With a game like this coming up so early the first priority was not to lose it. But Arsenal very nearly did. Even though Liverpool had to play half the match with ten men, as Joe Cole has been sent off for a foul on Laurent Koscielny, which obviously wasn’t a red card foul, in his debut Premier League match at Anfield. By the way, Koscielny was red-carded himself at the end of the match. Karma? I call it justice. And karma. :-9
Liverpool though grabbed the lead right in the start of the second half when David Ngog smashed the ball high into the corner of Almunias goal. What a beauty! Sheer class.
Arsenal, playing without the unwell Cesc Fabregas, struggled to create some chances so they’re rather thankful for a fortunate equalizer when Pepe Reina’s unusual mistake happened: he was about to save Chamakh’s ball when it bounced off the post, slipped out of his hands and landed in the net. There it was. 1:1. And a point each.
As is said, Arsenal nearly lost the opener. And so we nearly won it. A draw is not a dream result but it’s better than a defeat. Right? And we looked better throughout the match than Arsenal. They were pushing in the opening minutes but as the game developed, we were looking stronger and stronger, and the yellow guys seemed to me, as if they were surprised by this fixture. They should sent Pepe a gift basket, if you ask me …
However, it was the first match of the season. So let’s not overreact. Sometimes people look for too many negatives. Sure, the mistake was stupid, and it shouldn’t have happened. It unfortunately did, but let’s not forget the good performance: by both Pepe and the lads. It was thanks to Reina’s two fabulous saves from Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky that the 10-man Reds were leading till the very end. I do not blame Pepe. He will bring us more points than he will cost us. I am sure he is devastated today, so let’s credit him and support him. Statements like “He is still the number one”, and “He is still the best in the world” are just rubbish. As if this one error cancelled all his achievements and made him a worse keeper?! Come on folks! Let’s keep our heads cool. Discussions like this, at this stage of the season, are bollocks!
As Stevie said: “There is no finger pointing here. Everyone can walk away from the game with their heads held high and be proud of the performance.”
Sure they can. They did a good job. They look comfortable under Roy’s conservative management, and this counts. That’s a good sign. I am proud of them. Ngog was superb, and Masch too. Stevie was awesome as well. Torres seems fit, although I know he still needs time to reach his class.
Some do not believe in Ngog. They think he lacks strength, and he’s not a Liverpool quality player. Yer wa? He’s still a young lad, and he’s still developing. The development is observable, and this is important. And scored goals for us, and we won matches thanks to his (only his) goals. So let’s stick to him, and let’s support him! We shouldn’t hurry with criticizing, and looking for negatives where there aren’t any!
There are a lot of positives we can take from this match. The FIRST match, so let’s be positive for at least one week. :-9 At this stage of the season we still can allow ourselves to be positive, so let’s just do it. Let’s just be glad Premier League is back and enjoy it. There will be enough worries, and enough controversies, as the season develops.
Footy’s back. We earned one point. It could have been worse.
P.S. Joe will pay it back. He so will!
-Amanda