No. He deserved that. That was the only decent chance he get and he slot it in with a great finish. He also works his socks off the whole game. Working alone up front.

Jova was great too. He'll fit in soon enough. Meanwhile, Masch played with passion and MOTM. Too bad he's off to Inter or Barca.

for me lucas did ok...but when the defence being pressed to much..mistake will come..for me in the first half..possession is not too good..but still get 1,2 chances to score..if we able to take that..game is ours..now what i'm afraid happened...we rely too much joe cole..now we are going to play without him...so the same team like last season except jova will be in action for at least 2,3 games...that's why we need in another in out attacking midfielder and two more wingers left n right to chance the game when we unable to do it..like last night.. when i see we unable to get the possession in the first half..i have no idea who can change the game..on bench..only maxi n torres

one regret bout last nite game,wish gerrard bombard forward more & make those last minute run into penalty area..Cole & Ngog looks so isolated u wont notice if they really played last nite..cant blamed gerrard entirely when we cant even hold the ball for a minute!...its one thing that Roy need to rectified before the citeh game





one more thing..Roy is a better motivator than rafa!

but RH looks to old...hahaha...how long he will be with us if he bring us the league title this season...hope long term manager...kakakaa

cant blame him ... it could be a goal too if not hit the post ...

erm, poor Joe Cole. Anyways, if u guys wanna download the highlight, dont hesitate to visit my blog. hehe ;p

good job.....proud to be Reds....

Was good to finally meet you buddy. Was somewhat of a challenge to find your post again amidst all the narration. Kinda sucked that ASTRO decided to screw with us resulting in a good number of pubs/bars not being able to receive a signal. Thank god the mamak down the street had foresight eh? Must say though that watching football without much sound and with no beer in hand was a 'different' experience. Nonetheless, rest assured that the next outing will be planned more thoroughly. Hope to see you again then.

Back to the game. The first half was a reflection of how we played most of last season. We couldn't string more than 3 passes together and each time we had the ball, Arsenal pressed and we lost possession. At times I was wondering if we were the away side. Arsenal were the more fluid side but fortunately, our defence was water tight. I thought Agger had a good game considering he had to deal with players with much more pace than he has. Pity his vision was impaired after taking a shot in the face.

Mascherano was his usual inspiring self, hounding anyone and anything that entered his territory. However the midfield in general was disappointing if you ask me, particularly in the first half. Each time we tried to get forward, we were outnumbered and either lost possession or were forced to pass the ball back. There was little guile or creativity and Joe Cole's sending off did little to change that. I wouldn't call it a malicious challenge but I've seen players sent off for less. In the end it was more stupidity of his part than it was harshness on behalf of the ref. It was a nothing ball and he had absolutely no good reason for going through the defender.

One positive for me is the improvement of David N'Gog. He has had a pretty good pre-season so far and looks to have carried his form through to last night's game. Unlike last season, he held the ball up well and managed to get himself away from his marker on a number of occassions. His goal came out of nowhere which is often the hallmarks of an instinctive striker. Let's see if he can keep it up.

All in all if you had asked me if I would have taken the 1 point after Joe Cole had been sent off, I'd have said "yes" in a heartbeat. Still I can't help but feel a little sore that victory was snatched away at the last minute, so cheaply. Can't say I blame Pepe because I have the benefit of hindsight and I can say that he either should have knocked the ball out or smothered it, but it happened so fast, he probably lost his bearings a little. Having said that he did make a brilliant save earlier.

Decent start to the new season given I expect very little from us this time round.

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Added on August 16, 2010, 11:30 amI've always maintained that luck is always used as a convenient excuse when you lose. It also takes a readers attention away from the fact that using the word, "luck", can sometimes cover up a teams ineficiencies. In the end we were outplayed for much of the game. The only reason people feel sorry for us is because of the manner in which we conceeded the equaliser. If Rosicky's attempt had sailed into the net earlier, few would feel that the result was harsh on us.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Aug 16 2010, 11:30 AM

Just work hard...REDS!

i agree we were outplayed in the 1st half but on the 2nd were more balanced considering we down to 10 men.

