Liverpool vs. Arsenal match report.

In the summer the Liverpool fans must have been loving the news they were hearing, Rafael Benitez leaving and the proven Roy Hodgson coming in to replace him (as he had a reputation at Fulham for getting the best out of what he had), Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, Raul Meireles and Paul Konchesky all came in on reasonable fees. But how would they fare in their much awaited clash against Arsenal?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/david-paredes/4917753387/in/photostream/
Please have a look at this picture of Steven Gerrard taking the free-kick in stoppage time.


In the first half they may have felt hard done by by referee Martin Atkinson to send off Joe Cole on his Liverpool debut after a dangerous tackle on Laurent Koscielny who had to be stretchered off. But minutes after the restart that anger would have faded into the back of the memory of the Liverpool fans, as the half time substitute David N'Gog made an immediate impact by smashing the ball past Almunia's near post into the roof of the net in front of the Kop, this sparked more questions about Manuel Almunia's ability to be an Arsenal player. Even with the numerical advantage Arsenal still couldn't find their rhythm as Liverpool carried on created good chances such as Martin Skrtlel's header from Gerrard's free-kick which he really should of buried. Although Arsenal introduced Theo Walcott, Robin Van Persie and Tomas Rosicky they seemed to lack their usual style, quick and accurate passing whilst also missing a source of quick thinking, very able vision, imagination and someone to run the match in the midfield, these all qualities of midfield maestro Cesc Fabregas who was absent from the match. 

The most eventful part of the match seemed to be every second after the end of the 89th minute,in the 90th minute yet another appalling mistake from one of the goalkeepers this time Pepe Reina's turn to hide his red face, he misjudged a cross into Maurone Chamakh which he hit into the post it bounced back and as he tried to scoop the ball up it rebounded of him into the open net. Two minutes later Laurent Koscielny the 'injured' Arsenal player made a high tackle on Dirk Kuyt which earnt him a yellow card, from the resulting free-kick Steven Gerrard came close and  forced a decent save from Manuel Almunia, then in the 94th minute Laurent Koscielny stupidly handled the ball which earnt him a unnecessary red card.

After an eventful 1-1 draw both sets fans of may of been pleased with some aspects but let down in others, the expectation from each set of supporters for a good start to the season seemed to be only just satisfied. All in all a scintillating match.