Liverpool 3:3 Arsenal. In game and post match debate..

All that I love about this fixture was perfectly captured in tonight's match. Always a match when both teams will come out and play football, rarely has it been a case of stopping the other side from playing. Highlights the best of the Premier League in my opinion and for that reason it's probably the best fixture in the whole league. As ever it didn't disappoint!

Absolutely. Best fixture in the league.

Wouldve taken a boring 1-0, mind you

Absolutely. Best fixture in the league.

Wouldve taken a boring 1-0, mind you

Oh absolutely!

As well as that, we have a tendency to score late goals against Arsenal at Anfield. Neil Mellor's wonder strike in November 2004. Luis Garcia winning a tight contest late on in March 2006. Skrtel heading to equalise last season and Allen's well taken strike yesterday evening.

Also a point on our own performance but if we could distill Jürgen Klopp's first three months at Liverpool into one match, this is it! I wonder what the next three months will be distilled into. Hopefully a 4-0 victory or something like that!

Well we got a point but only for some atrocious defending it could of easily been 3 points.I was impressed with the effort put in by the lads and the Arse knew they had been in a fight.If we play with the same fight and tenacity and tighten up our defence we can make some progress this season.

Funny how none of the Caulker detractors are saying anything about him occupying Mertesacker for the final goal. He did a great job keeping him occupied. It meant that Benteke wasn't crowded out and Joe Allen was able to drift in and finish from 10 yards. That's already one point saved thanks to great substitutions and awareness.

Mixed bag of a game.

Great for the first 24 minutes. Got off to the perfect start and I thought "here we go, 2014 replay". I'm putting the equaliser down to Sakho ballwatching as the through ball is played. Not blaming everyone's favourite scapegoat for it, not much he could do about it, it was a good finish from close range, but if Sakho cuts out the through ball, the opportunity doesn't happen. He did manage to prevent a certain goal minutes later, with a header over the bar. Unfortunately the Calamity Corner jinx struck again seconds later, with defending so bad you wouldn't expect to see from a pub side.

After that, the heads dropped again, and the performance levels slumped. It continued for about half an hour when we realised they were happy with what they had, so we had to throw the kitchen sink to get something out of it.

Credit to Klopp for making the changes which looked barmy at the time, but they saved the game in the end. As did everyone's favourite scapegoat, with a vital punch to clear the ball out late on. If he doesn't get there, it's game over and Allen doesn't get the chance to get us a point at the end. It's that simple. Credit to Firmino for getting two great goals and showing why he was brought here at last. If available, he and Coutinho would have had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They just love walking through open, brittle defences. Surely he's a starter for Sunday. Sadly the same can't be said for Ibe, who was awful from start to finish. Couldn't pass, couldn't cross, couldn't shoot, and he was just as bad in the reverse fixture. What is it about him and games against Arsenal? And what's going on with the short corner stuff? It's difficult enough to score from conventional corners as it is, short corners are just frustrating and more importantly, unproductive.

Just like last year, we got a point in the last minute, but long term the point is not much use. I'm starting to get rather tired of hanging around 8th and 9th spot, at times 10th, and certainly fed up of been stuck with a minus goal difference, as we have been pretty much since the end of August. 8th and 9th spot is worth nothing at the end of the season, and the gap to those above us is starting to stretch now, making it more difficult just to make Europe, let alone Top 4. So while I can't say no to a point got in the last minute, I'm disappointed that we haven't won a game we really needed to win.

Onto "The Classic" on Sunday, and the biggest game of the season. We better show up, and start the game as this one. Because if we fold up our tent like last season, there will be a few more "OTT posts", and calls for Jürgen to take even more urgent and radical action with the current squad.

Cannot believe I'm reading some (few mind you) comments about Henderson being 'average'... I can't image those comments have come from people who have watched the full game.

Funny how none of the Caulker detractors are saying anything about him occupying Mertesacker for the final goal. He did a great job keeping him occupied. It meant that Benteke wasn't crowded out and Joe Allen was able to drift in and finish from 10 yards. That's already one point saved thanks to great substitutions and awareness.

wow

If you ever wanted to see somebody go over the top to try and prove themselves right on this forum then this is it.

Got pissed wet through sitting in row 5 tonight but apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed the game. I was moaning in the West Ham thread a couple of weeks ago saying I can deal with dropping points as long as we give it a go and I felt tonight we did. I thought overall we deserved three points.

First half an hour we were all over them. We should have taken our chances and been out of sight but yet again we conceded two very silly goals which I'm blaming mignolet for. Funnily enough I said earlier today in his player thread that he costs us more points a season than he does win for us and tonight was further evidence of that. He isn't good enough plain and simple and we won't win the league with him in goal for us.

Arsenal had a spell towards the end of the first half and start of the second half where they were the better side.

