Risk of taking Mik at Anfield
YOU will no doubt know that in the tunnel at Liverpool’s home ground there is a sign which states: This is Anfield.
What you may not know is the original idea was proposed by a groundsman who wanted it to say: “Welcome to Anfield”.
But legendary boss Bill Shankly insisted on something more intimidating and meaningful.
Hence the now infamous, but specific three words.
Shankly said: “It is there to remind our lads who they are playing for and to remind the opposition who they are playing against.”
Indeed, that quote itself was inscribed on a wall next to the sign just to really ram the message down the visiting club’s throats – if you are playing Liverpool at home, you aren’t just playing the team, you’re playing one of the more passionate fanbases in world football.
If you are hoping to get away with a result, you had better try your best to keep them quiet.
For more than half an hour on Saturday night, that is exactly what Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side did.
With Liverpool starting sluggishly, the pressure was mounting as they came off the back of a defeat to West Ham.
They knew title rivals Chelsea had moved seven points clear, having comfortably beaten Leicester in the earlier kick-off.
As the Anfield crowd looked at their array of attacking talent they knew there was the potential for fireworks, but there was no sign of a spark to light the fuse.
That was until the 32nd minute when Sadio Mane jumped for an innocuous header with Takehiro Tomiyasu and the Arsenal bench, led by Arteta, exploded.
As the Gunners boss (below) ran towards Jurgen Klopp, waving his hands and aggressively shouting, the German barked back leading to an eruption from the Anfield faithful.
From then there was no going back, and it took just seven minutes for the Liverpool players to feed off the crowd’s energy and race into a 1-0 lead.
The noise kept snowballing and the goals kept coming – 2-0, 3-0, then 4-0. All Arsenal’s good work was undone because Arteta had lost his composure and awakened the giant his team had so carefully lured to sleep.
Arteta has been doing a fantastic job of late, showing the managerial signs the Gunners had hoped for from the man who learned at the side of Pep Guardiola. But this was a spectacular own goal by the Spaniard.
Body language and momentum are so important in sport and a manager’s ability to orchestrate a crowd can be one of their most powerful weapons.
In this instance, Arteta used that weapon so carelessly he ended up killing off his team’s chances of success.
Ironically, he should have paid more attention to his mentor’s teachings. It was Guardiola in 2019 who said: “The motto, ‘This is Anfield’ is no marketing spin.
“There’s something about it that you will find in no other stadium in the world.”
Guardiola understood what Shankly created at Anfield and I expect Arteta has learned from the experience. It will make him a better manager in the future.