fàbregas.

Hleb found him precisely and with only a startled José Manuel Reina to beat, Fàbregas slipped the ball into the net for the most richly deserved goal of the season so far. It was not that Liverpool were outplayed or unworthy, more that considering the courage Arsenal displayed in refusing to compromise, it would have been a travesty had they returned south with nothing.

It was a gutsy display from Liverpool, too. Rafael Benítez’s team are under pressure, floundering in Europe and at full stretch to keep pace with Arsenal and Manchester United domestically, and a defeat here would have had a negative impact far outweighing the loss of three points. Some will say that a draw is not enough, either, particularly because Arsenal played the better football, but that underplays the size of the task. At this moment, there is unlikely to be a better, more fluent and inventive football team in Europe than Arsenal and if this was a make-or-break afternoon for Liverpool, they could not have been tested with stronger opposition.

As it was, they took the lead after seven minutes and held it for 73 and as the match wore on were weakened only by misfortune, which meant that the meagre spoils came at a heavy price. Fernando Torres aggravated the muscle strain that has kept him out since disappearing on international duty this month, while the influential Xabi Alonso suffered a repeat of his foot injury. In the circumstances, then, Liverpool did well and had three of the stars of the game in Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Mascherano was an outstanding terminator in midfield, the smallest man on the pitch yet the biggest in the tackle.

Gerrard scored and was always on the brink of having one of those games, the sort in which he drags Liverpool to victory by sheer force of will, and when William Gallas, the Arsenal captain, made a thunderous tackle to thwart a Liverpool attack in injury time, it was no surprise that the player he had to stop was his opposite number with the armband.

As for Carragher, he remains the granite stone on which Liverpool’s best is built. When the fillip of a first Arsenal goal threatened to bring a second late on and Fàbregas hit the right-hand post before Nicklas Bendtner, a substitute, struck the rebound over the bar, all neutrals would have felt quiet relief for Carragher. He did not deserve to be on the losing team.

Of course, the same could be said of any number yesterday. Fàbregas again underlined his status as the most influential midfield player in England, while Hleb is probably the most underrated and the entire Arsenal defence deserved commendations for bravery.

Yet, more than individual performances, it was the speed of the game that startled, the sheer quickness of thought required to operate in the midfield areas that impressed. The sharpest minds work for Wenger these days and Liverpool brought the best out of them by scoring early, meaning that the rest of the match was played at a relentless, breakneck pace.

The goal was a Gerrard cracker, his first in the league since the opening day of the season. Fàbregas fouled Xabi Alonso on the edge of the area and when John Arne Riise rolled the ball sideways, Gerrard lashed it low through a gap in the wall vacated by Mathieu Flamini. From then it was Arsenal all the way, Liverpool mounting the occasional counter-attack before being driven back into their half. Gerrard and Riise had volleys tipped over either side of half-time, Peter Crouch improved Liverpool’s front line when coming on after 46 minutes and had a chance tipped wide five minutes later, but the bulk of the possession belonged to Arsenal.

Emmanuel Adebayor was kept out by Reina after 16 minutes, Carragher cleared off the line from Emmanuel Eboué soon after and when the same player hit a post, Fàbregas made an unlikely hash of the rebound. Ultimately, though, justice was done. Yes, another team would have come to Anfield, shut up shop and left with a point the easy way. Yet that is what makes this Arsenal team special and sets them apart. Win ugly? It would be like asking Picasso to paint by numbers.

How they rated

Liverpool (4-5-1) J M Reina 7 S Finnan 6 J Carragher Y 8 S Hyypia 7 J A Riise 6 D Kuyt 7 X Alonso 7 J Mascherano Y 9 S Gerrard 8 A Voronin Y 6 F Torres 5 Substitutes Á Arbeloa 5 (for Alonso, 68min), Y Benayoun 5 (for Voronin, 64), P Crouch 6 (for Torres, 46) Not used Itandje, R Babel

Arsenal (4-4-1-1) M Almunia 7 B Sagna 7 K Touré Y 7 W Gallas 8 G Clichy 7 E Eboué 6 F Fàbregas Y 9 M Flamini 7 T Rosicky Y 6 A Hleb 8 E Adebayor 6 Substitutes Gilberto Silva (for Clichy, 74min), N Bendtner (for Eboué, 74), T Walcott 6 (for Rosicky, 65) Not used J Lehmann, L Diarra