Most of the second half was a case of Arsenal defending their lead and us pressing without creating anything clear cut. I was impressed with the effort the lads put in but I think it boils down to the simple fact of we don't have enough quality in the final third. We badly missed Coutinho tonight I think he would have shone in that game.

Anyway, here's how I thought our players did...

Mignolet - I repeatedly say he is the worst goalie in the league. He definitely is. Beaten at his near post for the first goal, beaten from a corner for the second goal. He is the worst no1 I have ever seen at Liverpool.

Clyne and Moreno - both defended reasonably well, both got forward reasonably well. Neither did anything wrong from memory but didn't do anything spectacular either. Average.

Kolo and sakho - Both made some great tackles at times but both gave away possession with what I can only describe as danger passes - silly balls in our own half which immediately puts us under pressure. Sometimes it's just better to get rid of the bloody thing. Both could have done better in the air tonight too, giroud was bringing it down far too easily for me. Overall, both did pretty well considering.

Ibe - had plenty of the ball and looked lively but was very frustrating. He kept running into trouble or trying a trick too many. He needs to keep it more simple and make his decisions earlier. Hes improving week by week though.

Henderson - if it wasn't for firminos second goal then he would have been my motm. Ran and bossed the midfield.

Can - A good first half but a very sloppy second half. He was getting caught out on the ball too much and was giving possession away with some poor passing.

Lallana - what does he do seriously? Plays every week for us in an attacking positions and gets no goals and no assists. All I see is a headless chicken. Runs around a lot and does a turn every now and then but that's about it. He is certainly somebody id be looking to upgrade on in the summer.

Milner - similar to Lallana. At city he did all of the donkey work because he had players like silva and toure who are far better on the ball than him. We don't have as many skillful players as city so we need Milner to be one of our ball players and he doesn't deliver. He works hard and has good stamina but he needs to improve on the ball. I want to see more from him. A lot more.

Firmino - My motm. Two goals, one good and the other great. He should have had a hat trick too. Been banging my drum for weeks saying play him upfront instead of that lamppost benteke. Firmino definitely needs more experience playing in the PL but you can see from tonight that there is a player in him.  In general, I thought we looked a lot better going forward again tonight with him leading the attack rather than benteke.

But fair play to benteke for winning the header that led to allens goal. That's what he's good at being in the box and making a nuisance of himself.  The most expensive impact/plan b sub in footballs history.

Unlucky tonight reds, good performance and it was a good game, really enjoyed it.

Migs has the most clean sheets in the league, as we keep hearing recently so apart from the odd brain fart he is solid and not the worst keeper in the league at all.
That's with an unsettled defence, injuries all over the place so some credit has to be given on that stat alone and I'm not really one for stats. That one is important as they come though.

Plus you say worst ever at Liverpool, I think that's ridiculous to be quite honest.
Your other observations were good to read though.

I'm going to have to buy a tablet just so I can enjoy and partake the mayhem that is the live match thread. Swapping tabs on the PC always takes me out the game.

I just don't understand some of us here, the Arsenal players have been together for maybe the last 2 or 3 years. They know very well what is the PL all about. We have a mix bag of players. many first season with the club, some still trying to settle down, some are prone to make mistakes ala Mig the new David James, some just back from injuries, some are what they are. Some of us here expect us to walk all over Arsenal, which will not be the case. Not forgetting, we still have many players out injured. If I may be honest to say before the game I don't expect us to get anything from the match, just avoid a thrashing, not that I'm trying to run down the team, I'm just being honest and realistic.

Let's look on the bright side, Firminho has started scoring goals, Ben had an assist, Allen has not been doing anything worthy of mentioning has scored a 90th minute goal. I've criticised these 3 all along and I just don't have the heart to do it here when they actually performed well in this match. I'm sure Klopp would be the happier of the 2 managers. Arsenal was so damn sure of getting 3 points and came away with 1.

Cannot believe I'm reading some (few mind you) comments about Henderson being 'average'... I can't image those comments have come from people who have watched the full game.

Absolute joke mate.

I bet the very same clowns knocking Hendo would have been praising him last night if he was wearing an Arsenal jersey.

I thought it was a very entertaining game and if you'd asked me before I would have happily taken a point before the game against the eventual winners of the league.
The stark brutal reality is that we don't have enough quality in the team BUT if we continue to play with the same passion and tenacity then I'm convinced that we'll get 4th this season and then with reinforcements in the summer the future is looking very bright indeed.

I just don't understand some of us here, the Arsenal players have been together for maybe the last 2 or 3 years. They know very well what is the PL all about. We have a mix bag of players. many first season with the club, some still trying to settle down, some are prone to make mistakes ala Mig the new David James, some just back from injuries, some are what they are. Some of us here expect us to walk all over Arsenal, which will not be the case. Not forgetting, we still have many players out injured. If I may be honest to say before the game I don't expect us to get anything from the match, just avoid a thrashing, not that I'm trying to run down the team, I'm just being honest and realistic.

