Barclays Premier League – 5th April 2008 – Result
| Arsenal | 1 | Liverpool | 1 |
| Bendtner 54 | Crouch 42 | ||
| (HT: 0-1) | |||
The second of Liverpool’s three meetings in a week with Arsenal ended 1-1, Peter Crouch making the most of a rare start to give Liverpool the lead before a Bendtner equaliser brought Arsenal a point. All three meetings so far this season have ended 1-1.
Rafa Benítez had rested the likes of Torres and Gerrard to ensure their freshness for the bigger tie on Tuesday in the Champions League, although both came on from the bench before the end.
Reaction:
Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez: “Today was the debut for Damien Plessis. We knew when we signed him that he was a good player. He’s played really well for the reserves, and to play as well as he did today in this stadium, it shows we are going in the right direction.
“Crouch played really well, as did Benayoun, Lucas and Riise. A lot of players who don’t normally play played well.”
It wasn’t just Rafa resting or rotating: “Arsene Wenger also kept some players for the second leg. You could see some players were tired but the majority played the game with a lot of passion.
“It was an open game at the end. We knew we had to work hard and we did that for a long time. We were well organised and scored a good goal. We could have lost because they had chances, but we could have won because we had two or three opportunities as well. Torres, Gerrard and Riise had some attacks. We had chances and counter-attacks and they had lots of chances as well at the end.
“When you come here with a lot of players not playing every week you must be pleased, but it could have been better. We can score. We can create chances but also we can stop them so I think for us it is a positive message.”
It was announced earlier that defender Sami Hyypia had signed a new deal to keep him a Red for another 12 months, and Rafa said Peter Crouch has also been offered a new deal: “He is a very good professional, that’s why we’ve offered him a new contract. I have confidence. I know he is happy here but I also know he wants to play. We have offered the contract and now we need to wait.
“We are playing at the moment with one striker, but we’ve played a lot of the season with two. We are a team that is winning trophies and he can be an important part of that.”
On the next meeting between the two sides at Anfield on Tuesday Rafa said: “We have confidence but we know they have quality and can play well away from home. The small details can be the difference. A mistake or a top-class player will be the difference between whether we win or lose.”
Thanks to the away goal from that 1-1 draw in the first leg a scoreless draw would allow the Read to go through, but Rafa says they won’t be playing for that: “It’s very, very difficult to play for a 0-0. I don’t know how to do it!”
The only scoreline that could result in penalties is the one that’s already been seen three times in the meetings this season between the two, but Rafa says preparation for a shootout isn’t the top of the list of priorities: “I don’t believe too much in practicing penalties. I am a believer in the heart and quality of the players. We have some good players to take penalties. We practiced before the Chelsea semi-final but not too much, because when you are walking from the halfway line to the box it is just about being calm.
“Sometimes an 18-year-old player can be really good, sometimes a 31-year-old can be not so good. But I will try not to think about penalties. We will try to use our experience during the game.
Arsenal: 24 Almunia, 31 Hoyte (25 Adebayor, 57), 10 Gallas, 5 Toure, 30 Traore (22 Clichy, 72), 27 Eboue, 4 Fabregas, 19 Silva, 16 Flamini (13 Hleb, 81), 26 Bendtner, 32 Walcott
Unused subs: 1 Lehmann, 13 Hleb, 17 Song Billong, 22 Clichy, 25 Adebayor
Booked: Eboue 67
Goal: Bendtner 54
Liverpool: 25 Reina, 3 Finnan, 23 Carragher, 37 Skrtel, 17 Arbeloa, 47 Plessis, 16 Pennant (8 Gerrard, 66), 11 Benayoun (10 Voronin, 75), 21 Lucas, 6 Riise, 15 Crouch (9 Torres, 80)
Subs: 30 Itandje, 4 Hyypia, 8 Gerrard, 9 Torres, 10 Voronin
Booked: Riise 30, Pennant 54
Goals: Crouch 42
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Setanta |
BBC |
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Arsenal |
Liverpool |
Arsenal |
Liverpool |
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Shots on Target: |
3 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
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Shots off Target: |
4 |
9 |
2 |
7 |
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Blocked Shots: |
3 |
3 |
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Corners: |
5 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
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Fouls: |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
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Passing Success: |
85.5 |
76.4 |
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Tackles: |
26 |
36 |
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Tackles Success: |
84.6 |
75 |
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Possession: |
56.3 |
43.7 |
55 |
45 |
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Territorial Adv: |
47.8 |
52.2 |
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Referee: Phil Dowd
Attendance: 60,111
Hello n greetings fellow Liverpool fans-I am from Singapore where most EPLspectators are liverpool fans. I’d like to share 3 comments about this match in relation to the team. Firstly, Crouch must be the most underrated player in the team to not get a chance to play more often, and if he leaves, L’pool will lose a really valuable player who has given good service to it and also to England.2ndly, Reina has let in a lot of goals from high balls because when he should come out and command the 6-yard box he doesnt and when he does he often mistimes his jumps. Besides, he seems to be rooted quite often-is his reflex action lacking in practise. If these are not corrected it will cost the team more points in future.3rdly, many players are sadly lacking in accuracy-we could have had 3 more goals-voronin particularly.anyway I believe the team will only grow from strength to strength and I wish th team and fans all the best. YNWA
What a composed performance in midfield from young Plessis. He looked much better than Lucas who continues to struggle with the pace of games against top level opposition.
