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Reds-Gunners draw, Chelsea beaten, Van Persie injured!

April 2nd, 2008 | By: Jan | 29 Comments »

It’s the type of fixture you set the alarm clock for in Australia. 5.30 am was the start of Arsenal - Liverpool, and I was there :-). In a riveting first half one could tell the distinctive style of the two English big guns within the first ten minutes.. Velvetty, creative Arsenal against pragmatic, tough Liverpool. Arsenal trying to play topnotch dominating football, Liverpool reacting with muscle. It was Gerrard vs Fabregas, Torres vs Adabayor and best buddies Babel vs Van Persie.

In the first meet of three in six days (this weekend the two meet for the EPL), the Gunners have the statistics to give them confidence. The last time ‘Pool won was in 2000! From the first minute it was clear that Arsenal meant business. Quicker in the challenges, and dominating with their positioning play. It almost seemed as if Arsenal had one player more. Van Persie was set up twice before Arsenal found the net. First a flying volly in full run, sailing over the crossbar, then a distance striker stopped by Reyna. Not long after, Adabayor was given a free header opp on a Van Persie cross: 1-0. Arsenal seemed to settle a bit, enjoying that lead, and that’s when the Reds are alert. With Captain Fantastic Gerrard shimmying his way into the box it was the ever alert Dirk Kuyt who had the last touch… Only minutes after Arsenal’s lead, it was 1-1 all, to the disgust of Arsene Wenger.

Optically, Arsenal has the better of the game and neutral fans would relish to see them play all day! But Liverpool doesn’t need to impress or dominate to hurt their opponent.

The second half started with a shocker! Robin van Persie seems to have another thigh injury (recurring) and was left out of the action by Wenger. Don’t know how serious it is. Walcott replaced him. Arsenal kept on thumping in the second half, pushing the Reds into a supporting actor. But, as I have said before in criticism towards Arsenal, they have a hard time scoring… There were some tremendous chances, Walcott alone before Reyna, a wonderful Hleb dribble into the box (was he fouled by Kuyt or not?) that didn’t end in a penalty-kick, a Fabregas shot saved on the line by Arsenal mate Bendtner (!), another shot by the Spanish boy wonder just wide… And Liverpool created nothing in the second half. But, Arsene Wenger should teach his boys to stop combining at certain moments and take some distance shots or just swing the ball into the box from the side. I feel you do improve your odds by just trying…

No goals in the second half, in other words, Arsenal - Liverpool ended in 1-1, leaving a psychological advantage (and the away goal) for the Reds. Next week, we’re in for another cracker.

The Dutch had various performances…. Van Persie had a fine performance in the first half, but had to leave during half time, Ryan Babel was virtually invisible and was replaced an hour in the game and Dirk Kuyt may well been called the Man of the Match for the Merseysiders. He scored, he assisted Torres with a couple of good passes and services but more importantly, he took his midfield tasks extremely serious and was all over the place, defending when needed and attacking when able. The ESPN commentators repeatedly complimented Kuyt with his work and performance and questioned how it’s possible that Van Basten ignores the work horse.

And I must say, I believe Goose started on our blog with his ideas of Kuyt as holding midfielder… Well, he’s got a point…

The fourth Dutchman on the pitch was referee Pieter Vink, who did very well.

Chelsea played their first leg against Fener in Turkey. The surprise package of the season, the Resilients as they are called. Chelsea really wants the Cup with the BIg Ears this time around, the Holy Grail. It seemed the Chelsea stars weren’t impressed with the exuberant atmosphere in the stadium in Istanbul, and after twelve minutes it seemed Fener put Chelsea on the thrown with an own goal by Brazilian Deivid. Chelsea created several opportunities in the first half, with Essien hitting the bar and Drogba squandering two opps. Mateja Kezman, Fener’s striker and former Chelsea player was keen to show his former employer that he deserved more support over there, but the former PSV striker was like an island.

In the second half, Fenerbahce played va-banque knowing that losing at home almost makes the second leg superfluous. And their courage payed off. After 60 minutes sub Kazim scored the equalizer only for Deivid - yes, the own goal scorer - became the hero of Istanbul with a 30 meter distance in the upper corner, just ten minutes before the end of the game. Fener on top, traveling to London next week with a victory in the bag.

And where the Liverpool - Arsenal game can easily go both ways, I feel Chelsea is on the backfoot against Fener next week.

Tags: Group C

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 29 comments.

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By ayl | April 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 pm

Kuyt played a good match. He put in 2 really nice balls for Torres; the one down the right hand touchline that resulted in Torres being fouled, and the through ball that Torres didn’t quite control. He was performing his defensive duties well too. He made one great tackle in the box, stopping what would have been a very dangerous ball from the left. I think that he did later commit that foul in the box though. The ref still had a good game though. He did well to maintain the flow of the game and gave sufficient warnings rather than just a straight card. All in all it was a pretty entertaining match, but i’d have liked to have seen more potency in attack from both sides. Neither keeper really had to make anything more than regulation saves. Can’t wait for the rematch…. i really hope that VP will be back and that his injury is minor.

