As advertised, tonight sees the meeting of the minds. Arsene Wenger’s classical music team take on Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal side. It would make for a good episode of University Challenge, although how many of these player’s went to university is debatable not to mention how many of the Arsenal team would know anything about classical music! (Maybe Mesut Ozil does, he looks as though he might be a fan of Ludwig van Beethoven)
So it is probably just as well that this challenge is being played out on the football pitch without the assistance, (interference?), of Jeremy Paxman. Whilst on the subject of sanctimonious, annoying prats, I guess Piers Morgan WILL be there.
During the course of a season there will always be decisive games and these two clubs have been involved in their fair share of them. Not always against each other but, when they have met, even if the prize at stake has only been pride, they have managed to produce some memorable games.
Unlike everybody else, I am not going to list all of the recent meetings with goalscorers and results as, I am sure, the true Liverpool and Arsenal fans could recite that list without any idiot boards provided by myself.
Suffice to say that tonight’s game should be a cracker. It isn’t one of the previuosly mentioned “deciders”, unless you think that consolidating top position decides anything at this stage of the season, for that is what Arsenal would take from a win. If Liverpool were to win then they would move above Crystal Palace, who lost last night to, and don’t all laugh at once, Aston Villa, yes THAT Aston Villa.
Liverpool are still suffering from the inconsistency which Brendan Rodgers appears to have bred into them. It got worse of course when Luis Suarez went to Barcelona and, now that Stevie G has done one to the US of A, it shows no signs of improving.
My personal opinion, for what little it is worth, is that none of the top teams of this season has a leader. By leader I am referring to the likes of Tony Adams, Roy Keane, Steven Gerrard, even Vincent Kompany who has missed so many games he may as well have not been there at all.
Who do they have? Jordan Henderson, who hasn’t been at Liverpool long enough to know the tea lady’s name and Mikel Arteta who can’t get in the Arsenal team, so the BFG has been deputising for most of the season. Good choices by the managers there then! In fairness to Klopp, Brendan Rodgers would have chosen the Liverpool captain, so he’s off the hook for that one.
When Arsenal and Liverpool were contesting regularly at the top end of competitions they were driven on by their respective captains. If they conceded a goal they redoubled their efforts to get back into the game. They were scared of their manager off the pitch and their captain on it. That is not the case nowadays.
It is not just a problem with these two, as I mentioned earlier, none of the top clubs appear to have a leader on the pitch. Maybe that is why the Premier League is so open because it certainly seems, that if one club can grab it by the scruff of the neck and turn in consistent performances, they will win it with relative ease.
The main problem seems to be that no club is able to do that because they don’t have the captains of old and those ex-players must be looking on in disbelief at how their old clubs are performing. I wonder what Tony Adams and Steven Gerrard REALLY think about it all, not just what they say to the TV cameras, their honest opinions. It would be an interesting chat, to say the least.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 