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.
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