Is Agger alright? He looks like he's almost pengsan..

Steven Gerrard seems like playing his own natural position but with attacking minded in this match. He's really did a great job in this match by passing quite a fantastic passes and tackles as well. He looks like a replacement for Xabi Alonso style but with attacking minded. Great job Gerrard.

I was particularly impressed with Mascherano. He played with his heart. As if the news were all non-existent. Chased and closed down everyone, backed up the last 4 very well. Cole was closed down very quickly each time he gets the ball, but the sending off was not necessary as what Duke mentioned. Probably he was doing his best to impress. Another player I would like to highlight in yesterday's game was Milan Jovanovich. He has the strength and pace to out-muscle/run 2-3 Arsenal players which was very delightful sight as this is his 1st Premier League start.

Great goal by Ngoal. He's had a great game. Really good goal just after the start of 2nd half. Must've stunned Arsenal. Should he have buried the header, the match was ours.

Gerrard was great, making tackles here and there, great long passes to open up some width. He was the one following Rosicky into the penalty box when he made the shot, had Gerrard not been there, Rosicky would have a better chance and place a shot into the back of the net.

I'm not so sure the reason Masch was replaced by Lucas as we were hanging on to a 1-0 lead with 10men. We needed to park our bus and counter-attack on every opportunity. I had a feeling the goal will come. Parking our bus against the big teams are very big risk, but that is the only option we have since we were 1 man down. Reina actually went out of position when Chamakh flicked the ball and Walcott was lurking and our back 4 was scrambling to clear. My heart skipped a beat there.

A good save off Rosicky's shot, and Arsenal is getting closer and closer. It finally came, was very disappointed with the way we conceded as we've did away with much better tries from Arsenal. I'm happy with 1 point with 10-men against Arsenal.

Overall good football from the lads and I hope we can be better with fully fit Torres back in the frame.

good post my friend...nothing less than a very good performance from lads, with 10 men and victory just an inch nearby...in 1st half i see Gerrard went deep down to take the ball and thats make us like and away team plus Arsenal keep their possession and push us to defend lower...

Mistake from Reina cant hold the ball properly just being washed out by saving Vermalean freekicks and Rosicky 1 2 pass...by the way..its all good performance from the lads and hope we can do better later..for me, i have lowered down my expectation on Liverpool, just like my old post...

This post has been edited by normeck: Aug 16 2010, 03:57 PM

Yesterday tactic is much more solid compare to last season. Defense is solid and even with 10 men they all still capable in attacking them. Great chance of making it back to Big 4. It seems like manager is really a problem last season eh.

tactics, more or less the same as last season.

i dont see as so much as any different except having cole in gerrard position last season.

masch was injured...thats why lucas came on to replaced him

Cole got sent off so late in the first half and we scored so early in the second that I'm not really sure if going down to 10 men did change our approach to the game. We maintained the same lineup, but when attacking, pushed Gerrard further forward. It's true that we began the second half with aplomb but still, most of our chances came from deadballs and setpieces.

I realise that are positives to take from the match but at the same time, I'd like to look on the other side of the coin as well. Although it was heartening to see how we responded to going a man down, it was disheartening to note that when we had 11 players on the pitch, we were outplayed. Let's face it, I don't think we'll be arrogant enough to field 10 men against any team from the start. The same problems from last season surfaced again. We lacked craft going forward, and players looked uncertain of what to do when pressed.

Still, it's only the first game and all things considered, it was a good result in the end. I am not however fancying a trip to Man City although they were crap against Spurs. Pretty tough openers for us.

When 10 vs 11, Liv defence still look solid, apart 1 or 2 threat from Arsenal.
But after Agger injured, it was basically 9 v 11.

This post has been edited by cherroy: Aug 16 2010, 02:20 PM

Well, like I said about a week or two back, I'd be satisfied with 9 or 11 points out of a max of 15 after 5 games (after Man Utd game) in the league. Since we drew against Arsenal, the realistic target would be 9 now.

i gotta to agree...2 more wingers and one more striker...and we are done!

YNWA