What impressed me most about Plessis was the accuracy of his passing under pressure. In a game of relentless pace he very seldom lost possession and we very composed even under severe pressure. This was all the more impressive given that all Liverpool’s first choice central midfielders (Xabi, Masch, Stevie G) were all missing and he only had another rookie alongside him for support against two class acts like Fabregas and Flamini. This is the first rookie Rafa’s brought through from the reserves who’s actually looked the part so lets hope there are more to follow (eg. Insua, Pacheco & Co).
The other really impressive performer I though was Finnan who showed his experience and cool head on a number of occasions. Finnan may not be a flyer but he certainly has the brains to use what he does have to maximum effect. Crouch, Pennant and Skrtel all had good games too. I thought Andy Gray was very harsh on Pennant who seemed to me quite effective and certainly tried hard to impose himself before being dragged in the 2nd half.
On the downside I thought this was another fairly poor display by John Arne Riise after he had a pretty decent game at full back against Everton. He wasted, or slowed down, too many good attacking opportunities on the left wing and gave the ball away far too often. I don’t think JAR can have too many complaints if Rafa flogs him off in the summer.
The other worrying thing was the goal we conceded. The goals we conceded against Man Yoo recently and the two we’ve conceded now against Arsenal point to a problem in dealing with high crosses which needs to be addressed pronto. There seemed to be a lack of communication in the marking in front of Reina for both Arsenal goals. We can’t afford to give away goals so cheaply at this stage of the season.
Looking forward to Tuesday’s game Rafa must be tempted to bring back Finnan at right back and put Carra back in the middle alongside Skrtel with Sami dropping back to the bench. I love big Sami but with Agger injured I think Carra and Skrtel is our best centre back combo. Thoughts anyone ???
I think it’s great Hyypia agreed a new contact!
He has an awful lot of experience in Europe and he causes problems for defences on corners and set pieces. Tough call!
great performance… plessis did really well for a rookie… did really well period… but the goal we conceded was pretty soft… everytime we concede a free kick or a corner I get worried… The so called ‘pundits’ blame it on zonal marking… I don’t think its the system.. if you do it right… agree with Anfielder… we really need to work on defending set pieces….
Agree with Anfielder, Plessis was easily the best player for long periods of the game, alongside Crouch and Skrtel who both were effective whenever they had the ball. It’s good to see that with a 2nd string we were still good at the Emirates, and that should put us in the driving seat against Arsenal at Anfield. We need to score at least twice and not to concede at all from the gooners on Tuesday.
Considering that we have drawn against both Arsenal and Chelsea 5 times already this season, I believe that nothing much is seperating all 3 teams put together, we need a bit of an English touch into our squad, we need to sign some quality English players, who can make a difference in games against other English oppositions as they will know more about how to handle physical teams more than foreigners, and I believe it’s why Man United are a touch above the rest in that regard. What do you guys think?
New boy did well. Crouch was excellent, a deserved man of the match, and should start on tuesday(we know he wont).
Voronin is just a joke, just a fat, slow, useless joke. Why oh why!!! It just doesn’t make any sense.
All in all a good performance except for the usual set piece nonsense. Again, whats going on?
Cantos I didn’t see the full game so unfortunately I can’t provide a proper assessment of Voronin’s performance.
From what I did see of Voronin he was lively
and providing some movement up front.
Anyway it’s beside the point, I just reckon he’s probably a decent bloke and doesn’t need that kind of abuse.
Edward> Voronin replaced Benayoun after 72 minutes, and yes he was lively as he was involved in build ups, but he had 3 clear cut chances that if they were sealed we could have ran 4-1 winners down at the Emirates!
I guess he won’t spend more time at Anfield, just like Bellers. Has it been Torres or Crouch, they could have had their chances at least being saved by the keeper or going streight in.
I do agree that Crouch, Plessis and Skertel are three of our best player on the pitch om that day. However I must point out that our players are not heavily marked as the game Gerrard and Torres usually played, and I’ve seen many time how Crouch lose his ball if there’s an opponent who keep on closing him. However, I’m very happy with this draw, and I hope this trilogy end up with the best ending, which is the mighty REDS head on another glory European night.
Edward, however you want to word it, Voronin is not a premiership standard player, hes just not. He is nowhere near good enough to be wearing a Liverpool shirt. It is not a personal attack, im sure he gives 100% every time he plays. He is just out of his depth. Fact.
"Voronin is just a joke, just a fat, slow, useless joke"
I’d take that pretty personally.
& like you say he gives 100% so I think he deserves better than that. It’s a simple point.
At the start of his liverpool career he was seen as a bargain. Now he’s being ridiculed.
Not everyone’s like Torres. He’s a squad player who we got for nowt (compared to the £30 million paid by Chelsea for his compatriot!)
Yeah, lay off Voronin. He is out of his depth at the very top level, but there is no need for that. If your a Liverpool supporter anyway, abusing your own players is wrong, that’s something bluenoses would do.
The guy was free, that was his first game back in months and he missed some chances, I’m not gonna hold it against him.
But besides that point, LIverpool did really well, it made me proud to see us dominate them in the first half. Also, we looked fitter than them at the end, once again.
Come on you Reds! YNWA.
Any predictions for today’s game? I say 2-1, Liverpool.
ST.Chris. ive held a season ticket now for over 22 years im entitled to my opinion. Voronin is useless, and it doesnt make me a bluenose by any stretch. Yes i support him when he plays of course i do, but he is rubbish, absolute rubbish. We all know it. Stop pretending.