SORRY WENGER IS HUMILIATED
Liverpool outclass Arsenal after boss leaves top scorer Alexis on bench for first half
IF YOU leave your best player out, the one whose contract runs out in 16 months, then generally you have to be proved right, even if you have 20 years of credit on which to fall back.
Yet Arsene Wenger’s decision last night to start without Alexis Sanchez looked odd at best. Ten minutes into this game it looked utterly bizarre. Arsenal were as lame and lax was they can be at their worst and they have recently tested the low water mark of that kind of performance.
And once Sanchez did come on and Arsenal improved immeasurably, it was a decision which looked ever-more incomprehensible. Not only will it have angered Sanchez, it damaged the team, the fight for the top four and perhaps undermined their entire season.
Arsenal are outside the top four with Liverpool’s win taking them back into the Champions League positions. Wenger has been in worse positions and recovered and indeed he still has a game in hand over Jurgen Klopp’s team.
But, still, you fear for the reception this team receive if they repeat their first-half performance against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night. That might be enough to convince Wenger his time is up. For even though they were much improved in the second half and at times looked like grabbing an unlikely point, ultimately they were deservedly beaten.
When Adam Lallana swept a ball to Divock Origi inside time added on and the Belgian sprinted away to provide a cross for Georginio Wijnaldum to add the third, it made the scoreline as decisive as much of the performance had been.
Indeed, the opening goal perhaps typified the Arsenal way of the past 10 years. They put together a delightful passing sequence, in which Liverpool could not get close to the ball. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looked bright and Alex Iwobi looked neat. You might have convinced yourself they had the upper hand, though it ended with Granit Xhaka over-hitting a pass for Nacho Monreal, who could not keep the ball in.
And then the denouement: from the resulting goal kick, Laurent Koscielny failed to win a header and the ball was flicked to Sadio Mane. And though he drove in a decent cross, even then it should have been cleared but Hector Bellerin comically let it through his legs, so that Roberto Firmino had time and space to score. He took a touch which almost killed the chance but did eventually put Liverpool in the lead.
The trouble with Arsenal and certainly with a team as brittle as this one, you never feel there is any coming back from such a setback, even after just nine minutes.
There was brief moment when Oxlade-Chamberlain shimmied inside and hung a cross in with which Olivier Giroud almost connected. But the sight of Firmino, only just offside, racing towards goal in the 25th minute was more in keeping with the level of threat.
Arsenal survived that but the persistence with a high line early on against pace seemed extraordinary. It is not as if they have not made this mistake against Liverpool in the recent past.
Petr Cech saved them when Philippe Coutinho hit a great strike for the edge of the box in the 29th minute but they were not going to hold out until half-time, that much was clear.
That said, the ease with which James Milner drifted forwards, found Emre Can, who swept the ball on to Firmino was embarrassing. The Brazilian found Mane on the edge of the box and he provided the perfect finale to the move with a clinical finish.
It needed Cech again to block Coutinho on the stroke of half-time to prevent further humiliation. It would have been tempting to say there has never been as poor a firsthalf performance at Anfield under Wenger, had they not done the same here three years ago. That time they were 4-0 down at half-time, so, on balance, this was at least an improvement.
Whatever his detractors maintain, Wenger is no fool. Having made an obvious error, he at least rectified it. Francis Coquelin, who had endured an awful half and surely cannot be exposed again against Bayern Munich, was replaced by Sanchez. Having one of the world’s best players on the pitch somehow lifted Arsenal. In the 49th minute, Monreal sent in a cross which Giroud headed goalwards. Simon Mignolet got a touch and saw the ball loop on to the cross bar before it was scrambled away. But it was at least a sign off fresh hope for Arsenal.
For once, it was not unfounded. Sanchez’s aggressive intent found an outlet in the 57th minute when he played in Danny Welbeck. The angle was tight and Mignolet was fast approaching so it looked as if the chance had gone. But with a deft chip, Welbeck lifted the ball over Mignolet and into the net. Arsenal were by no means looking secure. When Coutinho crossed on the hour, it took a fine interception from Shkodran Mustafi to prevent Firmino tapping in. But they were at least better, though the first-half performance was not a high bar to get over.
And all the time there was that man Sanchez making a mockery of the decision to leave him out in the first place. It was not just that he offered a potent treat, with Can eventually reduced simply to upending him in a bid to stop him. All around him other players lifted their game. Welbeck came alive while Iwobi seemed a yard quicker and Giroud a yard taller.
But Liverpool, lambs at Leicester, were yet again lions against major opposition at Anfield. Long term that is no way to earn credentials as a proper team but, for the moment, Klopp will probably take this upgrade as a sign of hope.