Gooners have to move on.
It’s over, it’s all been said, it’s time to move on.
On Tuesday night the Arsenal-Liverpool Trilogy ended with a 4-2 defeat at Anfield.
I’ll just say four things tonight.
1. William Gallas had Babel.
Gallas was very good at Anfield. His reading of the game, his anticipation, was excellent. And he had Babel’s run covered. He was there. He was waiting for him. As Toure and Babel collided, Gallas was already in a perfect position to stop him. And he has stopped better players than Ryan Babel, many times. On his form in that match, up to that point in the game, William Gallas would have tackled Babel and got the ball. He is a better right back than Toure because he is lighter and more nimble and played the position many times. He is a concentration player rather than an enthusiastic strongman.
Gallas is a nimble, quick-turning defender who can play full back much better than bigger men who are less nimble. As a centreback he needs to be playing with a dominating No.5. At Chelsea, he made John Terry look better than he was, just as Makelele made Lampard look better than he was. And of course Mourinho often played Gallas at full back because he is one of the very few players who can play both positions well. He gets tight without getting too tight, so you very rarely see Gallas get on the wrong side of an opponent. In general terms, a defender’s job is to make sure he is between his opponent and the goal. If the attacker is between him and the goal, all sort of horrible things can happen.
2. Having looked at the replays frame by frame, I eventually reached a definitive view.
Babel cut across Toure, looking for contact.When there was no contact, other than Fabregas grabbing his hand just outside the box, Babel swung his right arm round to hit Toure on the neck, then twisted his body through 180 degrees so that his left arm went round Toure’s body on the other side, then went down – and 40,000 scousers shouted “Penalty!” It was a Kop penalty, just likes scores of other Kop penalties over the years.
So the key incident of the Trilogy decider at Anfield was a moment of panic, a big penalty shout, and a Swedish ref who gave in to that pressure, even though he may not have been sure it was a deliberate foul inside the box.
3. When Arsenal were on top for half an hour they used to score two goals or three.
At Anfield they outplayed Liverpool completely for the first half hour. But they only scored one goal.
In 1998 and 2002 and 2004 they were more direct, more incisive, because they were a team who made killer passes and hit killer shots. They had Pires then, and Freddie, Dennis, Thierry – fast, classy players who knew how to score goals.
4. The third episode of the Trilogy illustrated the fundamentally different approaches of Rafa and Arsene.
Rafa looked at the two 1-1 draws and said : I will do something different in the third game
Arsene looked at those 1-1 draws said : Let’s do the same things better.
That means that while Rafa can surprise Arsene, who always plays the same way and does the same things, pretty much, and always buys the same kind of players.
Rafa went 4-4-2 with Torres and Crouch to attack Arsenal’s lack of height, sacrificing a man in midfield but telling Gerrard and Kuyt to keep Clichy and Toure back in Arsenal’s half. That didn’t happen and Rafa was fuming. Second half, Liverpool came out and did what he had told them to do in the first half. They had some luck and won 4-2.
As I’ve said 75 times here, football is a game of angles and habits and partnerships. A team that sabotages its partnerships by moving players around will often self-destruct. About 99% of footballers can only play one position well. Although, of course, many can learn a second position over time. They can’t learn it in 90 minutes or two weeks.
But there it is. I’m over it, I’ve drawn a line under it, I wasn’t gutted because I never expected to beat Liverpool in that game. That’s why I didn’t preview it on the day of the game, that’s why I said the first game, the first leg, was the big one. Arsenal needed to take a lead to Anfield because one free-kick, one card, one bit of bad luck, one bad call by the ref, would finish them. Rafa is hard to beat over two legs – and the Kop is hard to beat as well.
Sir Alex has wound up Rooney and Ronaldo by dropping them from the Roma second leg.
He has a good blend of experience and youth. If you went to see any of the 92 Football League teams in the Seventies, and read the manager’s programme notes, he would always say, “We’ve got a good blend of experience and youth.” And that’s what Fergie has in his big squad. Experience in the back five, ball-winners in midfield but also old pros who know where the ball’s gonna be, plus youthful pace up front.
His list of rivals is short now and he wants to line them up one by one and shoot them down. He wants to whack Arsenal, blitz Barcelona, and smack Chelsea or Liverpool in Moscow. He thinks 1999 and 2008 will be his biggest years, his legacy years
If he whacks Arsenal 4-0 again he will damage them for next season. Fergie thinks like that.