{"id":4260,"date":"2021-11-21T11:32:22","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T11:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4260"},"modified":"2021-11-26T14:15:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T14:15:37","slug":"its-a-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4260","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s A Process\u2026\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Courtesy of BATimes.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Coming into this game, I think there was a real sense of anticipation that this would be the benchmark of just how far the side had progressed or otherwise since that harrowing start to the season back in August. And there was genuine hope given the \u201cinjury crisis\u201d Liverpool were supposed to be suffering. Unsurprisingly, when the team was announced most of the sick, lame and lazy had managed to rise, Lazarus-like, from their sick beds. At the same time, they were starting Oxlade-Chamberlain, their equivalent of hitting the panic button and a sign that, while they have a formidable 15-man squad, go much beyond that and there isn\u2019t a lot there.   For our part, the two main worries were injury to Auba and Partey, both of whom started, with Tierney benched to allow Tavares to continue his impressive run in the side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the off, Liverpool settled into their possession and pressing-based pattern and really controlled the game. Mane, a man who seems to be competing to take over Raheem Sterling\u2019s mantle as \u201cMost Odious Man in Football\u201d only took a minute to get in his trademark jump at the defender with no intention of winning the ball, a template he was to repeat repeatedly during the game until even the referee had enough of it.  At the same time, for all the possession they enjoyed, Arteta had set up The Arsenal very well, notwithstanding an early run with the ball out of defence from Ben White which resulted in his losing the ball and led to Salah having a shot which went wide. Liverpool were pressing with a ruthless efficiency matched only by that of the Lottery Winners from East Manchester. They persisted with their playing out from the back despite a very good high press from Arsenal. Both of these traits Arteta is clearly trying to inculcate in his side and to be fair for the initial quarter of the game you could see his efforts made flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As time passed however, Liverpool\u2019s grip on the game continued to grow and we found it harder and harder to exert any real control in midfield, with the hitherto hugely impressive Smith-Rowe and Saka at best peripheral and in truth almost invisible. We couldn\u2019t hold on to the ball and found it coming back at us with metronomic regularity. However, proof of our improvement since the chasing in Manchester was that in truth for much of the first half, we really hadn\u2019t been threatened a great deal. Salah, who must be one of the best players in world football now, was being well controlled by Tavares, a considerable achievement for the young man. In the 29th<\/sup> minute, however Liverpool crafted an overload on the right side of midfield with Matip finding Alexander-Arnold in space for just about the first time. His cross was a little high for serial snide fouler Mane whose glanced header came back to the impressive Thiago 12 yards out on the left-hand side of the box. He connected with the ball, not perfectly, on the volley and Ramsdale had to make a smart save low to his right but couldn\u2019t hold on to it, allowing Mane to slide in and shoot. The still-recovering keeper made an excellent stop on the line from the scooped effort of the striker and kept us in the game. His performances continue to be of the highest level.In the 31st<\/sup> minute we had the ball in the net following a turnover from professional makeweight Oxlade-Chamberlain which led to a smart counter-attack with Auba receiving a delicious back heel pass from ESR before squaring the ball for Laca to hammer home. Unfortunately, Auba was clearly offside. It did show though that Arteta\u2019s plan was sound and gave some hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately following this, a long ball from the Liverpool keeper, forced by some excellent pressing from our forward players, led to Mane, again, deliberately jumping at Tomiyasu. Arteta had clearly had enough of this serial cheat\u2019s antics and went ballistic at the referee and then Liverpool bench. Some handbags followed with our pocket rocket manager clearly incensed and determined not to be cowed. Good for him. Repeats on tv showed just how spiteful the challenge by Mane was jumping in deliberately with his knee into Tomi\u2019s midriff. Both managers were given a yellow, which was quite right. Predictably, the compulsory Scouse apologist co-commentator Carragher saw nothing in the devious foul. This sparked Liverpool into life and in the 35th<\/sup> minute a cutback from the byeline from Tsimikas was played perfectly into Salah\u2019s path and from 6 yards out he hit a shot which Ramsdale saved excellently low down to his left on the line. His save was made even more impressive by his reactions to scoop the ball off Salah\u2019s feet from the resulting rebound. Really excellent reflexes. The Liverpool pressure by now was incessant. If we could just hold out until half time it would be one heck of an achievement. Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t to be. An excellent free kick delivered into the box by Alexander-Arnold found Mane perfectly despite the solid defensive set-up. The pundits were spouting voluble nonsense about how the defensive line was too high, but this is now the way the most top-level coaches prefer to play. Sometimes you just have to acknowledge when you have been outdone by skill and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 42nd<\/sup> minute Mane clattered Tomi again after the latter had played the ball, with Tsimikas following through on Saka for good measure. Barely a minute later, Mane finally went into the book for yet another snide, spiteful foul, this time on Ben White who wasn\u2019t even ion the field of play when this nasty piece of work assaulted him. He knew he was in bother and having had a pass for the first 40-odd minutes the referee finally booked him. In truth it could well have been red and falls squarely into the \u201cIf that had been Xhaka\u2026.\u201d Category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming out for the second half, hopes were still high that we could at least restrict them and hopefully make use of our impressive bench as the game wore in, given that their bench looked very weak. It was not to be. They started very strongly, exactly where they had left off and we managed to self-harm our way to a heavy defeat. I won\u2019t detail the second half performance. It was disappointing but we succumbed to a particularly good side, and we won\u2019t be the last that they administer a beating to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much has been made of Arteta\u2019s \u201ctrust the process\u201d statement. At first glance you could look at the score and say that there is little evidence of progress. In my opinion, this would be not only wrong but an egregious misreading of where we are. Unlike the first month of the season, Arteta now has his players playing his system. For 40 minutes we managed the threat of one of the best sides in Europe and restricted them to very few attempts on goal. There was a clear plan and structure to the way we lined up. At the same time, what became evident, as if it really needed saying, is that the process is not complete. The \u201cDesign\u201d phase is approaching completion with a much healthier culture and attitude now permeating through the club. Much of the flotsam and jetsam which the previous two managers had managed to accumulate has been discarded and the change in quality is apparent for all to see.   We are firmly into the \u201cBuild\u201d phase We need to acknowledge that a job like this is a process, as opposed to a destination. It will reach its end point after yet more hard work, both on and off the pitch.  We clearly need to continue to add a few quality players to reach the level of the likes of Citeh, Chelsea and Liverpool. To my mind, this manager must, and I am sure will, be backed by both the owners and the supporters. Or at least those who are not inclined to knee-jerk, self-indulgent, entitled caterwauling every time we suffer a setback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onwards and upwards. Come on, you Gunners!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming into this game, I think there was a real sense of anticipation that this would be the benchmark of just how far the side had progressed or otherwise since that harrowing start to the season back in August. And there was genuine hope given the \u201cinjury crisis\u201d Liverpool were supposed to be suffering. Unsurprisingly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4279,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260\/revisions\/4279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}