Posted from Australia

By Bruce | April 3rd, 2008 at 12:26 am

Maybe Kuyt should fill in that holding position we’ve been missing !!

Thought he had a good game too, and I’ve always always thought Kuyt should be in midfield or in some other supporting role. He doesn’t have the speed or skill for a striker, but has immense vision and fantastic work ethic. And he’s a good passer and can hold on to the ball well enough.

Babel can indeed stay home. I’ve never liked him, and I don’t think he’s getting any better. He’s overrated, and I’d take Kuyt to EC anyday over hem.

I’ve guessing RvP’s injury is minor as there haven’t been any reports about it yet. Arsenal has a huge upcoming week and Wenger needs to be smart with his players. The 2nd leg is more important anyway.

Posted from Republic Of Korea

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 am

well; things went the way i wanted them to go….. Kuijt is givin vBasten another option, Bruce is right; Kuijt misses the real speed to be a striker pure…. position him on the right side; he will hold back any defenders trying to make a run down the line and is always capable of doing something on the attacking side aswell…

the guy must have the biggest lungs in Western Europe….

KUIJT KUIJT KUIJT

Marco; leave Babel in London!!

now lets see how Psv does

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 1:54 am

btw; Jan; vPersie good performance??? tought he played below average….one good assisst but the rest was crap…he lacks the real form esp. in front of goal

im getting worried!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | April 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 am

I called Van Persie’s performance “fine”. He played in a top match between two of Europe’s best and strongest teams. This was high level play. No one played fantastic! Not Torres, not Adabayor… Maybe Fabregas, Hleb, but considering Van Persie’s absence I think he did well. He played along in the passing game, had an assist (what more can you want bar a goal) and two good strikes, one difficult one missing target and one less lethal one, but on target. So all in all, I think he did well, considering… Keep the faith in the man!

Posted from Australia

By Jan | April 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 am

Oh, before I forget: I watched Robin without the ball a lot and he seems to be making the right runs, isn’t hiding behind defenders, was constantly play-able… This is a guy getting back in good shape. Let’s all hope the thigh injury is minor.

Posted from Australia

By ClockworkOrange | April 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 am

The referee was good?!?!?! Have you seen the replay of Kuyt’s manhandling of Hleb? He grabbed and twisted his arm! Could’ve even gotten a card for that sort of thing, especially considering he was the last man and there was no attempt whatsoever to play the ball. That’s the third time in two months now that Arsenal have been blatantly robbed by the referee.

Posted from United Kingdom

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am

@clock; it was a dutch ref…. not so sure if it really was a foul…i always hate it when a defender isnt alowed to just touch the striker… would like it if the defender was allowed to do some touching

but eh; cant say im objective when it comes to Kuijt

Jan; i have faith in his capabilities… not so much faith in vPersie getting in the form that we need him to be in….

btw; good to hear Chelsea lost…. what a crap team that is!!

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | April 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 am

actually Jan,i told too at least one year ago that kuijt should play as a holding midfielder - he’s good for it. he doesn’t have the technicall skill and not leathal enough for being a good striker but he’s a great fighter. exactly the type of person we need as a holding midfielder.

babel? i’m less objective with him because really like the guy. (like almost every surinamese origine players in dutch football.) yesterday he was bad he’s but technically gifted. hope that robin’s injury is not too bad… the game was boring,liverpool will qualify,we’ll see one more tragic pool-chelsea semi (would be nice if fener qualified).

from a football lover perspective barca-arsenal or barca-fener would be the optimal final. (i wouldn’t mind or even i would be happy if the final was without any english team)

today psv should get a good result in florence.

Posted from Hungary

By ferenc | April 3rd, 2008 at 5:26 am

and… the refereee… he was really bad. disallowed arsenal from a penalty. the problem that hleb wanted to fall and he did intentionally. it was a clear contact but… i laughed when the danish striker (brendtner?) saved liverpool from a goal.

Posted from Hungary

By ClockworkOrange | April 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 am

@goose: I will admit bias here (besides loving Oranje, I am a die-hard Gooner), but Kuyt didn’t merely ‘touch’ Hleb - he literally grabbed him by the arm and yanked him over. Clear foul.

@ferenc: Hleb is the one player who never goes down intentionally. He practically makes a living riding out hard tackles. Problem is that he’s so slight of build (the man practically has a child’s body) that it doesn’t take much to knock him over. Still, a foul is a foul.

I do agree that Kuyt would make a great holding mid-fielder. I’ve never seen a man work so hard and produce so little in the way of quality finishing or creativity.

Posted from United Kingdom

By simon | April 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 am

RvP was actually quite alright, nice assist. Best game from him since his comeback.

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 am

@simon; wich says more about his form since his comeback than how well he played!

“I do agree that Kuyt would make a great holding mid-fielder. I’ve never seen a man work so hard and produce so little in the way of quality finishing or creativity.”.. haha… youre right….Kuijt was a midfieldplayer before he knew he was!!

