Kolo Toure was right when he said : If we stop Gerrard, we stop Liverpool. They didn’t stop him and Kuyt scored.
And I was wrong to say Kuyt could not hurt Arsenal. He’s a scrubber who has scored six Champions league goals this season. He never impresses me. But he now has a specific job and he works hard doing it. He is a runner who defends from the front, mainly. His shooting and final ball are do not impress.
Still, he’s better than Eboue, who never scores
Today’s Guardian has ProZone stats about Wednesday night’s first leg.
Arsenal made 581 passes and Liverpool made 263 passes.
Pass completion was 86% against 78% ; shots 13 against 7; fouls 7 against 14.
Most passes by any player : 82, Fabregas.
Most passes by a Liverpool player : 38, Gerrard.
As you know, van Persie had the assist on Adebayor’s header, Gerrard the assist for Kuyt’s goal.
Eboue made no runs into the box or passes into the box. He only crossed twice.
Yet the first leg was Eboue’s 100th appearance. Why ? He’s not a right back or a winger. Why is he there? Will Eboue be there for 200 and 300 ?
In the Champions League, Arsenal are three matches from another final. Can they win at Anfield and earn the right to lose to Drogba again? I don’t know. I’ll think about that between now and Tuesday morning. But what I think will depend on what we see at noon tomorrow. Most expect to see a weaker Liverpool side.
Yes, three consecutive Liverpool games is a bit repetitious. But three in seven days has an urgency, a momentum : the next one comes up very quickly in this sequence. And the important one is always the next one. In theory, every football match is different, partly because the circumstances of each match are different. Even if it’s the same 22 players, which it rarely is.
Anybody think Arsenal can lose on Saturday and then win on Tuesday night ?
I don’t. You know my theory by now : every football match contains the previous match. That’s why Arsenal have only won two out of nine since they chucked the FA Cup 4-0 at Old Trafford 48 days ago.