{"id":7701,"date":"2023-04-08T08:44:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T07:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7701"},"modified":"2023-04-10T10:30:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:30:42","slug":"summon-the-spirit-of-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7701","title":{"rendered":"Summon the Spirit of \u201889"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It’s up for grabs, now…….Thomas! From unclemikesmusings.blogspot.com<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, we come, in pretty fair fettle after 7 wins on the trot, to the first of the three most difficult and, possibly, season defining away games that we must surmount to win the Premiership for the first time in 19 years. Liverpool away. This has never been an easy trip for the Arsenal. Not even in \u201989 which must rank as our greatest and most significant victory at Anfield where, as Lee Dixon has since observed, no-one expected us to win, let alone by the requisite 2 goal margin in their own lair, against the club that had swept almost all before it since the mid-70\u2019s. But we did. While, unlike ’89, much work will remain to be done after this game and neither victory nor defeat will conclusively determine the destination of the title, a win on Sunday would maintain our momentum, enhance our belief (certainly mine) and be one more step towards that league title. Anfield is a big test for our young team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be under no illusion, the Red Scousers harbour a visceral hatred for the Arsenal and will be well up for this game. They have never forgiven the Arsenal for \u2018stealing\u2019 the First Division title at Anfield in 1989, effectively marking the beginning of the end of Liverpool\u2019s dominance of English football. Although they did win one more First Division title in 1990, we took it back in ’91. Then our emergence in the mid 90\u2019s as the only consistent challenger to Manure until the arrival of financially doped Chelski and Citeh in the mid noughties added to their angst as they declined. The outrage with which Liverpool and their fans responded to the Arsenal\u2019s bid for Suarez was driven by their belief that they are our betters, notwithstanding 30 years in the top tier wilderness. Liverpool and their fans would like nothing better (apart from finishing in the top 4!) than to stop another team built the right way beating the-expensively-assembled-\u20acitzens-of-(allegedly)-Off-Balance-Sheet-FC (\u00a9 Lonestar Gooner) to the top spot. Moreover, a Liverpool win tomorrow would revive their faint hopes of a Champions League place and the financial boost needed to rebuild their ageing squad.  In contrast, a win for the Arsenal would doubtless bring flashbacks of 1989 and enhance fears that Klopp\u2019s era and the recent renaissance of Liverpool FC as a force are coming to an end. They really don\u2019t need any further motivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That 1989 victory at Anfield was extra special because it was rather an \u2018exception to the rule\u2019. Liverpool is one of the few clubs against whom we have lost more games than we have won. Since our first meeting on 28 October 1893 (a 0-5 defeat), we have won 82, drawn 62 and lost 94 games against Liverpool. In our 31 Premier League visits to Anfield we have won 7, drawn 8 and lost 16. Even in our late-nineties to mid-noughties pomp, a visit to Anfield was, more often than not, unrewarding. We have to go back 11 years for our last league victory there \u2013 an auspicious year as we won twice in a row, 2-1 in March 2012 and 2-0 in September 2012 in the next season. Since then we have recorded only two Premier League draws at Anfield in 2014 and 2016, plus League Cup draws in 2019, 2020 and 2022. In total we have made 9 league visits to Anfield since we last won there but, as Gordon Strachan once said, \u201cThe longer a record lasts, the closer it comes to its end!\u201d When we went to Anfield in May 1989 needing a 2-goal victory to win the First Division, our previous victory had been in 1974 which was followed by 13 winless league visits. Summoning the spirit of \u201989 could well be useful tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liverpool\u2019s season has been poor by their recent Klopp-inspired standards and they currently sit in 8th<\/sup> place with 43 points, 29 points behind the league leaders (who dat?) and 10 points adrift of 4th<\/sup> place with three other clubs between them and that prized spot (did a wise man once say that there should be a \u2018fourth place trophy\u2019?). This season they have looked far more porous defensively and their rampaging fullbacks have regularly left their flanks exposed, while VVD has often looked short of the pace with which he once neutralised attackers. Last Saturday\u2019s MotD produced an interesting statistic to support those observations: this season, after 27 games, Liverpool had conceded the second most \u2018big chances\u2019 per game, in the Premier League, at 3.0, behind only Fulham at 3.1 and ahead of Leeds at 2.9. That stat will look no better after their midweek performance against the Chavs. Their once imperious midfield has looked short of pace, power and energy and Citeh and Chavski both played through and round them with ease. Nor, apart from two games, have they been scoring goals with the unrestrained abandon of recent seasons. Salah looked off the boil early in the season and there is no doubt that Mane was missed. However, Salah\u2019s form has since improved while Gakpo and Nunez appear to have found their feet recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Liverpool\u2019s poor season to date, the league table demonstrates a clear pattern: Liverpool have been poor on the road: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

P15 W3 D7 L5 F18 A24 Pts 16,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but, their home form remains very impressive: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