Wenger told press that he had the feeling that Kuijt was playing second right-back!! their left back (forgot his name) had no change of joining Arsenals attack….all thanx to Kuijt

Babel played awful v Croatia, plays awful at Liverpool….lets leave him at home!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | April 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am

I agree with everyone about Babel - like I said a while back, he has a lot of developing to do before he will be useful for us. Leave him at home this summer. I don’t care for Kuyt as a striker, but I can’t deny his heart and work effort. You guys are right that he might fit in well as a midfielder.

Goose - I know what you mean about how defenders should be allowed to touch the player a little, but I don’t think that includes using your hands to pull on them. Shoulder to shoulder is fine, but when you start using hands it becomes very dangerous to become a penalty.

Clockwork - I’m a big Arsenal fan too, but I have to agree that I think Hleb was looking for the easy way out a little bit (still a foul though). Hleb seems to have a fear of shooting on goal - he’ll always pass it away rather than take a shot himself, and only shoots if it’s the last option - and I think he saw going down on the foul as easier than shooting. Still a foul though.

By tiju | April 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 am

ha ha bla bla
evrybody turned the plate after dirk’s one performance.
My words to san marc get rid of this guy forever he will not bring wonder for orange and then drop babel also otherwise plz select us(goose,tiju,jan.caleb,santhesh,dr mansoor,dirk v berg etc ha ha h bla bla)
at present our best holding midfeilder is de saaw
i think we have some candidature for this positions (4-2-3-1 system)
it should be(with reserves)(in four vaccencies
Davids
Vanbommel
Englaar
Dek saaw
schaars
hedwigs
(i dont know who will make this four positions)
then our three attacking mids should be(3=3)
vaart
roban
zedorf/znijder
castelen
afaleey
van persie

By tiju | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:01 am

we are going to cry in this euro08 by following players
Znijder
kuijt
van bronk host
de jong
slightly vaart?
who will shine?
that will be
van persie(if fit)
hantlaar
roban(if fit)
heitinga
castelen(if selected)
schaars(if selected)

By tiju | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 am

tall players like luca toni,vincenta,henry,veira will score header goals against us that is 100% assured.
otherwise we should go for donk,luirink,vaarl(any of these two we need in our diffence)
then our man of confidence and courage(royston drenthe)
i think we all are brilliant than uefa technical committee(under21-07)thats why we dropping drenthe(committee members are fools we are brilliant)

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 11:27 am

@tjiu; who’s Dek Saaw ??? is he a talent we should know about! haha.. think Schaars is still injured btw, vBommel will only happen April 1 (and after father-in-law is manager of Oranje), Castelen wont be selected, he rarely plays at HSV

think we have plenty of good headers in defense; Ooijer, Matijsen, Bouma, theyre all god headers and not very small either (in Holland we have few small people…only are midfield wich seems to be made up by dwarfs, i actually think Sneijder is one of the 50 smallest people in Holland

Drenthe will do fine at the Olympics and will be of use during the WC10

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 am

‘god headers’?? haha .. not that GOOD

Posted from Netherlands

By simon | April 3rd, 2008 at 11:52 am

“Wenger told press that he had the feeling that Kuijt was playing second right-back!! their left back (forgot his name) had no change of joining Arsenals attack….all thanx to Kuijt”

I actually thought Clichy was one of the most attacking players of the game…

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm

@simon; maybe Wenger got it wrong’ i was impressed though

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7324934.stm

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | April 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm

btw; ‘their …to Kuijt’was my quote

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | April 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Hi Ferenc, so it was you with that Kuyt insight? Well done. When I read it first, I thought nah… But I can see it now. It’s interesting how most Dutch defenders (Reiziger, Stam, Bogarde, Bouma, De Boer) were actually strikers being re-educated right at the point where they start to make in impact in the senior teams. They’re determined not good enough for an offensive role, but once a striker is settled at the age of 24 or 25 you don’t see those changes any more. Bolo Zenden must have been the last example, when he went as a left winger from PSV to Barca to be changed into a left full back by Van Gaal. Now, maybe Kuyt makes the change, slowly but surely, at Liverpool.

I don’t think the ref deserves the monniker “awful”. He did very well over the whole match and had to make a split second decision on that foul. I agree, a penalty could have been possible, for sure, but it wasn’t a 100% foul. Football is a contact sport and maybe Hleb made too much of a meal of it. But again, don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see Arsenal move through, so…

Arsenal - Barca for the finals. Arsenal to win. Late winning goal by Robin van Persie. A volley from 20 meters, via the crossbar :-).

Posted from Australia

By Igor | April 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm

just read on soccernet that van persie is unlikely to play saturday against ‘pool in the epl match, but it sounds like he should be available for the return leg at anfield. otherwise i have to say that the foul on hleb was a clear penalty but that the fact that kuijt was last man back shows how hard he was working. and if robben is healthy for the EC, we should definitely leave babel home and take kuijt instead.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | April 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm

I read that too. Wenger said there’s a 20% chance Robin can play tomorrow. Don’t know about his chances for the next CL game. Is Wenger the type of man to make false statements to surprise his opponents?

Posted from Australia

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