Let's look on the bright side, Firminho has started scoring goals, Ben had an assist, Allen has not being doing anything worthy of mentioning has scored a 90th minute goal. I've criticised these 3 all along and I just don't have the heart to do it here when they actually performed well in this match. I'm sure Klopp would be the happier of the 2 managers. Arsenal was so damn sure of getting 3 points and came away with 1.

Not sure whose comments you saw before kick off but I didn't see any that expected us to walk all over Arsenal. Allen has had a good couple of games before last night and those performances obviously gave him the confident to get forward and hit the equaliser. When you say Arsenal, do you mean their fans? Because Arsene knew he would be in for a game.

Great game to watch live, good atmosphere when we were winning. I love playing the teams who play football as we always compete and look like we are quite good. Henderson was superb for me, anyone who likes anything about football would see he is so important for our midfield.
On the flip side Ibe did not put be decent ball in the box all night and he had more of the ball than anyone, his final product is awful.
Emre gave the ball away it seemed all night, he's not good enough for me.

Mignolet - what can I say - a new contract makes me feel like I'm in a nightmare. He has absolutely no presence at corners whatsoever.

We have conceded two goals directly from corners in 2 games.

If we could defend we would be winning this league despite all the injuries. so frustrating.

As did everyone's favourite scapegoat, with a vital punch to clear the ball out late on. If he doesn't get there, it's game over and Allen doesn't get the chance to get us a point at the end. It's that simple.

Doesn't change the fact that he cost Liverpool a win last night.
Absolutely terrible and one punch doesn't change that.

Not sure whose comments you saw before kick off but I didn't see any that expected us to walk all over Arsenal. Allen has had a good couple of games before last night and those performances obviously gave him the confident to get forward and hit the equaliser. When you say Arsenal, do you mean their fans? Because Arsene knew he would be in for a game.

I'm referring to comments after the game, not before. Not bothered at all what Arsene thought about us before or after the game.

Cannot believe I'm reading some (few mind you) comments about Henderson being 'average'... I can't image those comments have come from people who have watched the full game.

Sorry fella, I just don't see what the 'hype' is about.

He's a run of the meal player and nothing more.

Typical of Reds who hype their own up way above their stations, and then often wonder why we languish in mid-table. If this is "superb" or any other superlative no wonder we haven't made in-roads for years.

Looking through some of the posts here, I genuinely think that some people should just quit the internet, never mind the forum. Ridiculous amounts of knee jerking after what turned out to be a rather decent result and a good performance.

My opinion? Mignolet needs to go. That's it. Just Mignolet. He's the one holding us back right now.

Lallana, I see a lot of you were saying he did nothing; that your don't know what his role is. His role is to distract, make space and pass. He didn't do that amazingly yesterday, granted, but he usually does.

Looking through some of the posts here, I genuinely think that some people should just quit the internet, never mind the forum. Ridiculous amounts of knee jerking after what turned out to be a rather decent result and a good performance.

My opinion? Mignolet needs to go. That's it. Just Mignolet. He's the one holding us back right now.

Lallana, I see a lot of you were saying he did nothing; that your don't know what his role is. His role is to distract, make space and pass. He didn't do that amazingly yesterday, granted, but he usually does.

Agreed, he should have prevented at least one of the 3 goals conceded.

Migs has the most clean sheets in the league, as we keep hearing recently so apart from the odd brain fart he is solid and not the worst keeper in the league at all.
That's with an unsettled defence, injuries all over the place so some credit has to be given on that stat alone and I'm not really one for stats. That one is important as they come though.

Plus you say worst ever at Liverpool, I think that's ridiculous to be quite honest.
Your other observations were good to read though.

That's what Im saying its not all down to Mings the dodgy goals we r letting in. Its the un settled dodgy defence. We have been sh1t at defending since Rafa left let's be honest.

Klopp will sort it out Im sure, and once he does, by fu#k we are gonna smash teams to bits and keep clean sheets.

The future is bright the future is klopp.

Excellent performance first half and last 25mn, decent result despite the number of players returning from injuries, and people are still unhappy.
Proud of the team (including Klopp whose coaching was rewarded with Allen goal) in these difficult times.

Great game last night fantastic entertainment, we should have won, but Arsenal are top of the league for a reason. Fair play to them, I hope they go on and win the league, unless the foxes can keep up their form which would be nice too.

Klopp summed the game up perfectly, don't need to add to that.

Kudos to firmino for stepping up, and well done Wee welsh Xavi fantastic goal to snatch the draw.

I'm going to have to buy a tablet just so I can enjoy and partake the mayhem that is the live match thread. Swapping tabs on the PC always takes me out the game.

I think i've tried to quit posting during games about half a dozen times this season but i need somewhere to release my rage