The main fallout
from yesterday’s victory over Liverpool surrounds the controversial decision by
Howard Webb not to award Luis Suarez a second penalty after the Ox appeared to
take him down with a hefty body check.
Whilst I will
concede that Liverpool should have had a second penalty I think that the media
reaction has been (who’d have guessed it) size-ably in favour of Liverpool. The
resultant image has been that of a Liverpool side who were robbed of victory,
who outplayed Arsenal and were denied their rightful place in the quarter
finals only by misfortune.
This is such a
warped perspective of the encounter I don’t even know where to begin. Whilst
the total number of shots both on and off target favoured Liverpool, the
half-time statistics were practically identical, with Arsenal having 5 shots
with 1 on target whilst Liverpool had 6 and 2 on target. Following Podolski’s
goal and Arsenal’s second early in the second half the entire dynamic of the
game inevitably changed.
In fact for large
spells of the first half we outplayed Liverpool, winning the ball from both
offensive and defensive set pieces and springing several counter attacks with
lightning pace lead by the Ox.
Wenger in typically level-headed fashion made
the point that Arsenal set out to defend their lead with 15-20 minutes
remaining, content to soak up the Liverpool pressure with a defence who have
been exceptional at home.
With the
undeniable quality that Liverpool possess upfront it was obvious that they
would have sniffs at goal, however had the scoreline remained at 1-0 into the
second half Arsenal would have pressed higher up the field and sought to commit
more players forward which could have seen the statistics remain more balanced
by the end of the match.
Furthermore what
chances Arsenal did have on the counter attack were systematically culled by
fouls from the Liverpool defence and midfield, Gerrard, Coutinho and Flanagan
all receiving yellow cards, whilst Allen was lucky to escape the match without
a booking.
Most importantly,
whilst Liverpool will bemoan the fact that they were denied a penalty they
should also consider themselves extremely fortunate that they ended the match
with all 11 players on the field. Sterling appeared to manhandle Howard Webb
following a decision not to award the winger a free kick. Gerrard, too, should
have walked after a rash diving challenge on Oxlade-Chamberlain when he was
already on a yellow card for an earlier foul.
Either of those
sending offs would have changed the entire complexion of the game as would a Liverpool
penalty, but to say that Webb’s decisions robbed Liverpool is painting a rather
tired picture of a game in which both sides had their fair share of fortune.
Now that is out
of the way we can focus on a storming début from Yaya Sanogo. Once the team
sheet was announced we were a little trepidatious as to the effect this 19 year
old signed last year could have on a game of this magnitude, however our fears
were soon allayed when Sanogo proceeded to smash Skrtel and Agger off the ball
time and time again throwing his weight around in much the same fashion as his
devilishly handsome counterpart.
Sanogo had a
crucial hand in Arsenal’s first goal, having the presence of mind and deftness
of touch to chest a Liverpool clearance down before volleying an effort at
goal, the resulting block falling at the feet of the Ox whose finish was
emphatic.
On balance his
play was a little stuttered at times, however considering the standard of
competition and the nature of the encounter his performance was outstanding and
he was rightly applauded off to a standing ovation when he was substituted for
Giroud towards the end of the game.
A special mention
also has to go out to Fabianski, who along with Szczesny is rewarding the faith
Wenger has placed in him when others called for his sale. This is not to say
that I believe Fabianski is the man to tend goal for the Arsenal first team,
however considering someone has to play second fiddle I am happy that we have
someone of Fabisanki’s obvious shot stopping ability to come in when required.
Onwards and
upwards for Arsenal then and we can look forward to the enticing proposition of
Everton at home for the quarter-final.
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