Rob Gutmann’s preview ahead of Liverpool v Arsenal at Anfield, with The Reds looking threadbare with injury issues in midfield…
THE Arsenal have provided rich red pickings in recent years. They turn up at Anfield. They concede goals. We all go home happy.
This time round though, things feel a touch more complicated. Arsenal started the season badly but have reasserted themselves and are enjoying a lengthy unbeaten run. Liverpool’s own significantly lengthier unbeaten stretch came to an end in east London a week ago.
Liverpool’s injury roster is also again repopulating in a wearily familiar manner. We have few men stricken with any real long term afflictions but we are losing new bodies by the week.
The club’s official site celebrated the news of Sadio Mane not having been sufficiently hurt on international duty to be at risk of missing the Arsenal game, with one of their chirpy ‘you love to see it posts’. We do indeed love to see a big player like Sadio looking happy and fit, at all times, but it comes to something when we’re forced to ‘celebrate’ not losing yet another body.
The training photos promoted by the club also showed Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Harvey Elliott returning to ‘outdoor training’, but none are likely to be fit enough to feature this weekend.
Jurgen Klopp’s team for this weekend is dangerously close to picking itself. It looks like Andy Robertson is out, yet another recent hamstring strain victim. With Naby Keita, Bobby Firmino and James Milner all also out with similar injuries, questions may need to be asked about strains being imposed on overworked limbs.
With available personnel dwindling, Klopp has some difficult decisions to make in terms of selecting sides that can retain freshness, not be overworked and at risk of further injury, while simultaneously trying to win football matches.
In the week ahead are three home games. One is the dead rubber in the Champions League against Porto. As things stand, those that can feature against Arsenal must not be risked in midweek.
Kostas Tsimikas should feature against The Gunners on Saturday. His stock is growing and he enhanced his credentials with star performances for Greece during the international break. The rest of the defence will surely be Klopp’s usual first pick lads — Trent, Joel Matip, Van Dijk and Alisson.
Alisson and Fabinho both featured for Brazil against Argentina on Tuesday night and have enough recovery time between then and Saturday to safely assume that the manager will consider them available for selection.
Liverpool’s only fit first team squad midfielders are Fabinho, Thiago and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. First reserve on the bench will need to be 19-year-old rookie Tyler Morton. Tyler is a good prospect but it’s a sign of injury ravaged times that his full Premier League debut may be imminent.
The currently missing midfield men are Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott. It would be handy if just one could make full first team training by Saturday.
Arsenal will be missing Granit Xhaka, but he’s not very good anyway. They could also be without Thomas Partey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which would be nice. The Gooners aren’t tearing up any trees but they are quietly rebuilding confidence. Don’t expect them to try and go toe to toe with The Reds, but they do have the quality to make things happen for themselves on the counter attack.
Arsenal are opponents that Liverpool have really enjoyed at Anfield in recent years and the team Klopp will send out will be more than strong enough to put the resurgent north Londoners back in their box. I think Arteta will come for a point and try and focus his men on frustrating Liverpool. In theory, at least. It is a tactic which is anathema to both manager and his players and may be a game that simply doesn’t suit 2021 model new Arsenal.
Liverpool would rather Arsenal reverted to type and attacked them. If it’s to be an open, free-flowing, attacking feast of football, The Reds are more than equipped to win any turkey shoot. Klopp’s resources may be overstretched but most of his fire power is still very much available and in form.
I won’t say I can’t see past a Liverpool win because this has been a season of surprises, but on paper at least, Arsenal are opponents Liverpool want just right now.
Predicted 11: Alisson; Trent, Matip, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Fabinho, Thiago, Chamberlain; Salah, Jota, Mane
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“Smith Rowe and Saka are dangerous on the counter and I think Arsenal will try and be compact.”
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) November 19, 2021
🎥 The Preview Show: Arsenal
🗣 @johngibbonsblog is joined by @RobGutmann at Metrocola on Leece Street in Liverpool City Centre.
Watch in full 👉 https://t.co/RZ5ckXvRKw pic.twitter.com/RFE5tj2FKa
Feels like a huge game. WE absolutely have to win really, given the need to stay in touch and not have one deserved defeat turn into a blip which could turn into a whatever. We just need to get the three points here and hopefully get a few lads back fit for the next league game. We need a winning run now. Thank the Good Lord that the CL has been put to bed nice and early.
The midfield issues are being laid bare. Although it was entirely predictable given the lack of squad investment!.
If this season is another without a meaningful trophy and no major additions to the team in the summer, I’d hope that the anfield wrap would start to question FSG and their ambitions (unless access is too important!)
Hope you’re good Rob Gutmann? First off you had the predicted line up absolutely spot on
The is my post match analysis,
In the beginning Arsenal attempted to press us high however they had little success.
Auba would pick up Matip, while Laca dropped into midfield to pick up Fab and Smith-Rowe picked up Trent.
This left Saka to deal with two lads on the left, pressing Virg while curving his run to block the pass wide to Tsimi
Having to concern himself with Tsimi slowed down Saka’s pressure, giving Virg time on the ball to pick out long passes.
The far greater issue for Arsenal was that Thiago would drop in next to Fab though.
With Fab pulling over to the right to drag Laca away and create space, Thiago had space to pick up the ball and play out.
Saka began to narrow his position to try to deal with Thiago, however this would leave Tsimi free out wide – while every other Arsenal attacker was marking just one man, Saka was trying to keep track of three which was obviously far too much a burden on the young lad.
Arsenal’s holding midfielder Partey did sometimes push forward to follow Thiago, but this would leave space behind him that Jota was happy to drop into and exploit, making partey reluctant to move too high up the pitch cus jota is a lethal fox in the zone 14 if left unguarded.
As a result, Arsenal’s pressing failed and they soon began to drop deeper into a compact block to press near the half-way line instead of near our box.
Despite this success in playing out, we weren’t exactly cutting through Arsenal though.
Part of this was the aggressiveness of Arsenal’s backline, quickly snapping to our forwards to ensure they couldn’t pick up the ball cleanly and run at them, but also Sadio having an abysmal start to the game – any time the ball went near the Senegalese it would end up getting handed to an Arsenal shirt until a long ball from Alli to sadio who was marked by tomiyasu the there was a tussle then Mikel Arteta poke the bees out from hibernation from that moment the game was done.
That 15-20 minutes of the second half was by far as good as we’ve played pressing-wise this season
The score perhaps could have been a field hockey type but this 4 alone did clearly display the obvious gap in quality between the two teams despite the improvements Arteta has accomplished: their press malfunctioned and they were unable to do anything to adapt to this failure, never really testing us.