P13 W9 D3 L1 F34 A9 Pts30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, they have drawn 1-1 with Palace, 3-3 with Brighton (take a bow, hat-trick hero, L. Trossard) and 0-0 with Chavski, lost only once, 1-2 to Dirty Leeds but have dished out 9-0 and 7-0 thrashings to Bournemouth and Manure respectively and beat both Citeh and the Magpies by the odd goal. At Anfield, Liverpool are no soft touch. There are no grounds for complacency based on the teams’ respective league positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watched Liverpool\u2019s televised midweek visit to the Bus-stop to see whether their flaccid display in the second half at the Emptihad last Saturday was repeated. Klopp made six changes from the Citeh game.  He rested Arnold, Robertson, Salah, Gakpo, Elliot while VVD wasn’t in the squad due to \u2018illness\u2019 – an exacerbation of his \u2018asthma\u2019, perhaps? Carvalho returned to the bench after an absence. Liverpool\u2019s midfield of Henderson, Fabinho and Jones were regularly overrun by the Chav threesome of Kante, Fernandez and Kovacic and the Chav wingbacks were prominent in attack. Up front, Nunez played on the left, Firminho played a \u2018false nine\u2019 and Jota started on the right but Liverpool created little threat and Kapa was rarely troubled. On the other hand, the Chavs were able to cut through Liverpool\u2019s midfield and defence with rapid movement of man and ball and had 4 clear-cut chances to score. Only the absence of a clinical finisher in blue allowed Liverpool to leave with a point. Salah and Robertson came on for the last 25 minutes and Milner and Gakpo with 10 minutes left. Notably, in the second half the Liverpool players rather ‘put themselves about’ earning 4 yellow cards \u2013 it should have been more. Fabinho was fortunate that his card came in the 74th<\/sup> minute after two previous offences worthy of a first yellow card (ITWGX?). VVD, Thiago and Diaz are apparently available again for selection on Sunday. I expect Klopp to select his strongest eleven, perhaps adding Thiago to the midfield, certainly bringing back VVD, Arnold, Robertson, Salah and Gakpo. They will try to blow us out of the water with Kop-encouraged assaults early in each half and, if the bus stop display is anything to go on, will attempt to neutralise our creative players with barely legal physical challenges. Expect Milner to appear at some point to kick those who have not been immobilised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news on Saliba is disappointing and Holding will be required to repeat the fine performances he has contributed since being called upon to replace the Frenchman. Capitola Rob (\u00a9 scruzgooner) doesn\u2019t have Saliba\u2019s pace, silky movement and calming influence but he\u2019s an able back-up and gives 100%. He will need to remain calm in the face of Nunez\u2019s predictable playacting. Our only selection question is up front. Does Mikel play the first-choice threesome or does he pull off a surprise by playing Trossard in one of the front three positions? Saka was rested for an hour against Leeds due to illness and will surely return. Martinelli was on fire against Fulham and Leeds and is frankly undroppable. I think Jes\u00fas will also get the call. It is Easter Sunday, after all. So, I expect the following starting eleven and Leo, through no fault of his own (he too was superb against Leeds), to start from the bench:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard, Partey, Xhaka;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Jes\u00fas, Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the team can play with the verve and skill they showed in the second half against Leeds and avoid the \u2018rabbit in headlights\u2019 performances we have seen too often at Anfield, then they can win this game. Have no doubt, it will be hard. Liverpool will do everything they can to beat us and we must not only have every man at the top of his game, we must take the chances we should surely create \u2013 think Martinelli vs Arnold! Liverpool will double or even triple team our wide men and this should create spaces for \u00d8degaard, Xhaka and Jes\u00fas to exploit. I would have liked the option of Tomiyasu to stop Salah\u2019s rampaging runs and cutting inside to shoot so Gabriel and Xhaka are going to have to be alive to Salah\u2019s exploitation of the space that the peripatetic Zinchenko leaves on our left flank. Klopp is sure to target that space and KT3 may well be added to the mix as the game winds down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I expect this game to be very tight but I don\u2019t expect it to be scoreless. As is now usual, my Holic Pound is going to support Ukraine, but for those still helping Bookmakers to buy bigger mansions, Betfair surprisingly have Arsenal favourites to win at 7\/5, the draw at a rather long 13\/5 and Liverpool to win at 9\/5. You can get 9\/1 on 2-1 for the Arsenal and 25\/1 on 3-2 at Bet 365. Good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of this game will not in itself determine the destination of the title but it will certainly have some influence. Much like our visit in ’89, this is a big test for a young Arsenal team and an opportunity for them to show what they are made of. We know that this group can entertain and we love them for that. We know they have huge desire and have shown resilience and determination when called for and we respect them for that. Now, they have to show that they possess the steel required to survive the red-hot cauldron of Anfield and come away with a victory like the men of \u201989. If they can do that, I believe that this Arsenal team has a great chance of lifting the Premier League trophy at the end of May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COYG<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, Holics (if you can!) and Happy Easter!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, we come, in pretty fair fettle after 7 wins on the trot, to the first of the three most difficult and, possibly, season defining away games that we must surmount to win the Premiership for the first time in 19 years. Liverpool away. This has never been an easy trip for the Arsenal. Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7701"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7735,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7701\/revisions\/7735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}