The match of the day left an aroma of melancholic decline in the Premier. Arsenal and Liverpool faced off to establish who would take on the role of Manchester City’s first challenger and the result was disappointing. Neither of the two contenders was able to offer hope to their followers. They neither competed well nor knew how to entertain. Not only did they lose two points each. They left the powerful impression that they are two teams in the process of depression. Arsenal, because without Odegaard they behave like a disoriented group; and Liverpool because as the footballers lose Klopp’s imprint, they appear more cautious and indecisive when they hover around the rival area. The general lack of conviction contributed to lifting City to the top of the table, which now leads with 23 points, one more than Liverpool, and five more than Arsenal and Villa.
2
David Raya, Thomas, Ben White, Gabriel (Jakub Kiwior, min. 53), Jurrien Maduro (Myles Lewis-Skelly, min. 75), Merino, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka (Gabriel Jesus, min. 84), Martinelli (Ethan Nwaneri, min. 84), Trossard and Kai Havertz
2
Caoimhin Kelleher, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, A. Robertson (Konstantinos Tsimikas, min. 62), Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones (Wataru Endo, min. 91), Alexis Mac Allister (Dominik Szoboszlai, min. 62), Luis Díaz (Gakpo, min. 63), Ryan Gravenberch, Salah and Darwin Núñez
Goals 1-0 min. 9: Bukayo Saka. 1-1 min. 17: Virgil Van Dijk. 2-1 min. 42: Merino. 2-2 min. 80: Salah.
Referee Anthony Taylor
yellow cards Alexis Mac Allister (min. 33), David Raya (min. 65), Darwin Núñez (min. 94) and Gabriel Jesus (min. 97)
The meat pies served at the Emirates were more tempting for the London crowd than what was happening on the pitch, despite the home team going into half-time 2-1 up. It took a while for people to return to their seats. Indication that the entertainment culture that Wenger promoted is questioned. After two years of strong emotions, Mikel Arteta has decided to once again insist on the conservative approaches that characterized his first seasons, between 2018 and 2022. He has not yet restored the 5-2-1-2 but has made his team play micro-games of speculative way. Sometimes he presses with everything, only at times, sometimes he presses in the middle block in the hope of causing an error, sometimes he attacks, sometimes he locks himself in his area without complexes, as if he were trying to control his men using a switch. Their dogma has changed. Now Arteta openly says that he does not intend for his team to have the ball. “I don’t like the word control,” he observes; “I like to dominate and not let the opponent breathe. “We can do harm in many ways.”
The loss of control of the ball is obvious. Arsenal came into Sunday’s game with an average of 45% possession so far this season. Saka’s goal in the ninth minute, taking advantage of a lofted ball from White that jumped lines, helped put the Arsenal players on that mental plane in which they were convinced that they had to calculate the risks carefully before moving according to what attack areas. Goals from Van Dijk, with a header from a corner, and from Merino, following a lateral free kick taken by Rice, shook up the scoreboard while revealing a stalemate. The stopped ball had more life than the ball played with the feet. From Liverpool, the response was similar.
Arnold Slot, Liverpool’s new manager, has changed the motherboard of the machine he inherited. The team that once attacked euphorically has become a cautious platoon of postal officials. The system operates perfectly. Each neighbor receives their correspondence punctually. Slot boasted that he had not lost away from home so far in the championship and before visiting the Emirates he had only conceded three goals in eight games. But the imagination diminishes by arrobes. Nothing is unexpected in this Liverpool.
“Mourinho type”
The 2-1 lead Arsenal towards their goal. Armed around Raya, the ten field players settled in the area to defend the advantage against a Liverpool unable to devise a way to get into the shot other than through a cross into the pot. Slot showed the same lack of ingenuity when from the bench he ordered the departure of Díaz, Robertson and MacAllister to bring in Szobozslai, Gapko and Tsimikas. Without the Colombian and without the Argentine, the advances lost the first reference point at the start and the little rhythm they had in the last meters. Seeing that Liverpool was standing still, Arteta jumped onto the sideline and began to encourage his players to take advantage of the situation, press and deliver the knockout blow. It was useless. By dint of speculation, after game time Rice and his teammates had lost adrenaline.
Arsenal were only emboldened to fall into their own trap. It usually happens to teams distracted between conflicting records. A loss in the vicinity of the Liverpool area returned the ball to Alexander-Arnold, who with a long and measured pass behind the center back and the full-back enabled the roadrunner Núñez. The Uruguayan’s cross, which caught the entire local defense in desperate retreat, was intercepted by Salah, who sent it into the net. With the final 2-2, the Egyptian surpassed Robbie Fowler with 164 goals in the Premier.
The image that the game left in the fans’ retinas was that of setback. “Mikel Arteta is metamorphosing into a Mourinho-type coach,” observed Jamie Carragher, Sky’s leading commentator.
