[quote author=Brendan link=topic=41476.msg1156080#msg1156080 date=1282057729]
[quote author=mark1975 link=topic=41476.msg1156074#msg1156074 date=1282056947]
I'm astounded at the amount of negativity in this thread, even more so from a stern Benitez backer moaning about us playing negative football, against Arsenal.
First and foremost, I thought we showed a tremendous display of character. Arsenal home or away is always a difficult match and one I personally dread more than playing the Mancs the majority of the time, because they always have a knack of carving us open with ease.
The first half was a nil contest, neither side looked with it, passing games were few and far between and for the most part we looked like we were weighing Arsenal up and trying not to give anything away. On another day, without a sending off it would have worked too, because we made them work and then hit them with some ferocity over a 20 minute spell which they could barely cope with. And that was with 10 men.
Lets show some perspective, it's hard for any team to get going on the first day of the season, particularly when playing decent-or-above opponents. In recent years we've blundered our way through qualification games for the Champions League at this stage, usually against bin-men. So to consider that many of the squad have barely even played a friendly for us this pre-season and we were playing a side as measured as any Arsenal side is (despite their absentees they have a well drilled setup), I thought it was a fairly stellar, promising performance of things to come.
There seems to be this ideal that Hodgson is a negative coach. He's a coach that has his back 6 set in a rigid system, where everyone knows what they're doing, and that's exactly how it looked. And he then allows the attackers freedom to more or less play their natural games with fluidity and movement, with others (like Masher and Johnson on Sunday) joining the play to help us attack in numbers. Arsenal couldn't cope with the versatility of our play in attack yesterday at times. We were a threat in the air and we had a front four who would interchange roles. It wasn't Brazil, nor Spain for that matter, but it was pleasing on the eye in fits and starts, and a good pointer to what we can expect. WE WERE PLAYING ARSENAL, not Newcastle.
So regards us playing a so called negative game, I'd remind people we were playing with 10 men for more than half the match and we were dominant in spells, for the most part more solid than we've looked for a long time and we were incredibly unlucky to not come away with 3 points.
That's the only disappointment right there, that 10 man (for 50 minutes) Liverpool dropped two points to an unfortunate goalkeeping error, against Arsenal.
I despair sometimes.
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I despair if you thought we were "weighing Arsenal up" in the first 45 minutes. They were well on top. And we were on top in the second half.
As for "we were playing Arsenal, not Newcastle"..... fuck that.
They were playing Liverpool. At Anfield. We can't afford to drop points at home to anyone. And nor should we.
So get off your fucking high horse. in the cold light of day, it wasn't great. It wasn't poor. There were signs of promise. We drew. We need to improve.
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We drew with 10 men for more than half the game, people are acting like it's two points dropped because we played shit against a team we should have beaten. Errr no, it was Arsenal, a team who are always there or there abouts (and who often give us a hiding) and we were unfortunate to lose Cole and unfortunate with the goal.
