Gunners fail to score at home again

Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool

Arsenal failed to score at home once again on Monday night as they drew 0-0 with Liverpool in a match which lived up to the cliché of a game of two halves.

Following the defeat to West Ham on the opening day of the season, the players and manager spoke of the need to put that result behind them and put in a much improved performance in their next home game. Unfortunately, once again for all their talk before the game, once the referee blew the first whistle, Arsenal failed to perform.

In many ways their first half performance on Monday was just as bad if not even worse than that against West Ham.

Wenger was forced into changing his favoured central defensive pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny, with the big German ruled out through illness and Koscielny suffering from a back injury. Therefore the relatively inexperienced Gabriel and Callum Chambers came into the starting line-up. As they have not played together before it maybe would have been wise for Wenger to select Debuchy at right back providing his centre halves with experience in both full back positions, but the manager elected to stick with Bellerin and the nervousness amongst the back four was clear to see.

Although Liverpool largely dominated the first half, appearing to outmuscle the Gunners in every challenge, the chances they had were largely as a result of Arsenal creating problems for themselves. Time and time again they tried to play the ball out from the back but far too often bad passes or poor decision making saw the Gunners lose the ball just outside their own penalty area, inviting unnecessary pressure from the away side. Calum Chambers, making his first start in a number of months, endured an absolute nightmare in the first half. The young Englishman was all at sea and bereft of any confidence with Benteke targeting him time and time again as he dominated the centre back. Chambers was fortunate Gabriel was playing well alongside him with the Brazilian covering for his teammate’s errors with a number of last ditch tackles, the most impressive of which was a tackle on Benteke which Gabriel had to make sure was inch perfect as anything else would have resulted in a foul and possibly a red card too.

Chambers was not only grateful for the form of his fellow centre back, but also that of Petr Cech, who more than redeemed himself with a string of fine saves to deny Liverpool. The away side could have taken the lead within the opening minutes as Benteke played the ball back to Coutinho, the only Liverpool player in the box but still completely unmarked, and the Gunners were fortunate to see his shot come crashing back off the crossbar. Cech then denied Benteke with a sharp, low save, before the goalkeeper displayed excellent reflexes to somehow deny the Belgian again from close range. Cech explained afterwards that with Gabriel trying to make a challenge, he had to wait until the last moment before diving quickly to turn the ball around the post. If that save wasn’t impressive enough, Cech then produced a wonderful fingertip save from Coutinho’s angled shot, tipping the Brazilian’s effort onto the post, with Arsenal, this time through Bellerin, having needlessly given the ball away once again.

Despite Liverpool’s domination in the first period, Arsenal were also able to create chances of their own. Alexis Sanchez could have done better with a header from Monreal’s cross, which he could only direct over the bar, but Aaron Ramsey actually had the ball in the net, only to see his effort incorrectly ruled out for offside. It would have been a goal against the run of play, but would have completely changed the complexion of the game.

The Gunners completely took control of the match in the second period, exerting great pressure on the Liverpool goal, but unfortunately failed to break the deadlock. Liverpool appeared to tire after halftime and didn’t create any real goal scoring opportunities as they were clearly content to settle for a point. Arsenal on the other hand pushed forward but still lack sharpness in front of goal. Alexis Sanchez has been rushed back too early following his exploits at the Coppa America and the Chilean is not relaxed in his game. As a result he is trying to force matters and doing too much, ultimately losing possession. The fact Wenger has elected to rush him back in place of the fully fit Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, shows much about the Gunners reliance on Sanchez, who forced a goal against Crystal Palace and saw an effort come back off the post on Monday.

Giroud at his best is a handful for any defence, but unfortunately if the Frenchman is anything less than 100 per cent, then he doesn’t really provide anything to the team. Against Liverpool he barely won any aerial challenges, he was often easily brushed aside by the away side’s defenders and when presented with the game’s best opportunity he wasn’t clinical. As the ball fell to his feet right in front of Mingolet, all Giroud had to do was put his foot through the ball and power it home. But he lacked conviction, slipped as he shot and therefore the lack of power on the shot allowed the Liverpool goalkeeper the opportunity to push the ball away.

Unfortunately Arsenal do not currently have many options in the main centre forward role, despite Wenger suggesting otherwise. Theo Walcott came on instead of Giroud last night, but did nothing to show he can fill the Frenchman’s shoes if needed. At that stage of the game Liverpool were defending deep and so Walcott had no space in which to run into. Arsenal needed a strong player in this position to hold the ball up and link up the play, but this isn’t Walcott’s strength and he was largely anonymous when the he came on. Sanchez hasn’t convinced when deployed in this role in the past either and although Welbeck is currently out injured, he too hasn’t enjoyed his best form as the lone striker. Therefore it seems rather odd for Wenger to suggest he has sufficient cover in this area, having also loaned out Chuba Akpom for the entire season and not offered Joel Campbell an opportunity either.

Wenger also appeared to dither far too long when deciding to make substitutions on Monday. With Liverpool clearly tiring, the game was crying out for pace and width. Yet Wenger brought on Walcott and deployed him up front rather than on the wing and then with only 10 minutes left finally introduced Oxlade-Chamberlain, who caused havoc on the right flank. Why Wenger gave the former Southampton man just 10 minutes only he will know, but the manager needs to be more ruthless. The game was there to be won and he missed the opportunity.

The Gunners spent all pre-season talking about the need to right the wrongs of the previous campaign and how important it would be to get off to a good start. Yet with 3 games gone, Arsenal only have 4 points, are already 5 points off the lead and have only scored 2 goals, 1 of which was an own goal. So much for all the optimism going into the new campaign.