Arsenal v Liverpool
By Billy the dog McGraw
Liverpool is a far off diminutive principality of little importance. It was founded by the most incompetent king in English history, King John, in 1207, who made it a Royal Borough and over the next 350 years grew at such a rate that by 1550 it had a population of 500 covering seven streets. Wild celebrations followed.
But still, despite its status of Nonentity of the North there were battles fought in and around the borough during the Civil War, and even a Siege of the Seven Streets in 1644 which lasted two and a half weeks. No one noticed.
Liverpool will always be associated with slavery, with the first slave ship sailing proudly from Liverpool in 1699 and it was on the back of slavery that Liverpool grew. It is no coincidence that its first docks were built in 1715 to accommodate the evil trade.
The Slave Trade brought the economic good times to Liverpool and by the 19th century half the world’s trade went through the parish. When the trade was made illegal it was replaced by the Hub Cap Trade.
People who live in Liverpool are known as Liverpudlians, giving the name to their club of Liverpuddle. They are also known as Scousers, which derives from the colloquial 18th century term for Slave Traders.
Its most famous export was Billy Fury for which it became European Capital of Culture in 2007, although the committee later conceded it was all a big mistake as they meant to give the title to Stavanger in Norway.
Parts of Liverpool are designated World Heritage Sites, although the football ground of Liverpool is not. However Liverpool has the distinction of being the only football team in Britain to have been owned by the State, as when the nationalised banks took the club over and then tried to sell it to the Americans.
With such thoughts in mind I approached Dennis Bergkamp at the Enfield Tap, a hostelry opposite the now flooded allotments. After a brief resume of what to do about potato rot we considered the fixture.
As Dennis said Arsenal have scored more goals this season without RVP than they did by the same stage last season with RVP. “So me old mucker,” said Dennis in that lilting Dutch accent of his, “selling Robin was good news. We get money and we get more goals.”
Liverpool have had another of their famous cup defeats of late – you might recall them losing to Northampton a while back – this time it was the mighty Oldham. It proved what we always knew – Liverpool has little in the way of youth policy (but see note on Arsenal’s youth policy below).
Life in the league isn’t much better however as Liverpool’s total number of league wins away from home since September seems to be rather small. Trouble is we don’t normally beat Liverpool, so something has to give.
Dennis then gave me the latest from Mr Wenger. Vermaelen is fit so either Mertesacker or Koscielny will drop out. Koscielny hasn’t been as dominant as last season, but that is probably because he hasn’t had a long run of games.
An interesting point, said Dennis, is that Ramsey is changing his game, undoubtedly under instruction from Mr Wenger. Coquelin is still injured and Diaby is a doubt so it looks like Ramsey will be in the team again with Wilshere and Cazorla.
Which gives us something like this:
Szczesny
Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs
Ramsey, Cazorla, Wilshere
Walcott, Giroud, Podolski
What is happening is that Walcott is moving into the middle much more, and Giroud is having to learn to work around this. That’s no bad thing. Pires made his famous comment about the left wing (“It gets a bit crowded over there”) while learning to move into the middle to make way for Henry. But when he got used to the idea, it certainly worked.
Oxlade-Chamberlain should have another appearance from the beach and Arshavin will sit in a coat ten times too big for him.
And in other news…
Arsenal beat Fulham in the fourth round of the youth cup 2-1. The team was
- Deyan Iliev
- Hector Bellerin
- Zac Fagan
- Isaac Hayden
- Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill
- Alfred Mugabo
- Jack Jebb
- Kristoffer Olsson
- Anthony Jeffrey
- Serge Gnabry
- Chuba Akpom
And in the Next Gen series Arsenal will play Inter Milan in the first knock out round, having come second in the group stages.
So there we are. Everything you didn’t need to know about anything. As for the game I predict Stefan will arrive three minutes after kick off and force Tony to stand up to let him pass, just as the first goal goes in. Fortunately there will be several more after that.
Recent posts…
- Arsenal – Liverpool : what can we expect from the ref?
- Mr Usmanov makes a mistake, and gives us a chuckle
- Giroud: from flop to not so bad at all
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
The sites…
- Referee Decisions - just what are the refs up to this season?
- Parent News - what is going on in schools these days?
- The weight loss programme: The only guaranteed way to stay fit
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
- Looking for a terraced house in Northamptonshire?
Need a versatile defender. I trust Djourou more than Mertesacker at the moment. Get someone in who can do a job in the back four so either Per can be sat down and Vermaelen moved to LB or get someone who can play LB. The opposing team is letting the German have the ball and allowing him to dribble, pass, and doddle into trouble time and time again.
On a more positive note, I really like Aaron Ramsey in his new role as holding midfielder. He was too aggressive and mistimed many tackles in the beginning, but I feel like he’s growing into the position and has been very disciplined.
Santos is Santos. We all see. No need to discuss. Feel sorry for him, but he is not enjoying his football and he looks so unsure out there.
I wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if we didn’t sign anyone as I think we have a good squad, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be nice to have a boost like we got when we signed Arshavin. Someone dynamic who can come off the bench and give the opposing team a good scare.
GoonerVance,
Ok, whilst preparing for no signings, you won’t be terribly disappointed. Would you be a little more than say, somewhat disappointed? Or not at all? Low expectations we’ve been led to have. Hell, we definitely need that “Someone dynamic” that you really wish for, right? Well that’s what I wish for. That extra jolt of quality because truth be told, you are what your record says, and we are, right now, pre-window closing, a high mid-table team with lots of potential but too inconsistent to realize it. Anyway, we have a long day today and I don’t think AFC are so whatever one calls it to not make at least one needed signing. One lives in hope.
To tell how far our defence has fallen: we conceded 14 goals in the first 14 matches, whereas in the last 10 matches we conceded 15 in the PL. The last 10 games were a period when we had pretty much every back four uninjured and first choice keeper.
On the contrary, our attack produced 24 goals in the first 14 matches, while the same number were scored in the last 10. So clearly we are on a rate of 2.4 goals in the last ten. Our defence is making the attack work the extra mile. So, I reckon improving our defence is the best way to go if we are to achieve the coveted 4th spot. Its more to do with the players themselves than bould or AW.
@Tasos, I know about the Dutch but how many Dutch men are in our team? We had one once……..
@Uncle Mike, yes all revolutions are the same, aren’t they?
@Dec, who said winning trophies was a God-given right? And I remember the 70′s. Won a few cups and the league. Won the league and a cup in the eighties too. Don’t think God had anything to do with it.
@Mandy, trouble is there’s always something not right and usually it’s the defence. Once we sort it out we might actually be quite a potent force.